Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1882-02-11
A GREENHoRN IN WASHINGTON
Correspondence INDEPENDENT.


the fields and forests with a robe
of spotless white, and give us prom
Use of the merry jingle of the sleigh
bells, my thoughts will revert to the
events of the past fortnight.
Impelled by a desire to visit some
friends and by a curiosity to see the
great city of Magnificent Dis
%tances," and | may add, the city of
parks, statuary and symetrical beau
ty, | snatched my grip-sack and in
just two hours and twenty minutes
| was launched into the great whirl-
pool of living humanity, which, to a
''gteenhorn," like myself, Was a
little confusing; in fact | almost lost
my equilibrium for the time being.
/ could hardly realize that / was
standing upon solid ground, but
after taking a bird's-eye view of the
situation, l turned my back on the
towering dome of the capitol, and
sauntering along the great thorough
fare of the city, l brought up in
front of the National" where |
reluctantly entered and called for a
glass of ice-water, but strange as it
may appear to you, Mr.. Editor, not
one soul in all that crowd of loafers
recognized me. Iexpected, of course,
to meet with a warm reception from
the landlord, as | had frequently
visited that house some twenty years
ago, but things had changed. | ex-
pect the landlord had changed; /
knew the boaders had.
After meeting with such a cool
reception at the National, / thought
l would hunt up the Metropolitan,
where / was almost certain | would
meet my old acquaintance, Beau
Hickman, who would, for a consid-
Grafton. pilot me to any point in the
city. l inquired for the place, but as
Rev. DR.. Newman was delivering a
course of lectures at a church by
that name, and my ice-water bever-
age giving me rather a clerical APP
pearance, my guide mistook me for
a minister and conducted me to the
Metropolitan church, with chimes
attached. l was just upon the eve
of calling for another glass of ice
water, as the landlord, as l thought,
said "Let us pray!"
Well, | was dumbfounded, amazed
and mortified, so l turned to my
guide and whispered to him that |
was hunting a tavern, not a church.
We glided out no~iselessly and were
soon in the august presence of Mr..
-. landlord of the Nj tavern,
/ Immediately refreshed myself with
another glass of ice-water, and sat
down in a corner to weep over my
own imbecility and objectionable
ignorance of the geographical con-
struction of what is destined to be
the greatest city in the world.
Having been a resident of this city
under the Lincoln administration,
and at that time being very familiar
with it's and streets, it was
not long until l was enabled to dis
Germ some of its old landmarks.
The City Hall which wasthe great
center of attraction at the time of
my visit, has undergone many
changes, being nearly three time as
large now as it was then, together
with its extensive park in the rear
and the statuary in front makes it
one of the attractive points of the
city. The old Treasury Department
and White House have changed but
little in comparison to others. The
grading of the streets has had a
great deal to do with the change in
the appearance of the buildings. 1t
would be a work of superrogation
for me to pretend to give in detail
all that my eyes have seen and my
ears have heard, neither was it my
object to give a description of this
vast city in its magnificent gran
deur, a thing which / consider my
self inadequate to do, but more par
ticularly to speak of the merits of
some of West Vjrginia's noble sons.
I had the pleasure of meeting our
worthy representative, Hon. j. b.
Hoge, whose gentlemanly demeanor
and manly dignity should always
command the honor and respect of
his constituency. He is not a drOne