The silver state. [volume] (Unionville, Nev.) 1870-1903, 1883-06-02
OLD CURIOSITY SHOP.

One OF the Odd Places in Washington.
4 CORES spondent who visited the "0!d
Curiosity Shop" on Pennsylvania ave-
nue., Washington, says:
The old, gray-haired negro who tend
ed the bar was in himself a curiosity.
He told, as he filled my glass, that lie
had been tending the same bar for
thirty.tive years, and that his saloon.
was the chief resort in former times OF
the statesmen OF the capital. Said he:
Il have often seen Clay, Webster, and
Calhoun drinking here together. Henry
Clay and Daniel Webster used to be
here night after night. Clay always
drank brandy juleps, and bis spirits
rose rapidly under the influence Ct
liauor. Webster drank considerable,
and the only observable change in him
was that his eyes grew brighter, and
his talk became. if anything, more
measured. Calhoun seldom drank
strong drinks, and usually took lemon
ade or sherry, and often nothing. lie
would come in to talk. They were
lively fellows in those days, and they
liked their fun just as well as the big
men do now. They often played cards
here
'Did they gamble ?" / asked. ''No,
not for money. but generally for the
drinks. remember a game of cards
Clay and Webster and two other men
played here one rainy night They
played for the drinks and smells. The
men who won, drank, aud those who
were defeated paid for the drinks and
we're obliged to smell the glasses OF
their opponents. They started IN at
ten o'clock and they played until two
Luck was against Clay, and l don't
think he won drink the whole night.
| spent very pleasant half hour ex-
amining the curiosties hung on the
walls and put up in cases around the
room. In one place there was a pair oi
shoes formerly worn by Washington.
No. los, should say, with broad, HAT
soles and common. sense heels. No
aristocratic instep had the Father OF
his Country. and this pair looks more
like the slpshod pair OF a cobbler than
those OF an +. +. V.
Next to this was the seediest looking
white plug hat l had ever seen. Large,
old, and fuzzy, its nap worn of, and it's
color changed by the dirt OF several de-
cades, il was labeled as the hat of Cen
eral Zach Taylor, and the card stated
that it came from the battle of Palo
Alto. An autograph letter of President
Lincoln stood near by one OF John Z.
Calhoun's, the great Secessionlst and
the Unionist almost kissing each other
A picture Of Charles Guiteau was ap-
propriately made companion to one OF
j. Wilkes Booth, and ON the other side
of the room was theatre bill, giving
the play at Ford's the night the assas-
sination of Lincoln occurred. Bills Of
fering 100000 reward for Booths
arrest, the extras published by the
Washington papers the morning after
the tragedy and one containing special
telegram announcing that the assassin
had been shot. and calling for rejoicing,
made up parts of the collection showing
up the last days of the civil war. There
was currency of all kinds, postage
stamps dating back almost 30 their
origin, and a hundred or more auto
graphic letters, any of which would be
very valuable now. This little saloon
is one of the curiosities of the capital.
1t is not down in the guide books, but
it's history and museum make it worth