The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1886-05-14
Washington Letter.
tt-rum our regular correspondent
WASHINGTON, Nav 10. 1SSG.

There is a good deal of hustle about the
White House Just now which is cot due to
annual house cleaning. Society young
ladies who profess to know all about it as
sign the cause to the approaching transfer
| Of Miss Cleveland from the exalted social
post She has filed for more than year and
| the succession Of MISS Folsom to the posi-
ton of first lady of the land. President
! Cleveland has the name of being the least
/ communicative of all The Presidents, and
no one has been able to cntrap him into an
admissionaS 10 theGatc ofthe ceremony 1t
| is announced, however. by the ladies who
! claim to know. for the first week in June,
for the reason that Miss Cleveland retreS
| to her New York home during that week.
! Congress will still b. III session rushing
through the appropriation bills, and as it
would he difficult for Mr.. Cleveland to
| leave the city at that time. it is also set
down as certain that the marriage will take
| place at the White House. The President
! has been quite annoyed by the immense
amount Of gossip that has been published
about his approaching nuptials, and will
doubtless be glad when it is all over. The
big. silent old bachelor is bashtu and
does not relish having his tiancee paraded
over the country Aud then the iabber of
his wife-eleet's relations. who are ioylully
basling in reflected greatness O. and more
OF them are turning up every day.
After a three weeks discussion of the
great River and IIarbor bill, the House
voted 4l5. 00O,o to patch up the waite!
ways of the country, and dozens Of villages
will rejoice to learn that the creeks which
mcander past them are going to be i'm
proved so that the local cabbage crop can
go to market quickly and easily But the
Capital OF the Nation was ignored in the
grand dole. The Potomac Flats got moth
ing.
The tendency of Congress To waste time
on insignificant subjects received striking
exempifieation during the past week. The
House spent one whole days session in
fruitlessly discussing the war services of a
twclve-year-old boy. His claim to a
bounty Of 5000 led to revival of war
memories in which the battle Of Richmond,
Ky, played an important part. This boy
being refused muster i'll an Ohio regi-
ment on account of his age and size, it was
claimed that he purchased uniform and
served in the regiment year, acting as a
buglcr and performing gallant scent duty.
Representative Bragg, of Wisconsin. in
a sarcastic speech, said the great patriot
ism which had been displayed by the boy
seemed to have oozcd away. and he had
become a beggar asking money of the
Govcrnmo 4 touch of sentiment was
added to Il picture of battle scene by
placing in HE foreground the figure of a
dead drummer boy. with his dry:m beside
him. But it was only sentiment. In re-
atty the drummer boy at the beginning
of Il battle, could he seen breaking the
head of his drum and running to the rear
tn do hospital service One of the most
glorious memories of the war was of
the noble women Who became nurSts in
order to alleviate the suferings of the sol
der, but now these women were found
coming to the War Claims Committee
begging that their gratuitiuuS services
should be coined into dollars and cents
That knocked all the sentiment out of
the thing He wanted some Of the
rich memories of the war preserved. He
did not want them all brought down to
dollars and cents Representative Weaver
of Iowa, after admitting that war pictures
were very deceptive, called attention to
that particular ''humbug in American
military history, which pictured an Off
Ger leading Il charge. The officers We're
generally where their order and the rules
of war required them to be, in e safe place
in the rear. willie the privatcs did the
shooting, lighting and dying. Mr.. John
stoH of Indiana maintained that a lad
might do good service in regiment, and
he instanccd the eases of two boys in his
e.iment who had done their duty gal
} lantly AT the battle of Richmond KY
They did as much for their country as did
the man who laid tie Iron Brigade and
who now attacked boy who had barred
his breast to save his country. The gen
tleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Bragg, had
; attacked the nurses in the army. If poor
woman had given her service to her coun-
try, and now, with health shattered and
means gone, asked the country to do some
thing for her, was it not as honorable for
the government to help her as Ia raise the
pension Of generals widow from $50 to
$50. WESTON.
y Presbyterian pastor at MiddIetown
Ga few miles from Long Branch), having
declined to sign a petition against the
granting Of a new license to man who
has been keeping the only hotel there, the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union
have publicly prayed for him-thc clergy
man.
The National Temperance Society has
lately issued an excellent Ritual and Man
ual for Bands of Hope and other juvenile
temperance organizations. prepared by
Thomas X. Thompson, who is an active
worker among the children, and under
stands fully the needs of children's organ
zations This is an entirely new publica-
I ff,tt, o,,I u,tnpIints a ioufr f.It uon1 IJrian