The Washington critic., 1886-02-19

same beautiful, rich stream of convcr.
sational eloquencc, and you never see
him about the hotels but n crowd Is
gathered around him listening to his
talk. Everyone likes Dick Winter.
smith, aud It was his popularity to q
large extent that gave his son jim, so
easily, the position of Doorkecpcr of
the last House. Jim Wintersmilh was
good story.teller, too, and his death
was mourncd almost as much by his
fathers friends as by his father.
~a*
Familiar around the lobby of the
Riggs House each evening Is the coun.
tcnance of General Thomas l.. Cling.
man, formerly Member of Congress
and United States Senator from North
Carolina. lie is very active man for
one of his age, which is between 20 and
so, and is as bright and lively in his
conversation as man of less years
The General went into the Confederate
army and since the war has not occupied
any Federal position. He is full of anec.
dotcs of the past and related the fol.
lowing the other night to the Cleveland
PldiHdcdlCr'S correspondent about q
dinner party that occurred in 1856
The Georgia delegation was on its way
to the Cincinnati convention, and
stopped over at Washington, and
General Robert Toombs gave them
dinner party. Present at IL
were Douglas and Cobb, who
were candidates for the Presidency. A
gentleman named Gardner was the head
of the Georgia delegation. When the
party was about TO separate Gard
ncr turned around to Cobb and Doug.
lass and, filling his glass, said: Here
Is hoping that you may each live TO be
President of the United States" The
"little giant" from Illinois. who could
not refrain from II joke, said: That's
long life to you, Cobb" Another
gentleman sitting by and hearing the
story said that 1t reminded him Of one
he heard about Jack Hale of New
Hampshire, the great Abolicionist, and
Henry Clay, during the discussion of
the compromise measures of 1850.
Clay said to Hale: This abolition agi.
tation is wrong. Is mischievous, will
have a bad effect on the country; be-
sides, there's nothing in it." Hale re.
sponded: "You are mistaken, Clay;
there's a great deal in it; this agitation
brought me into the Senate. There's
something in that 10 me-"
A.%
Ancnt the Washington monument,
its appearance and its history, a cor
respondent of the Troy Times is rcspon.
sible for the following: "Thc monu-
ment is a great disappointment to VISIT
ors. While the structure is in reality
535 feet high, 1t does not appear, in
the eyes of the average mortal TO be
over 2j0. There is no difference in the
effect whether seen from Capitol hill,
the White House or the Avenue. As
viewed from the business portion of the
city one would say that the shaft
was ten or fifteen feet across and less
than 300 feet high. Everybody feels
bad over this, for we know that the
monument is the biggest thing ever
built by human hands, and we would
like to realize the fact whenever we
gaze upon it. Looking up at the top,
when at distance of 100 yards or 50
from the base, a person receives better
impression of the height. A hazy at
mospherc also aids the effect. 1t is still
better TO view the great shaft from q
distance Of ten or twelve miles. Then
| il appears TO tower above the clouds,
and the spectator gets good idea Of
its immensity. In the miserable-look-
ing rural district, between Washington
and Baltimore, say dozen miles from
the Capitol, there is nothing to denote
a progressive civilization but sight of
the monument The country is the
very abominaton Of desolation, and,
standing there, one might fancy that the
great white shaft piercing the heavens
| was a monument TO II fallen kingdom
or a dismembered republic. While
the structure tittingly commentaries
the life and services Of Washington it
also stands as q monument to the Gu
| pidity and wastefulness of the human
family. During the years when con-
tribution boxes stood in the various
department buildings for the collection
of the building fund, sneak thieves
found way TO open them, and thou
sands of dollars were purloined by
nightly raids. Thousands more were
wasted during the century in which
the project was on foot"