Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-05-21
The New Washington.

The protracted session OF the Senate has
gwen the Senators an opportunity
to see this metropolis In its beau
tiful vernal attire, with Its green
lawns, its many thousand shade trees in leaf,
and the numerous exhibitions of flowers in the
mont yards OF residences Really our SOlons
can regard washington as city In which the
whole people take an interest, and In whose
establishment and Improvement every state
can take certain degree OF delight and pride.
slonal Library just now cannot be surpassed In
any city on this continent. The city lies at the
spectators feet and Pennsylvania avenue
stretches out before him even It's mean. looking
ponent parts OF vista. Vistas are always
beautiful. and this one. terminating with the
Presidents House and the Treasury In the dis.
most beautiful In the world. Looking directly
westward, the mall spreads out before him.
with the quaint but picturesque buildings of
the Smithsonian Institute, the National Museum
and the Department OF Agriculture relieving
the monotony OF its once desert waste. Altar off
the huge white obelisk Of the Washington
men, and designed to become noble and com.
handing structure. When the monument is
finished, and the grounds OF the mall are laid
Out as public park there viii be no more beau.
tiful view than this anywhere.
The grounds Of the Capitol are already ex-
tremely beautiful, and those surrounding the
Presidents House, which have always been ad-
mEed, are now more worthy OF 1t than ever.
Lafayette Square is an attractive appendage to
these, and open spaces at the intersections OF
the various avenues and streets will, at some
future day, be planted and embellished, so as to
make an abundance OF gardens and shady prom.
enades all over the city. There are no grand
| palaces, such as make splendid attraction Ia
foreign capitals; but the Presidents House is
elegant and appropriate. and fully satisfies all
our republican ideas On this point. But the
Capitoi Is as grand government building as
can be found In the world, and, besides it's
vastness and elegance. IL has advantages Of
situation above those OF all the European
structure. and the Post Office is scarcely IL
ferior to it. The colonnade of the Treasury is
deservedly admired, and the new building for
the State, War and Navy departments Is a
magnificent and stately pile.
Inc plan OF washington has been riiicuied
Tor It's vastnesS, and lie may have seemed rlilc-
ulouS to have few thous and people so altered
over place that would lodge d million and
call 1t City. But the designers OF Washing
ton had calculated for futuriJy, aud alre Ady lt
Is beginning to show that it Will be large
enough for its plan. Within the past twenty
years its population has mere than dou oiled
ana many OF the present generation will live TO
see 1t compact as well as an elegant city OF
several hundred thousand Inhabitants. The
plan, besides being vast, Is perhaps the finest
ever conceived for great metropolis: Paris,
IN spite OF Its bouleVards, its Rue de Rivoli.
and its Champs Elysees can never be made as
superb city as Washington must become In
the course OF centuries. The universally wide
straight streets and the grand avenues radiat-
Ing from the Capitol and the the Presidents
House gives 1t an advantage In variety and Cir
culatlOn that no European capital possesses,