The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1882-08-30
WHOLE NO. 1925.
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
From our Special Correspondent.
WASHINGTON. Aug. 10. 1882.

W AsHlNNIoN, mug. 10, lcc-.
People away from Washington
are apt to think this a very dull
season with US, but the National
capital is never dull, and if We who
really live here did not have a
breathing spell after the wisdom
that dropped around US by the
solons of our Nation, and the fill
clustering and parliamentary tactics
endured for over eight months, there
is no knowing what the consequen-
ces might be.
Secretaries Lincoln and Teller
have made it lively here by their
action excluding women from OBJ
tanning appointments in their de-
partments in the eight hundred
appointments to be made Conse-
quently the women have donned
their war paint and organized a
Woman's National Labor League,
lor'the purpose of concentrating the
workingwoman's influence through
out the country, and Members and
Senators are threatened with the
exposure of the names and charac-
ters of some of their special favorites
appointed here.
The Star Route trial still drags its
winding way, and it is apt to be very
confusing to the average brain when
the thermometer is fooling among
the nineties to read one paper and
have it conclusively prove that the
other side are all liars, thieves, rob-
bers and other cheerful members of
society, and then read another one
and become impressed that it was
the other side again that deserved
the chrome in the above characters.
There are still few members of
the House and Senate that walk
around the deserted halls of the
Capitol
" You may break, you may scatter our Con-
gress if you will,
But a ghost or d few will lingcr here still"
Mrs. Garfield has presented the
Ohio State Association with hun
dred year lease of the house owned
by the late President and in which
he lived until taking possession of
the White Heuse, to be known as
the Garfield House. The house in
question is in one of the best and most
valuable portions of the eity-a
plain but substantial double house
with a pretty yard at the side. Since
his death it has had sad look, as if
the grief of the country was felt
even by the inanimate walls where
the Lappy family SO long resided,
not allowing the turmoil of public
life to break into the sanctity of
home. Col. A. F. Rockwell, Com
missioner of Public Grounds, who
was the warm, loving friend of the
late President, Is often seen strolling
by the deserted house sin the gloarn-
ing" and leaning sadly over the lit
tie fence-railing.
The comedy and tragedy of life is
more forcibly illustrated here in
Washington than, perhaps, in any
other city. The house formerly oc-
cupied by Belknap, when Secretary
Of War, where his lovely, fascinating
wife reigned queen and gave some
of the most brilliant receptions ever
given, 10 which the leading people
Of the country fought for invitations,
is now to fall into the ranks of
boarding houses, and the dining
room, filled with the recollections of
superb lunches, aesthetic dinners,
with hosts of brave men and beauti- /
ful women, Will now resound with |
the cries of the hungry boarder for
more hash and more substance to !
his soup. 1t is the common fate of |
mcst of the houses, celebrated IN I
times past, to end up in the inevita-
bic clearinghouse. The handsome |
house Of Chief Justice Chase. where
Kate Chase Sprague so gracefully /
presided, is now the refuge of any |
one who can pay monthly room {
rent, and has even gone through the
modification of having the gas turn
ed of for non-payment. To what
uses do great houses come at last
Your correspondent is writing this
letter in the room formerly occupied
by Bob Toombs and Alexander Fl.