The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-12-25
LETTER From WASHINGTON,

WAsHINeroS, u. G., Dec. 90. 1879.
DEAR HIC:-I have always erleavored
to write you what thought, and according
to my feelings, SO you must not blame me
if my letters sometimes appear slightly in
coherent, or if | follow the example of
fashionable ministers, who read their text,
and then preach away from it as far as
possible, and over the heads of their hear
ers. Speaking of ministers and their dis
courses, did you ever notice, my dear Wing,
what great tendency there is in every
female member of a congregation to appro-
pirate to her dearest friend anything said
not strictly agreeable: When the sermon
is against the pomps and vanities of the
wicked world, seliishness and other little
defects the human flesh is heir to, Mrs. A.
and B. think with great complacency how
that hits poor dear Mrs. c., and turn with
pity in their eyes to look at her, only to
meet the eye of that estimable lady turned
in their direction, she having had similar
thoughts regarding them.
l may, perhaps, be considered irreverent
and cynical, and you may think that l
have not very good opinion of human
nature. hope l have; but still l possess
what the religion or politics of the other
world is, bu; cannot help thinking great
many people will be very much surprised
upon their arrival there.
T ,;el; T
through with this subject and tell you
about something else, SD l will try and
oblige you. | have not been up to the
Capitol but once since the first day of the
session. l have started several times but
before | could reach that haven OF rest
Congress had adjourned. Why the Con
gressional body insist on coming here in
December, | never could determine, unless
it is that their pay commences from the
time they open They do nothing. To
be sure they meet every day at twelve
clock, and the Chaplain introduces them
and makes favorable mention of them to
the Lord. After that ahalf dozen people
send things. generally denominated as
"bills - and Resolutions to the Speak er's
table; whereupon an unhappy man who
always has my entire and heartfelt SYM
pathy, reads them out in the loudest voice
he can command, no one paying the slight
est attention.
When he stops reading, some one gets
up to object, without having the faintest
idea as to what he is Directing to, but as
the bill or resolution came from the other
side, it is his duty to object, and the aver
age Congressman never shrinks from his
duty (tableau, curtain falling to slow music
and red lights in the distance.) Finally
they adjourn over until January, and then,
when really in working order, the chief
end of one side is to outwit the other, and
so they 60 on, until just before the adjourn
ment of the session, when they wake up to
the fact that the country and their con-
stituents are paying them some fifteen dol
lars day to represent them and attend to |
their business. They instantly go to work
and rush things; everything goes through |
or is killed Unfortunately.
l know you will think am cross, and in |
a fault finding mood. l know l ought not |
to be, now that the merry holidays are
approaching, yet these holidays can be the |
saddest days of ones life. 1t is hard for
the heart that is beating funeral dirge to
keep time to the merry notes of the band. |
But what happy time it is for children.
Santa Claus will soon say stockings up"
and everybody who is anybody at all will |
make an effort to fill them, if ever SO little |
1t is worth five years of ones life to see |
child's eye brighten and that indescribable
of happiness fit over its face as
it grasps the treasures found in its stock
ing. One of the saddest sights to me is
an unhappy, hopeless child. When l 60
down the streets these Christmas times
and see the wretched little beings looking
in the windows, forgetting for the time the
keen wind whistling around their poorly
clad bodies, their poverty and their hunger,
wish, oh! SO much for the purse of For
that | might put into each of their
little red hands a box of those impossible
which to them would be the greatest
treasures.
l have child's pleasure in presents N.Y.
self. and always cherish everything given
me, great or small. So am always open
to anything dear friends may see proper to
send me. Christmas is most enjoyed by
thoso in moderate circumstances. 1t is the
planning, the curtailing of expenses, the
looking around for something within ones
means, that makes it enjoyable. Those
who have plenty Of money and can give
costly gifts to those who have plenty of
money themselves, do not know the real
enjoyment of the season. But the rich can
buy for themselves pleasure. They can
make light the heart of the widow and
orphan out of the fortune Providence has
blessed them with, and which they cannot
lake with them, and thereby make a
merry Christmas for others, and a
'happy New Year" for themselves, not
only in this world but in the other.
1t has been over year, dear Whtg, since
commenced writing to you; let me hope
hat if l have not merited your approba-
ion, | have at least amused you, and that
you Glove me now as them
Hopefully yours, &C.,
J. H. P.