The Washington critic., 1886-08-30
STREET CAR GLIMPSES.
Fifty Miles Of Travel for a Quarter
of a Dollar.
OVER THE VARIOUS CAR LINES.
Cheap and Convenient Way of Seeing
the Sights of u Great City.
OVER THE VARIOUS CAR LINES.

miles OF strcet railway In THIS city, ana
the six tickets which one can purchase
for quarter will cover them all, In
cluding about five miles Of ITcrdlc lines.
In this ride one can see more magnih-
cent residences, more elegant drives
and avenues, more parks, fountains
and statues, more points Of interest
connected With the history of our coun-
try's growth and prosperity, more mas.
sive public buildings and evidences of
public wealth than in any city in the
Union. One will not see as much
poverty and misery and squalor as is
found in other large cities, but he will
have an opportunity to study human
nature in field of varied subjects pre-
sented by the cosmopolitan gathering
of people Of all lands at our Capital.
WEST ON STREET
Take an 4 street car going west, at
Seventh street, early in the afternoon
when the sun seems to be about three
feet above the top of the Treasury
building. These open cars on the +
street line are pleasant to ride in, for
only two people sit In one seat. One
rattes along down i street past the
massive front and steps of the Patent
Office, although he may not notice this
building because he sees IL every day.
but this southern entrance really is a
magnificent piece of architecture.
Westward on f street you go at
rapid rate, and just as the car bob5
around Fourteenth street with jerk
hat al tnl
glimpse of group of gentlemen sit.
ting around the western side of the
Ebbitt House on the pavement This
the day, when the world has hal its
dinner and Its bottle of summer claret
you can see round dozen of jolly
well.fed looking gentlemen sitting on
here smoking and relating yarns, an
the portly form Of Major Ben: Perley
! Poore is frequently the centre of thJ
! yarn.telling groups.
ON HISTORIC GROUND.
On up the slight hill on Fourteenth
street you go and around the corner OF
II street. This is historic ground. All
these stately looking houses have his
tories. AS you cross Vermont avenue
at the Arlington, look to the left down
4 the street. Here is row of ol |
houses, once occupied by departed
statesmen, and the house where the a..
tempt was made to assassinate Secre-
tary Seward and nearly in front Of
:. which General Sickles shot Barton
Key. On the corner Of Sixteenth
street, as you pass, you see the old st.
Johns Church, erected in 1916, where
President Madison used to worship and
where pretty Dolly Madison has often
bowed her shapely head to the bene-
diction of the rector.
Further ON is the residence of w. w.
Corcoran, once occupied by Daniel
Webster, and from which, on market
mornings, attired in bottle. green
coat and black felt hat, he would
emerge on his way to do the marketing
for the family.
When you turn out Connecticut ave-
\ nue. past Farragut square and statue
| you are on one of the handsomest
streets in the world. Stretching away
for full mile to Dupont Circle is this
! magnificent avenue, bordered by ele-
CANT residences, the homes of people
of wealth and culture. Here are the
Shepherd mansion, the princely Brit.
ish Legation mansion, and a hundred
other modern palaces owned by officials
and private citizens. Eighty years
ago this ground was bought for S6G an
acre. Now it is worth from So to S15
square foot for the ground only.
!, There are thousands of people here
who remember when this was Il dreary
waste of marshy commons, inhabited
by bull. frogs, and but for the indomita-
BILE energy of Alexander Shepherd and
kindred spirits it would not be much
4 better now.
AT Dupont Circle pretty sight Is
presented. Here ten streets and ave
'nues diverge from the circle, and you
look down through fourteen miles
of shade trees and lawns. AS the cal
!, turns down p street, past the residence
N Of James G.. Blaine, which looks biz
and drear and lonesome with the after
noon sun on it, you see the famous
Stewart Castle" now the quarters o.
the Chinese Legation, off on the right
AT rafting pace down the p stree
grade, just catching glimpse of tn,
blue hills of Arlington, away off t
the left as you cross the bridge, thcl
up the hill and you are in Georgetown
WHAT A CONTRAST.
You seem to have suddenly steppet
into another country and age. A mo
ment ago and it was Il scene of moderI
houses, replcte with Queen Anne gables
red tiled roofs, oriel windows, closel
s aven lawns and glaveled walks; noN
II is an old fashioned, shady cobblC
stoned street, and old fashioned house
with great brass knockers and old
fashioned gardens, where myrtle an
bleeding hearts and sweet shrub an
other old.fashioned flowers used I
grow. Everything has kind of quie
and stately air, an air of diguiie
leisure. The majority of the oil
mansions are some distance back from
the car line, but some of them can b
seen, the LinthiCum mansion at tn
head of Congress street, the Lyon
mansion, the Green mansion, the Co
place and the Boyce mansion, "Th
Cedars," where the MurdOcks used [
entertain in almost regal style. All q
these places are going to rack aud rul
now, and the prim rows Of box, the wei
trimmed poplars and the fragrant cedar
are being cut out to make way (,
"modern improvements. AZ the lir'
turn to the left is the Georgetown Cor
vent. This Is one of the oldest reclus
converts In the country and one Of th
most select, as it numbers among it
black.robed nuns daughters Of the Iir'
families of the land,
THROUGH GEORGETOWN.
The ride through Georgetown is IN
teresting, and at every turn of III
many windings of the road arc PR