The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1878-05-01
ORR wAsnuNGrox LETTER.
WASHINGTON. D. G. Apr 81. Isl

TO create an adjourning panic in The
breast ofmany a member Of Congress.
From physical causes, more easily
understood than overcome, Washing
ton is a warmer and more unhealthy
locality than many points farther
south. The capital city is anything
but a %sanitsrium, wen in the winter,
and when the wan government clerk
after alternating in sitting furnace
heated Department rooms, aud sub
sisting on the execrable victuGls Of
cheap boarding houses, finds him.
self on the verge Of 3 hot summer,
inhaliBg miasma frcm swamps that
flank the city on all sides. be need
not be accused Of sentimental BIZ
iousness, if be discerns mirages OF
tomb-stones, or feels sensations OF
cremation run up and down his back
With the member OF Congress it is
much the same, be is better fed than
the Government clerk, but be lacks
acclimation, and the air that be
breathes in the Capitol is even more
pestilent than that Of the Depart
ments; and We see men of powerful
physique, like Conkling and Blaine,
or tough wiry veterans, like Christ
fancy and Howe, succumb to maia-
ria and subsist on quinine.
la spite of the millions that have
been spent 10 Washington to make
its streets solid and smooth, and to
make its public ediices rival the
architectural splendors of the old
world, the day may vet come when
the Capitol will be removed to a
more healthful locality, and when the
New Zealander, or some other Eel
low, will wash his fish nets ia Bah
cocks artificial lake, and calk his
boat with pitch from its most aristo-
cratic q
Last night, while riding on an f
ST. car, your correspondent vas edi-
fed by a conversation between a
statesman aud q a driver, which he
will relate Uerbaiim. As the car
passed the Ebbitt House, it was
boarded by the distingue military
Senator from Rhode Island. The
Senator was, to all appearances, in a
state Of equivocal exhileration, from
what good society calls good living,
but what Mr.. Murphy calls by anoth-
er name, aud, from sentences NUT
tered indistinctly, with eyes half
closed, il was inferred that he was
thinking of what be bad recently
done, or had yet to do, in the cause
Of education. Suddenly, from a
lurch Of tie car, turning q corner,
or from a gesture delivered in half
dreamy oratory, his military elbow
went through the glass window,
shat.ering 1t into small pieces. TIE
driver, who is also conductor on this
line, approached him with great po-
likeness and said II don't kaow bat
| may be to blame for this accident,
but | don't think l was, aud the
company will deduct q half dollar
from nv wages. If | were to blame,
Of course | must lose the money
"0f course you were" said the Sen
ator; but a little later, under a mag
nanimous impulse, be drew from his
pocket twenty-five cents, of the re-
monitized, and extended it to the
driver, said: ID it, suppose we
divide, that's all the money I've
got" The driver reluctantly accept
ed the compromise, when the Sena-
tor called after him. an pay you
The rest when / come this way again,
aud resigned himself to the following
solilcquy: "Ride on these cars three
times a day-guess I'll take a car
rage after this" Then to the driver +:
"0h, you will know me you will see
me when YOU come to the Capitol
you'll find me on tie floor; guess you
will recognize my face"-and getting
off at the Arlington Hotel-"recog-
nize my face, will you? Well, just
take a keen look at these whiskers-
take a keen look at these whiskers-
YOU will recognize me again, | guess
Social gayety has been resumed
with the expiration of Lent, but the
weather is rather warm for violent
dancing, a2d Washington has been
bereft of many of its transient bellies,
who have gone home, aud are making
preparations for the summer resorts,
or for Europe. Last winter, the hes;
dressed lady at the Capital. q give
the opinion of another lady who is a
connoisseur,) was a young lady from
Detroit. To be eclipsed by a lady
from a frontier village, caused the
bellies Of Baltimore and Boston some
surprise. But there is no reason
why a Detroit modlste should no,
have as good taste as Worth,or be as
successful in adjoining the human
form divine. Then there appeared
another belle from Kansas, near the
Indian reservation, who made her
own dresses, and was much admired
for her style, as well as for her in
telligence and thoroughbred man
ners. The facts are that the dis
tinctions between rural and urban
people are not as sharply marked as
they one were, since now newspa.
pers and fashion journals penetrate
every home; and the moral is, that
taste, like genius. 5 confined 10 no
locality.
q :