Omaha daily bee., 1883-05-18
NOT IN WASHINGTON GUIDE
BOOKS.
A Place Where Calhoun Drank
Sherry and Clay and Webster
Gambled.
Washington Letter to Cleveland Leader.

Washington Letter to Cleveland Leader.
l am surprised to find how little
people know of Washington and Its
life. Fifteen thousand strangers
come here every winter, and hundreds
of thousands visit the capitol every
year, but, as usual, net one man In
ton gees anything, and the great
masses at home know absolutely moth.
Ing CT the strange sights and strange
people who make up the 200, COO
residents of Washington. Last night,
for instance, in stroll on
Pennsylvania avenue, I noticed a
couple of congressman entering a
little saloon directly opposite the Ma,
tional theatre. 1t was a low wooden
building, old and weather. and
on the lintels Of Its door l noticed the
words, "John Hancock, founded
1910. Directly over this entrance
was the sign, "Old Curiosity Shop"
l entered a long, narrow room, with a
ceiling 10 low that the head of a Slade
would sorape 1t. The bar, fitted out
as elegantly as any in Washington,
covered the wall at the right of the
entrance. Back of 1t hung pictures
and relics Of the crimes and honors of
the past, and the walls of the rest of
the room were covered with articles
which would make any museum rich.
The old, grsy-haired negro who
tended the bar was In himself q curl.
osity. He told, as he filed my glass,
that he had been tending the same bar
for thirty.ive yesrs, and that his
saloon wss the chief resort In former
times Of the statesmen of the capital.
Said he: II 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 julips, and his
spirits rose rapidly under the
influence of liquor. Webster drank
considerable, and the only observable
change In him was that his eyes grew
brighter and his talk became, II any
thing, more measured. Calhoun sci.
dom drank strong drinks, and took
either lemonade or sherry, and often
nothing. He would come In to talk.
They were lively fellows them days,
and they liked their fun just as well
as the big men do now. They often
played cards here"
odd they gamble2" / asked. "Not
for money, but generally for the
drinks. I remember a game of cards
CLAY and Wester and two other men
played here one rainy night. They
played here for the drinks and smells.
The men that won drank, and those
that were defeated paid for the dainka
and were forced to smell the glasses Of
their opponents. They started In at
10 o'clock and they played until 2,
Luck was against Clay, and I don't
think he won a drink duringthe whole
evening"
l spent a very pleasant half .hour
examining the curiositios hung on the
WALTZ and put up In cases around the
room. In one place there was a pair
of shoes formerly worn by Washing
ton, No. l9's, / should say, with
broad, fiat soles and common.sens'
heels. No aristocratic instep had the
Father of his country, and this pail
looks more like the slipshod pair of
cobbler than those of an K. Il. Y.
Next to this was the seedest-lookinl
white plug hat / had ever g Large
old and fuzzy, Its nap worn off, anC
Its color changed by the dirt of sewers
decades, II was labelled as the hat Q
Gen. Zach. Taylor, and the care
stated that 1t came from the battle o
Palo Alto. An autograph letter from