Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1885-11-05
PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE
SOMETHING ABOUT WASHING
TONS GREAT STREET.
A Pen Picture Which is Both Accu-
rate and Vivid-North Carolina Av-

Special Correspondence of the Sentinel.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2.-The Capt.
tai has but one Avenue. Many States
have been honered, but none immor-
talized. North Carolina has dozen
squares on Capital Hill, and cuts
through Lincoln Park, where the
Statue of Emancipation stands. Yet
a stranger might rove here months
without noticing North Carolina Ave,
or Tennessee, or Kentucky, or indeed,
other patriotic spots in the wilderness
east of the Capital. So with others !;
they are merely local. The great State
of Pennsylvania has received the lions
share of honor She occupies forty
odd squares, and jostles with the Cap
itol, the Treasury, the White House,
the War, State, and Navy Depart
ments, and hundreds of other promi-
nent, if not puplic, places. Yet only
fifteen out of the toIty-odd squares
figures prominently. From the
FOOT OF THE CAPITOL
to the foot of the Treasury, the heart
of Washington seems to be centered.
1t throbs on these fifteen squares of
Pennsylvania Avenue, but custom has
usurped the right of the preat State
whose name these fifteen squares bear.
They are not Pennsylvania Avenue;
they are the Avenue. The stranger
whofa fails to tread this broad, magnif-
cent roadway is 4 stranger, indeed.
The Avenue IS almost Unavoidable.
TIE NORTH SIDE
is frequented most. 1t is the great
thoroughfare-the grand promenade
the national race=track. The most
prominent business establishments. and
hotels rest there, or are within stones
throw. Several squares near the be-
ginning are decaying. Trade and
fashion have travelled westward. Ital-
ians, and the poorer and rougher
classes, haunt the Avenue from 1st to
A street. Gradual decay is bringing
cheap hotels and boarding houses, and
ten times worse, into permanence in
the vicinity of the foot OF the Capitol.
That portion is very ugly picture.
But it is part Of the avenue. 1t is
not sighted.
''THE WRONG SIDE,
as Dom Piatt terms it, is sighted.
1t is, indeed, an entirely different
world from the North side The South
or the wrong side could never have
begun right. True, the Botanical
Gardens proudly give the start, but
the next square begins with bar
room, and saloons and petty establish
ments are the rule to Fifteenth street.
Respectable workshops or stores are
seen here and there, a second-class ho-
tel, few groceries and the Safe De-
posit Co. attract slight attention, but
fashion and refinement turn away in
disgust, and hug the other side. There
is nothing morally interesting across
the street. Ford's Opera House is un-
fortunate because the Avenue must
be crossed The "three points," just
beyond the Dime Museum, lay bare
the bed of vice which entities the
South side to s.Donn Piatt's pathetic
nickname. Responsibility may chance
there, but immortality lives there.
wHEl CONGRESS MEETS
both sides appear buster. The prom
enades of the vacation become more
interesting and resplendent. The
morning Avenue remains almost un-
changed. The mechanics who hurry
t. work are seldom seen by those
whom the great legislature brings to
the Capital. Departmental folk fire.
quent the Avenue more, and occa-
sionally catch glimpse of the Con
gressional countenance. But when
the great body of Congressional folk
take the Avenue, slaves of tool, pen,
and brain have gone to work. The
magnificent, portly Congressional form
is permitted to glide down to the Cap
itol without shock to the sublime
senses. Pretty women, prettily dressed
pass and soften his POLITICAL heart.
THE GRAND PROMENADE,
which follows the days ession, is not
the fault of Congress. The great leg
isiator takes the Avenue, again, to re-
turn home. Parasites, travelling agents
| and actors, departmental folk, any
body and erybody who has dress
or suit of clothes, consider this an op-
perfume time tor the evening constitu-
tional The men come out to see the
women; the women come out to see
the men. Every class, moral and i'm
moral, is represented. New. suits and
new dresses are christened at this
| grand promenade on the Avenue. Nc
| one looks to the South side. Interest
| is centered on the North. Pretty wo.
men steal from "the wrong side,," and
stroll down the North side as though
they belonged there No one disputes
| their right. They are pretty, we'll
dressed, and well-behaved. The Con
| rressionaI eye is often mistaken. But
| perhaps the fairer sex of respeetability
| make the most mistakes. They copy
| the fashions of "the wrong side"
na. AND MRS. FLORENCE
| have begun weeks engagement al
! the National. Their presence Is rel
ished by all lovers OF legitimate com
edy. Wm. j. Florence, and his tai
ented wife, long since became ster.
ling attraction They haye meritee
nothing but praise, and are always
snre of a welcome at the Capital, where
his Hon. Bardleeu Slate and her Mrs
General Gilaory, in The Mighty Dol