Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-12-24
WASHINGTON.

BY MARY CLEMMER.
Saturday last was delicious intervale Z
a day--a day Of days, lying soft and blut
tinged with gold, between the SHOWS pile
behind and before Every year bring
such days, when the angels Of the air I
the heavens above seem TO open wide th
gates Of Paradise. az II 30 tempt to an ur
ward glance the earth bound gaze OF III
eager denizens Of this waiting Capital
What bounty Of color, what continents o
silvery cloud, what oceans Of tranaui
space. what worlds Of rest seem 10 obel
ont OF the universe above ones head.
The life below may be fragmentary, un
sutheing; II may be weak, selfish, or wick
ed; IL may be full Of toll, weariness anf
pam; but no limit can be set 10 the posi-
bility, the promise Of existence, perfect
complete, that seems 10 come down from
above. Such was the spell of last Satur
day. The tranquility Of the earth IN its
sphere seemed 10 touch the little child on
the street. The snow touched buds on the
pushes woke 70 appealing life in the re-
turning sunshide; flowers past the thres.
mold OF winter smiled in piteous beauty
along the garden-paths.
''The year smiled asst drew It's DEATH
But there was no perturbation anywhere.
Washington seemed swatbed with content.
though Congress was coming on Monday.
This was more than fancy. The very
streets Joined with nature and proclaimed
That the battle had been fought; that now.
victory won, men rested from their labOrs.
Nothing on the streets or anywhere indl-
Gated that a session Of Congress was about
70 begin. On Sunday the Congressman
must have dropped from Heaven, or come
FN 81. T..
morning here they are. The city blossoms
IN banners, the legislative flags fly above
the Capitol wings, the village look Of the
streets has vanished, and the vast metro
politan crowd has already set its face to-
ward Capitol Hill. Within the Capitol YOU
recall the clean tiles and cool spaces Of the
summer corridors; and 10! once more you
ask from what subterranean passage the
earth has emptied the mass Of mortals
who now Jostle and throng in the vast
areas, from end to end. The strangest
looking mortals | have ever met have met
IN the corridors Of the Capitol, and TO nv
dylng day 1t must remain an unanswered
question from whence they come or whith-
er they go.
Nothing unusual marks the outward as
pect OF the meeting of the Senate. The
same quiet dignity prevails which always
marks that body; but the sight of the |
Senate Chamber brings the thought Of |
change to more than one of its members.
In less than three months the Vice-Presi- |
dent, William A. Wheeler, the stern, true
man, to the regret Of many, will Law down |
the gavel Of office, and for time, at least, |
go into retirement. Thurman, Eaton and |
Randolph have been defeated, and these
powerful Democrats are to weld their |
places to Republicans. No one man in the |
Senate could personally be more missed
than Thurman. His extended service, his
great talents, his pronounced individuality,
his hearty fellowship, even with his oppo-
nents, all mark him, and will make him
missed, asone of the nOblest Of Democrats.
In the House of Representatives the
scene, as usual, is more animated and ex-
hlleratlng. There are mors flowers on tue
desks, more NOISE in the air, more of the
stir and hum Of effervescing human pres
Ssence. There is no sound just like-this
hum OF the House. 1t is like that of a
vast school inst breaking into life. The
intOnation of the Clerks voice,
rs he calls the roll, seems to reach further
and clearer than any other. Their the zest
Of greeting below. the hand-shaking, the
'houlder-clapping, the occasional hugging,
The spontaneous love-making of healthy,
hearty men to each other is not an often
'ive sight. You know that they will lapse
ntO wrath and occasional rage; that,
netaphorcally, they will make faces at
zach other in due time; but that in per-
pective cannot make less agreeable the
light of the first morning, when they rush
nto each other arms IN such delightful
unity that you are constrained to say:
Behold how these brethren love one an.
ther" From the accustomed throng no
ace could be more missed than that of
feneral Garfield. For so many years he 4
at in this Chamber, marking the muta-
ions OF this changeful body. 1t seems but
he other day when, in his accustomed seat,
e seemed qdite alone. His old comrades
ad passed out. The strangers of a new
arty, inimical to him and his measures,
ad come in. They made war upon his I
ecord and he seemed more and more alone. |
Tut he held fast to the faith of Repubi- !
anism; he served it as faithfully, as tire
'ssly, in contumely and scorn, as he did
its day of prosperity and power. What
yer his errors, he was true 10 what he be- |
eyed to be the truth, true to the people, =
nd to-day he rejoiees in the peoples re- t
ard / u