The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-06-19
LETTER FROM WASHINGTON.
WASHINGTON, d. c., June Is, 1877


DEAR WH1G-Now that the warm weather
is advancing, people begin to look forward
to their Summer vacations upon the hills
and along the limpid brooks. The depots
present even so early, an animated and in
teresting sight just before the departure of
one of the through trains. They appear
most teeming with life at the departure of
the night trains, perhaps, because every
where else the hum of the city is hushed.
The bright light streaming out of the por-
tails, the rush of hackmen and porters, the
buzzing throng within, the sound of escap-
ing steam, the merry ring of the hammer
on the car wheel, the busting air of every
thing about the depot, all tend to make a
strong contrast with the quiet without.
BUNKER HILL.
To-day will be an epoch in the history of
the militia of Washington. A company
from this District will visit Massachusetts,
the occasion being the anniversary of the
battle of Bunker Hill Company A. of the
LIST Regiment National Guard have taken
deep interest in this celebration, and have
decided to participate therein, and have been
drilling for some days past, and have be-
come so perfect in the drill as to give them
a chance to become, after trial, the cham
pion company at the celebration, and also
to reflect credit upon the District of Column
bia at the Bunker Hill
CENTENNIAL"
By the way, dear Whig, since wrote you
last. l, together with number of others,
have been busily engaged in trying to find
who first invented the word centennial"
6 81, h a,1I ,hff fire. oh
of it could have known what torture he
would infct, by SO doing, on innocent peo-
ple-how he would "make countless thou
sands mourn" " by his being so officious-l
am confident he would have paused in his
awful work, and turned his attention to a
more harmless occupation. If there is any
thing calculated to produce state of idiocy,
and cause softening of the brain, it is that
little word centennial" We have it tack
ed on every thing we eat, drink or wear.
Children cry for it, having dim idea in
their little infant minds that it is something
like ginger-snaps or gum drops, the first
syllable making the impression on their
minds. One grows tired of celebrating cen
tennials of things that took place SO long
before one was born, and the only consola-
ton we have is that when they have the
Beecher- Titon & Co. celebration we shall
be nice little angels enjoying our palm
leaves and singing hymns of gratitude that
we are not obliged to undergo "paroxys-
ma" centennial.
In Washington they are preparing for one,
and as the object is a worthy one, and don't
require a grand father, there are numbers
trying to overcome the ferocious desire to
knock any one down who says centennial,
and lending helping hand toward making
it proper celebration. 1t is tit seems to me-
now nearly hundred years since the Wash
ington Monument was begun by a CRATE
full and patriotic people as token of their
love and esteem for one George Washing
ton. 1t will be slight drawback to their
happiness, as first-class centennial celebra-
tors, that the "token" has never been fin
ished, and is in such state of neglect and
decay that it is liable to fall down on the
slightest provocatlon.
THE CITY
is thoroughly agitated just at present on
the cause of the fishy taste of our water.
We are assured that it arises from heritage
that grows on the sides and at the bottom
of the reservoirs. This does not mend mat
tiers a particle; it is an i'll wind that blows
no one good, and the fishy flavor is "bo-
nanZa" to the restaurants.
CRIME.
We are also blessed now with volumi-
nous flow of thieves, burglars, gaIroters
and incendiaries, who appear to be bent on
making this Summer a lively one for us.
Arrests are made, punishment follows, but
the herd seems to increase. In deecta-
BILE locality known as Hell's Bottom trag-
edy occurred last week in which George
Westinghouse negro edition of that pa
triot-put his little Ratchet 70 the only
practical use it has found for centuries by
splitting the head of James johnson. The
circumstances of the case are about SINH
lar to all of like sort, and the affair grew
out of personal alteration. johnson is
squatting now on the vestibule of death,
and if he enters will leave a widow and
eight children to mourn his loss and look
up another parental husband in Clark CO.,
Virginia.
DIVORCE.
The average amount of marital sepera-
tions were ground out of the divorce mill
of the Equity Court last week, and the
happy husband finds life burden on his
hands with no wife to abuse and no billet
for his nocturnal and intoxicated boots.
j. II. p.