The Washington critic., 1886-06-22
w WASHINGTON CRITIC
WASHINGTON, JUNE a9, 1886.
TOPICS or THE DAY.

IOSl his llle uulluB lHe war, Au Ilu
official here, who had occasion some
years ago to examine the conduit which
conveys the Potomac water from Great
Falls, twenty miles above here, to the
Washington Water works, found upon
the interior walls "reminiscences of
young Monty" Meigs, as he was fa-
milarly known in his boyhood days.
General Moigs was the officer In charge
OF this huge engineering enterprise,
begun under jeff Davis when that in.
dividual was Secretary of War, by
which the Potomac water Is brought
from above Great Falls to the Wash
ington Reservoir The conduit is a
huge affair, SO large that one may
walk through It with ease when
empty. After 1t had been completed,
and before the water was turned
into 1t, General Meigs made tour
along portion of 1t and wrote upon
its walls above the water line in bold
characters, at intervals of few hun
dred yards, General M. G. Meigs. En-
gineer in charge" His son, who was
then q mischievous lad, followed
quietly at some distance and added be-
low the Generals inscriptions, land his
son Monty" This curious inscription
this gentleman found upon the walls
of the conduit many years after they
had been placed there, and after poor
Monty had ended his brilliant career.
80
Says the Washington correspondent
of the Philadelphia Record: Major Ben:
Perley Poore must be over 20 years
old, and yet no one thinks Of him as
more than so, for, while his thick,
curly hair and beard are SO gray as to
be almost white, he shows no other
signs of age. lie is as unlike DR..
Holmes "Last Leaf" as can be we'll
imagined. His nose is not thin. nor
does 1t rest upon his chin like a staff,
nor is there crook in his back nor a
melancholy crack in his laugh. He is
rotund and robust in body aud lively
and brilliant In mind He drives out
almost as much now as at any time the
last fifty years. and he can hold his
own with the brightest and wittiest
men in Washington, either during
the dinner or afterward. No. one can
tell story better, and few can sing o
chorus half SO we'll There are very
few men in this tired old world who,
after fifty years Of active life, could
preside acceptably over such club as
the Gridiron as Major Poore did last
year. 1t is needless to say that Major
Poore, who has eaten more good din
ners than any ten other men in Wash
ington, Is gormand of the most ex-
quisite taste; nor that, having been q
welcome guest at every notable enter.
tainment of the past half century, he is
an authority on social customs. But
he is much more than bon piDant.
For fifty years he has been critical
observer of men and events in Wash
ington and a close student of all schools
of national politics. He has been the
intimate friend of many of the leading
men in public life and on terms of
friendship with many more. During
all that time he has been con.
slant contributor to the newspapers,
the magazines, and the reviews. His
letters have had more readers, and
therefore, more admirers than any 9TH
ers sent out of Washington. They
have always been regarded as authori-
tative in New England, where 'Pcrley"
is as well known and as highly esteemed
as Noah Webster. Major Poor writes
five letters week still, and has had to
we are all looking forward with the
greatest interest to the forthcoming
"Reminiscences, which Major Poore
has been preparing, and which are
shortly to be published in two volumes.
They will be a most valuable addition
to the history of the great period which
they will cover.
%*x
1t is possible, says the Chicago Nal,
Mrs. Nellie Grant Sartoris may visit
her mother late in the summer She
has now proceeded to her Isle of Wight
residence, and will soon make visit
to the continent. The only daughter
of the great chieftian of the American
her mother to comfort her, but her
husbands father wrote such loving
appeal to her to return for the winter
that Mrs. Sartoris at once went back to
England. There has been such an
amount of gossip about Mrs. Sartoris
and her husband that feel authorized
to say that from the best sources
have heard there is no truth in the re-
port of Mrs. Sartoris being anxious for
divorce. Her husband is gay, and
perhaps would not by an American
moralist be considered a model hus.
band; but after all the model husbands
are few in this world, and If the wives
of all the husbands who are not models
were toIseek and obtain divorces, the
wives of the models would be so nu-
merically weak they would certainly
feel rather lonely.
~.
While the tariff leaders on the floor
of the House looked rather nurried
last thursday, as the moment ap-
preached which was to decide the fate
of the Morrison bill, there was still
more excitement visible in the galleries
assigned the families of members.
Most of the leaders wives, says the
correspondent of the Cincinnati Com
mercidl- Gazette, were there and seemed
more intent on the proceedings than
their husbands did. In the front row
in the east gallery sat Mrs. Morrison
with two very pretty young ladies'.
She watched her husbands every
movement as he stirred about holding
short conversations with his followers
She looked more interested than hope
full. OF course she knew beforehand
that there was a majority against the
bill, since she follows legislation as
closely as her husband, still her express
sion was that of person who, con.
ceding defeat, is eagerly watching for
some chance to escape it. The chat.
tering of the two young ladies by her
side seemed to disturb Mrs. Morrison
greatly. For several hours she bent
forward and raised her hand to her
ear, as if to shut out the sound