Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-11-20
A C"ONGREssMANs LIFE
Some Cheap and Nasty Boarding Houses
Where Members Live.

Some Cheap and Nasty Boarding Houses
Where Members Live.
A Washington writes
Now that the great strain is over and
the election decided, we shall soon be-
gin to see arrivals of members of con-
gress and their families announced.
The constituents of many of these gen
tlemen would be surprised to know
how they live in Washington, The
number who keep house or live in a
fashionable hotel is comparatively
small. Many of them, through motives
Of economy (which | am far from
meaning to mention with eontempt),
have one or more rooms in a boarding
house, for which they pay twice what
the furniture would bring if sold at a
fair valuation. As for meals, they are
served at a miserable table d'hote in
the basement, or a dark back room,
where government clerks rush in
hungry at 4p.m. to dinner, and give
the NJ. e. no quarter in the matter Of
choice bits, unless said NJ. G. should
perhaps be chairman of a committee
that looks closely into department est
mates, and the number ofclerks in each
bureau, or is bordering a sensational
investigation. In some instances the
NJ. c. and his family have lodgings
only, and either walk from two to four
or more squares to take their meals at a
hotel OF have the necessities Of life
furnished in their shabbily furnished
parlor, on the NJ. C.'s dingy morocco
covered Office table, from which a pile
Of newspapers and letters from con-
stituents are carelessly swept aside to
make room for the unsavory looking
tray of "vietualsp brought in twice a
day. Suppose it is breakfast. There
is a smutty-lOoking tin coffee or tea
pot. from which a muddy liquid, full
Of grounds and luke-Warm. is poured
into thick china cups, whose hands
have long ago been cast aside. The
milk and sugar are in cups or cracked
tumblers. The plates are thick and
bear unmistakable marks of having
been set on hot stoves. The butter
looks as if it had undergone the same
experience. Thesteakis charred and is
tough enough TO try the strength Of
the N. C.'s teeth the potatoes have
soaked grease in frying, the buck
Wheats are clammy and heavy, and the
biscuits have yellow spots which are
a(r)iferous. To aid in digesting
this attempting repast the VI. C.'s
feet are cold and his head hot. in con
sequence Of the stove %(stoyes are an
article Of faith in Washington board
ing houses)-refusing to draw while
be was dressing, and then suddenly
bursting forth with an oppressive heat,
mixed with a strong odor Of coal gas
or the smoke Of the damp kidding
wood. With such preparation, what
wonder the laW.maker reads his morn
ing mail in a savage mood and accepts
friendly suggestions from constituents
in no heavenly frame Of mind, and
that he goes 10 his committee room or
seat 10 tho legislative hall a very diff
ferent man from him who, fresh from
/, the comforts Of a well ordered home,
/, in town or country, smiled on the
multitude from election platforms
when surrounded by hale, well fed
committee men, with the good pros
pect Of q goedly feast before another
great effort at elOquence was to be
made.
But there are boarding-hOus here
: where Tho member or senator is q
; sort Of demigOd, aud is sure 10 receive
: from the hands Of an a~ppreciatiye
landlady the tenderloin Of the steak al
: breakfast, the crispest celery at dinner
b and other choice bits. az Opportunit,
= may offer Once, while myself clerl
! IN q government Office, | boarded Will
p my m0ther ~ such . pelsign, and m
less a person than the late Cakes Alncs
Of Massachusetts,, WAS the wOrshipec
Z manbdy, There were few Of the othe.
] b0arders considered es6n suhd onougl
2 VI rAt ~ Ant AaDtf Will uiUI J. ~
r pleasantest seat in the shabby dinin.
= room was his, and, while on our tabll
e only The green ends Of the celery wer,
placed, bebirs hiW sil0d a glass fall 0
3 white, crisp, ~succuient stalks. When
J. ever he paased through the halls th
landladys little daughter would RUS
~ the pgrlor, where we poor, in
significant mortals we're efopohiH
over a cold stoYe, with tho gas hal
p. lighting the room, exclaiming, "Gh
) there he goes, just see him he's
d snembeTm
% Now the mode Of lifa which thol
representatives lead and tho food the
d cgt II matter " more importance Z
theil constituents than one woul
r. think from 3 ineFe eaFa0Py glance
The Germans were right IN namlp
4 their national legislature a diet, an
We seem % have An inkling Of the rca
Ie st4le M tbf case when We call bonn
volumes ~ The lsEgg digest. ID
T. Holmes was disposed " label ceFAl
q volumes IN his library pie crust, an
!, with more reason might the files VI Oh
y Congregational Record be labeled lei
q spig sgnperg agd bal champagne,