The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1883-12-25
The SPIRIT OF DEMOCRACY.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER rs, 1888.
The Washington Monument.
Cleveland Lea Ter Letter.

Cleveland Lealer Letter.
The Washington mohument is to-day
400 feet high, and it will reach the height
OF ST. Peters at Rome before The work
stops this year. Col. Casey, the chief
engineer, tells me it will be finished bv
this time next year, and that the work is
heing done as rapidly as possible. Ore
cannot appreciate the size OF the monu-
ment at distance, although it can al
ready be seen miles away in all of the
country surrounding Washington, 1t
is, however, only when you get close to
il that you appreciate its grandeur. Al
500 yards it is great tall white shaft,
which rises in one solid column from the
ground and seems TO rest against the
blue sky at i,s back The Potomac be-
low it almost wa.hes. i,s feet, and il
stands guard over the White House, the
Capital and the national city. As you
take step nearer you see great net
stretched around The top. and creatures
walking on It's edge no larger than The
little mideels who tied Gulliver 10 the
earth with strings. These lilliputians
are, however, full grown men, and that
net is there to catch ;hem il hey lose
their balance aud fall over 1t has al
ready saved many life, and very often
the men working on the monument lkH
into 1t. The stones of the oatside ase'
measured with the eve to see whether
they he even with those below, and In
STOPPING over to do this one is very apt
to become dizzv. One day cat was Ia.
ken to the top Of the monument: She
ran all around. and finally jumped af.
She lighted, and for moment vas sun
ned Then re,iving, she ran away and
has not heen seen since. No other ami
nal could have survived such fall.
Go another hundred feet closer to the
monument now, and you notice that It is
not all OF one block, but that it is made
of hundreds of squares laid a. evenly as
mosaic floor, and you can readily see
by the difference of color where the old
work ends and tae new work begins :;
that near The bottom for l56 fact is of q
dingy, dreary gray, while joined to this
above the rest rises Of an almost dazzi g
whileness. The lower third of The mon
ument seems to have been made of stone
of many veins, and these have come ont
with age so that this part seems as mot
tied and streaked as though some second
class painter had tried his granting
brushes upon it. Go still closer aud you
see this much more plainly, and you also
see that the whole OF this part OF The
monument is breaking at the edges where
the stones join, ana that little pieces o.
stone are broken off as though thev had
been cut with chisel. The trouble is
that the edges OF the stones were not
chamfered when the monument was built
ard the weight is so heavy on the CO...
ners Of these stones that it causes them
to break of. This will not, it is thought
| impair the strength of the monument.
hut it gives its lower part an unsigt'lN
look. Several of these blocks are crack
ed through, but the most Of them mere
ly at the edges, and this cracking vii he
avoided in the new part by cutting of
the edges into groo where the stones
Join. Of course the future of the mon
ument is question that only time can
tell. ] had talk With Louis Smith
mver, the man who is TO baild the new
national library, if Congress ever passes
the bill for its appropriation He says
YOU can tell'nothing about it. Tbefx
pertinent has never beentried b"sofe,ahd
The stones cannot be tested. You nay
test them as 10 whether they i stanf
the weight now to he put upon ihem
but how can you tell what will be theil
ability TO stand the same weight when
they have been exposed to the severi,ie'
of the weather for City yesrs3 In ths
time their very constitution nav b,
changed, and they will not be able Il
hear what they will now with ease
Nothing hut time can tell and time slon
will tell whether the Washington monu
ment is TO outlast the pyramids.
|, The monument now weighs nearly on
hundred thousand tons 1t is SO mas
sive that 1t can hardly be described
These blocks have heen speaking q
are nearly as large as an ordinary libra
rv table and its walls are rs thick as
good sized paror is wide. Each side IS s
the base fiftv.fse feet long, having
frontage quite as big as two large house,
ana at the top they will he thirty-6v
eet wide or fifteen feet wider than ,b
houses in the average dwelling -hous
block. Think of stone double hous
big encugh to have fat Of tour rooms
zach & teen feet and five foot ha
running through the center, and you cal
imagine the attic Of the Washington
monument five hundred feet above tbs
ground.