Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-03-31
WASHINGTON BETTER,
4From our Regular Correspondent,

A " -
lFrom our Regular Correspondentl
Contrary to all precedent and
prediction the city witnessed, on
Saturday, a cloudless st. Patrick's
Day. Pieces of green bunting,
adorned with the green harp OF
Erin, foated here and there in the
morning air, and notified those who
feel no interest in st. Patrick's an
niversary that the day had come
agains The various Irish organiza-
tons paraded the principal streets,
as is their wont, and though the
day is not yet included in the list of
legal holidays, the appearance OF
the streets, especially about the
City Hall, where the procession was
formed, indicated that business had
been suspended for the time by a
large population of the city. Be
fore the parade, high mass was eel
ebrated at st. Patrick's Church, and
the sermon of the day was deliver
ed by Bishop Keane of Richmond,
Va. The procession proceeded to
the White House, where it was re-
viewed by the President, and here
the throng was so great that the sol
itary policeman on duty could with
difficulty keep the people off the
portico. The line continued the
march to Georgetown, returned to
the City Hall, and dispersed.
The plans for the Improvement of
the City during the coming year
are so many that one does not know
how to enumerate them, land new
schemes are being constantly-devel-
Oped. Among prominent enter
prises may be mentioned the Smith
sonian Institution, which is being
reconstructed, and enlarged, Con-
gress having appropriated $4,000
to carry out this work. The, GAR
field Memorial Church on Vermont
Avenue is rapidly approaching
completion. st. Marc Hotel is to
be enlarged and improved through
out. Plans have been prepared for
a magnificent fiat-houSe on the site
now occupied by the Metropolitan
Club House at the corner of IL
street and Vermont avenue, and
another on Dupont Circle. These
suites of rooms, or fats, have proved
quite a success here, and many
structures of the kind will be COM
menced during the coming year.
The popular Portland q its are to
have an addition of. sixteen new
suites, and a leading real estate
agent says he could dispose of a
hundred similar apartments if he
had them for rent. Work on the
new pension building is now in
progress, on the northwest corner of
Judiciary square. The foundations
have been nearly completed. and
the brick laying will commence
this week with a force of 300 men,
which will be increased. 1t is to be
an imposing structure, alter the
manner of a Roman Palace, with
its walls surrounding an interior
courtyard, and all its apartments
communicating directly with the
outside air and light. Gen. M. G.
Meigs, the supervising architect.
has followed in a general way the
plan of the great Italian Palaces,
the first building of the kind ever
attempted in this country. 1t does
away with the dark halls and bad
ly ventilated rooms that are found
in nearly all of the public buildings
here, and which have had such a
deleterious effect upon the health of
Government employees. 1t will
not be ready for occupancy before
the emil of the year, and will pro-
vide accommodation for 1900 clerks.
While every other evidence of
progress has manifested itfelf in this
beautiful city, the citizens still
clamor for some public spirited
man with capital to build a new
theatre, opera house, or music hall
of sufficient capacity for any posi-
BILE occasion. But no one with suf-
ficient means seems to catch the
idea or see the utility or necessity
for such an enterprise. Yet, every
year, the city has gatherings and
conventions of various kinds that
bring thousands of people, and there
is no suitable building large
enough to accommodate them.
The fashionable season here is
longer than elsewhere; there is
much local interest in musical
and dramatic matters; taste is as
broad, and culture is quite as liberal
in Washington as in some other
cities that arrogate to themselves
the sobriquet of the Paris or the
Athens of America. The inaugural
bail is a periodical occurrence, and
it would seem all these interests
could be concentrated in the enter
prise and insure its financial sue
cess. A grand musical festival is
an impossibility at the National
where such projects ought
to be fostered, and where they evil
IDENTIFY center if the one difficulty
were removed. However, the city
is too full of promise for any public
necessity to be long deferred, and it
is probable the year will bring forth
a project that will meet all the re-
quirements of the case.