The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1876-02-24
Letter from Washington.
COrresDondence of the Journal
WASHINGTON. Feb. Dist.

who, or where, OF when, that all Ameri-
can life is on the high pressure principle.
That we talk in hurry, walk in a hurry,
eat, drink and sleep in hurry, make love,
get married, die and, alas, are buried in Il
hurry Whoever 1t was, must have been
fresh from experiencing the actual reali-
ty in u season at Washington, where re-
ceptions, balls, parties, weddings, tuner
ais, and all the other concomitants OF lite
chase each other with such flying feet that
WEAKNESS of body, and depression Of the
soul are always the sure result of this too
much of a good thing, and Invariably
lead to the wish that all this round Of en-
ioyment and pleasure might be spread
out over the whole twelve months of the
year, and not boiled down and condensed
into the few short weeks lapsing between
Christmas and Lent. But then 50 it is
with all lite. We never will have our
"sweetness long drawn OUTPUT gobble
it up, hurry it down, and rush it over
and then, like a great cross baby or Il halt
starved Oliver Twist, sit down and send
up that pitiable cry of 'more, more, give
me more" oh, strange humanity, whence
came your hungry, longing, restless, new
er ceasng, forever searching wants and
aspirations That this is the natural and
inevitable state Of things, all the world S
wisest and best have taught us. One OF
the sweetest singers, that ever caroled to
mortal ears, thrilled years ago this sad re
train of the human heart
"lAfcr the lapse Of just one little hour
Comcth an ending of all earthly bliss
No matter hoWsoever dear it is.
Which doesn't mean at all that there is to
be only q blossom hour Of brightness and
beauty, and Il whole after life OF sorrow
and darkness and de5olation but simply
that existence has no permanent halts
along its rough, crooked, tortuous path,
and that the cool green grottoes by the
wayside, the babbling brooks, the sing
inc birds, the shining skies, the merry
laughter, the happy voices, the dear de-
lights of panonshin are only rests
along the rugged Journey. True, many
are the paths leading to the end, and
yours perchance, may give only occa-
sional glimpses of delectable mountains
and vinelands OF Beulah, us it winds
hardly and sorrowfully over hills of adj
+Jr1nnrb ,1nIIfrbc Of laCnnn1
But rarely if ever do the binding clouds
OF fate shut down over any human life so
dark and dense and impenetrable that the
glad, gracious sunlight of hope and hap
| piness does not ut times shift and SHIN
mer them apart TO pour down its own
| blessed flood of warmth and rest and
peace But where was ? am sure
! this is more than small DEPRESSION; it's
4 very big one. But have patience, gen
| tie reader, and I'll take the confessional
and tell you profound secret, which you
are not to proclaim upon the house tops
that | have a habit Of dropping into
revery, just as naturally and easily as
ever Silas Wegg did into poetry, and
with about as much sense in it. Its u
disease tor which there is no cure, any
more than there is for blighted affections
or an unseemly, voracious appetite, 50
when you come to those places where !
cease to narrate the stirring events OF
| life, and 90 moon hunting and star maz-
ing, lust skip them. Turn over to the
| next column, where the editor will be
| sure to furnish you with Il dainty, delec-
| table, and generous feast Of all the good
and solid things essential; spiced, pep
pered and sailed with thought, reason
ing, apt application and abundance OF
| sparkling champagne, in the shape IT
| crisp wit WhereWith to wash it down. Or
persuade the editor-it's always incest to
| persuade people, then the fur doesn't get
rubbed the wrong way, but lies down
| smooth and shlnlng-so persuade the ed
itor to persuade Our George to come out
! of his long silence, which isn't golden to
US, and dawn once more upon our long
| ing eyes, listening ears and waiting souls,
with his sharp points, his side-splitting
jokes and breezy descriptions. 10 such a
every letter in big, staring capitals. Or
don't, don't snore. Be guilty of any
crime but that. In my normal condition
Pm very angelic being, though nobody
has ever found it out; but l am Just the
same, and can submit calmly, nay, even
placidly, to all sorts Of impositions; or
when people will persist in doing the
| very things | don't want them to, and
they turn out all wrong as they ought to,
and not all right as they ought not to- |
can even rise superior to saying, Il told
You So" and make believe Just as natural
| as life that 1t isn't OF the slightest conse-
| quence, when both they and know bet
ter But when a person hasn't any more
sense than to lie down and start of in
such a roaring, rafting, grooming, splut-
terng way that even double partitions and
brick walls are no defence, then ''for-
bearance ceases to be a virtue" and | get
mad. Why the terrible "'rumbling and
grumbling" that Sheridan made in riding
to Winchester, or the confusion at the
Tower of Babel, was nothing compared
to the noise that has saluted my ears.
made unquiet my peace, q martyr of my
sensitive nerves, and frightened sweet
sleep from my pillow Of late. In vain to
set up an opposition on the stove with a
cast-iron poker, in vain the hurting of
coal hod, chairs, stools, and sundry other
appliances at the unfortunate WALTON,
on like the restless march of the sea, or
the resistless steps OF fate, whizzes and
whirs, and snorts and SHORES, that aggra-
waiting sleeper. | wish-ugh! if don't 90
mad pretty soon, III do the next worse
thing, and move.
Now don't you know that when some
people have anything to relate, instead of
cracking the nut with one vigorous direct
blow, and instantly handing you the sweet
meat to eat, they roll, and revolve, and
twist and turn the shaggy shell between
their fingers, and start way back to their
paternal or maternal grand parent, as the
case may be, and tell you how he wooed,
won, welded and went to housekeeping !;
how many chairs they had in the parlor,
cups and saucers in the pantry and the
ayoat Ol1rn bpr of Cbaatu al ~, lIo 81;