The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1885-02-27
waHINGTeN LETTER.
From our regular Correspondent
AsTTINGTON, Feb. %, 1880.

From cur regular Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Feb. %, 1850.
The Washington Monument has been
turned over. was the startling announce
ment on the street yesterday at tWeIVe
O'Clock. This did not mean that IL had
been overturned, but that 1t had oeen
turned dover-transfeTIed from the Mon-
ument Committee, who have had Il IN
charge for thi-ty.six years, TO the peo-
ple of the United States. Inc cerehlo-
niaI programme has now been comple-
ted, and the monument STANDS alone IN
its peerless grandeur, divinely tall and
most divinely fair the noDleSG UrlDuIe
to the noblest man.
The six thousand who composed the
civic and military procession, and who
were out from 10 A. NJ. until P. NJ,
standing for the most of the time mas
sed In a square about the monument.
had a foretaste of the horrors of war.
1t was bitter weather, and many, chilled
to the bone, were Frustrated with the
cold.
The procession from the monument
to the Capitol was we'll ordered and I'M
posing. 1 have seen many professions
move along Pennsylvania Avenue, Dut
never before have | seen them succeed
in keeping the street Gear, ana then
success on this occasion augurs well for
the much ialger procession that Will
move along the same route next week,
on the fourth of March. The sidewalks
of Pennsylvania Avenue are very VIDE,
but the spectators have been disposed
! to epcroach upon the street, to crowd
the column in procession, and to break
! the view from all but the first line. By
/ a successful disposition of mounted po-
/ Iicemen, the avenue was kept perfectly
/ clear, and all were enabled to enjoy the
spectacle. Major Dye, the chief OF po-
/ lice, received a letter of thanks from
/ the President for his success in manag-
/ ing the crowd.
| First came Gen. Sheridan in full uni
/ form. mounted on black horse, He
/ was followed by four aids, and "A large
| body of mounted men. Next in order
/ came the u. S. infantry and artillery /,
and then the volunteer military and CIV
! ic organizations. These were followed
/ by long line of carriages decorated
with the stars and stripes, in which sat
member of Congress and Justices OF
the Supreme Court. The President sat
| in a carriage drawn by four horses. Con-
spicuous at the head of the Southern Wis
| iting military companies, was General
! FitZhugh Lee, mounted on superb
The ceremonies at the monument
were very brief. The weather was 50
cold tina: not even the speakers uncov-
cred their bald heads, and those in the
| audience sat with their hats on and NOV
/ ed their benumbed feet constantly. AT
| the Capitol, from which ali but favor
ed two thousand were excluded, the Ger.
emonies were pIOtTacted, and the ad
/ dresses were longer, but were endured
by the audience with fortitude. The
first oration was written by Mr. Win.
Uhrop, who was the orator thirty-sever
years ago, when the corner stone was
laid. 1t was in the somewhat heavy and
redundant style Of rolling periods that
was considered fine rhetoric forty year:
ago. Mr.. Gladstone, Monsieur Gam.
beta, Lord Macaulay, or Mr.. Villas
would have said more in half as many
words. The Grafton was read by Mr.
Long. of Massachusetts, the writer be
ing too feeble to be present.
The oratiOn of Col, Daniels, of ViT
ginia, was fiowery and brilliant, sopho
morical and pOrtentious. The best or
ators OF the day practice a different
style, and the orators of the future viii
not find models in last Saturdays ora
tiOns, except of some faults they Should
avoid. Life is too short, and modeTI
common sense and culture is too pTacti
cal, to be cheated and tickled by words
words, words. This view does not ex
clude eloquence, but it does exclud,
graDdilOqueuce, which vaunts itself anC
substitutes gaudy sentences for chast,
and simple expression of thought.
old Mr.. Winthrop and young Mr.. Dan
iels will take care to revise their ora
tions before delivery, and carefully Gu
out all the fiGe things they have dote,
on, they may yet make pretty good ora
tors, but the old style of soaring tn
American eagle until it is out of sight
and making the larks sing at the gate
OF Paradise, will hot do for thes times