New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-04-29
GOSSIP AT THE CAPITAL.
WHAT rs TALKED OF IN WASHINGTON.

WASHINGTON, April ZS.-lb ~ Ih'''O'e
wonder what the circumlocution ofice-if II can NC
possible that there is still such bureau anywhere
npder any Government-would think of Colonel
Tmdlev,s telephone Colonel Dudley is the Com
missioner of Pensors-a brisk energetic man a.
the head of probably the busiest bureau III 'n0
Government He has o soldiers impatehce WIN
slow processes and no fondness for 1oio"ihe lou
tape through all its convolutons' 90 'n',e III a
over his desk an ugly metal elbow anu vi n '"V CO.,
within easy distance is the telephone. ino 80
mis- ioner is on the second floor OF Tue "",e
That floor is full of clerks and there arc ioun 49,
mora Of clerks above him. Two blocks away on inc
avenue is a large building also full OF cieihT'
and there are others-nearly 1,6OO III All
Th talenboue commands the entire army
The Commissioner wants to give oircc-
tiop. He signals the operator; o'o iuo
smith, Smith is probably on the tmrd noor o 'ne
buiidinp two blocks away, but he Las a eieonoho
on his desk also and he answers almost as quickly
"a if he ere talking to the Commissioner across MS
table The direction is given In an instant ana the
Commissioner turns to the next matter space mas
been annihilated and red tape is nowhere. Con
gresham asks for information of the status of the
clam of the needy mother of boy who was
shot dead at Atlanta. "Give me Gibbs" remarks
the Commissioner to the telephone Gibbs Is
promptly bestowed upon him. Tell me the status
of claim 1000, OO1 Mary S. Brown. mother of Paul
Brown, Goth New-York Volunteers" GIBBS wants
to know if any additional" evidence has been
iled--that is evidence supplying points which were
wanting in the evidence first submitted There has
BEEN but when the Congressman does not Know
"Giye me Peters," says the Commissioner, turning
| away, and in a moment Peters is busy looking
| up the record. A moments talk, the Dell
sounds the Commissioner listens and then tells the
Congressman that the needs better evidence OF
| .bo on cannot
| passed until that is furnished. And 80 on. The
whole cost of the telephone service is $500 year.
less than Is paid to messenger, but doing the
work of many.
The amount of business transacted by this bureau
is enormous Its monthly mail is as large as that OF
| a city of 10000 inbabt During March there
were received about 100000 pieces OF mail matter,
and there were sent 130,000-nOt all the COM
munications requiring acknowledgment.
AsIwas walking down Est the other afternoon
| two horsemen it always is two horsemen somehow.
| and never one or three-passed up, walking their
horses slowly, evidently after long gallop One
| of them was an old map, his white hair
| hidden under cap His head was snow
| white and his shoulders were little
| rounded but he sat on his horse with a hrmness
| and ease that many young man might have enVied
| II was George Bancroft. who IN October next will
both in body and mind that probably those who
know him will hardly realize what remarkable
| example of prolonged vitality he presents. Few
| men reach his age at all-and very few who have
| passed their lives in hard, steady brain work.
Those who do climb into the eighties usually creep
| along in the sunshine, glad of a few more years OF
| warmth and continued existence. But Mr. Bancroft
is to-day vigorous active capable, and still hard
student and faithful workman at his desk Such
prolon gatio of life and such preservation with
II Of every faculty not only of work. but of enjoy
ment must he famous incident when the literary
history OF the period comes TO be written.
| II gives some notion of the time he has
| lived through to say that he made the
acquaintance of Goethe at jena four years after the
battle of Waterloo. He is now as old as Goethe was
when he ned and quite as busy with his pen as the
great German master was to the last. lie is only
one wear younger than Franklin when he died,
and has every prospect of goodly period Of life be-
fore hInn He has passed far beyond the goal OF
many of the great historians with whom his name
will be associated. Gibbon died at hfty-seyen,
Macaulay at ffty-nine. Prescott at siIty-two
Motley at sixty-three Hume at sxty-fye. Mr.
Bancroft has Outstripped the most fortunate OF them
by nearly twenty years. and the tale is not told yet
But 1t is not bis age, but his youth that remark
able. Like Horace Binney, the leader oil the Phiia-
delphia Bar, who in active life until he died at
ninetv-fye Mr. Bancroft still works hard and plays
hard He is often in society and is full of spirits.
| His memory is as clear 1T ever was. lie
| never repeats a story to the same person,
| which men have been known to do under
ephty-three. He published last year at eighty-one
| wears of age, his two volumes the Formation Of
the Federal ConstitutIon-an incident to which
there are not many parallels in the lives of literary
| men, This book was the product of seven or eight
| wears hard labor. begun after he had passed the
Psalmists term Of life. And now he is busy making
| the last revision "-being the secondof history
| which will occupy him for years TO come. One in
| cdent connected with this shows how thorough
| and treess lie is. The whole subject OF Indian GUS
| toms manners etc. has been developed through the
labors of antquarlans, within, say the past twenty
| wears. Little was known at the time Mr. Bancroft
| wrote the earlier volumes of his hist Dry, and the
| account given there OF the abOrgines neces-
| sarly written with limited knowledge. When he
began the present revislOn-ln which he Is pruning
off many of the flowers of rhe toric wit
| which he adorned and perhaps over adorned the
| pages in his younger days-he secured the CO.
operation of the most learned Indian ethnoIogst III
| the country The book was critically examined on
this topic. and every deficiency sternly brought to
view. Then Mr. Bancroft set to work to master the
| subject for himself, and when lie had read every
| book and periodical article be could find in the
| CONGRESSIONAL Library, and every book he could
buv he felt that he could venture TO write upon it,
! Regular hours, abundance of exercise, and moder-
alton in eating and drinkng.are the rule OF his lie,
and have 10 doubt prolonged it, His hour for sit
ting down at his desk in the morning is six In the
| winter and five in the summer. He is All incessant
. buyer of books, and every mail brings him num-
{ Der in French German OF English He keeps con
slant watch of all new movements In science OF
politics, and is said to be specially interested
in German affairs. where he feels that
his friend Bismarck-fOr they became init.
| mate when Mr.. Bancroft was Minister THERE'S
nursuipg a mistaken policy of repression. One Of