The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-03-16

fore he left: also. that the material was
first laid down on the floor and then the
President was laid down on it, and when
one side was cut the tailor deftly Topped
him over as if he had been griddle cake.
and cut the other side, which is unques-
tionably one of the biggest tarradiddles
ever told even in Washington. Pray. dear
and respected public, don't believe whop
pers like this, which get started in the
newspapers and fly all over the country.
One of the eccentric characters of
Washington-Stephen @. Parrish-drop-
ped out of life few days ago. La many
ways he was man out of the ordinary
run. He lived upon Capitol Hill, in a
plain, unpretendiug house, and was well
known to the students of public affairs.
but to the general public he was COM
pletely unknown. He. discovered new,
mine, from which he has delved during
the last twenty years very comfortable
fortune He came 20 Washington from
Indiana Just as the war was breaking out.
He had place connected with the senate
While there he learned how the Pub
Docs. are thrown away where they are
first printed, and upon this knowledge
he has made a fortune. Under the
law any one can obtain from the
public printer copies of public doc
uments by paying the cost of the print
ing of extra copies desired Parrish
has always laid by stock of any docu-
ments of value, until the regular supply
was exhausted and then he would furn-
Ish copies frem his private stores at fancy
figures. He would ransack secondhand
bookstores for old documents. During
the vacations of congress he would travel
about picking up good bargains in this
line. The result was that he had con
stantly on hand almost any report or
pamphlet required back to the first found
ing of the government. He was constant
ly supplying full sets of congressional
debates, finance reports, AMI the like.
When the southern members senators
seeded Parrish fell heir to their docu-
ments by discreet purchases He never
would buy books from public men. His
method was to trade with them When
public man would discover some rare
book in Parrishs collection the latter
would exchange the book for a number of
public books of less value. Some mem
bers have turned i'll all their books to
Parrish in exchange for some few special
books out of his rare collections. One of
the features of his business has been to
collect authorities and statistics for am
bilious statesmen. Many speech re
plete with learning and bristliug with au-
thorities has been prepared ins Parrishs
work shop. Parrish had most remarkable
memory. 1t was as accurate and full as
that of AMI Smith, who has charge of
the senate document room. | once asked
Parrish the highest price he ever received
for single public document He said
$75. This he obtained from p. T. Bar
fNre Il Il ficl,a, Of
Alaska by Professor Elliott Olly seven
tyfve copies were printed. Parrish
bought his copy of member of the cabinet
and allowed him $25 for it in other
books.
The star route trial drags slowly along.
The troubles which atflct ex Senator
Dorsey on every hand prove surely enough
that the way OF the transgressOr is hard.
George Bliss, one of the government c0un-
sci, has beautiful voice. A constant
visitor at the trial says that when Bliss
talks it sounds like a wagon load of scrap
iron driven at full tilt over Il corduroy
road The city is awfully quiet. Nothing
makes up to us for not having Congress
in Washington all the time. 1t is true the
president and the galaxy of officials re
main. The vast number of persons who
come here for pleasure remain until the
warm weather to enjoy the charm of a
Washington spring. With 100000 peo-
pie and half the celebrities in this cou1-
try within our borders. still we are not
happy. The frequent remark that Wash
ington is the winter New port is borne out
BY the fact that there are charms of town
and country in Washington. In the spring
there is as much greenness of foil age as
In any country village few blocks
bring one to public ground, with grass
and flowers in luxurious abundance-the
people have plenty of elbow room, and
the lots, to people of other cities, must
appear like small plantations May is
really the month in which to see Wash
ingtOn. The white house then looks like
q quaint old country house. surrounded
by its ample grounds-but May is not
here and congress is going aud every
body feels lonesome. DON PEDRO.