Wichita eagle., 1889-08-04
9ailY y eagle
WESTINGHOUSE DOG DAYS.
THE AWFUL QUIET AND OPPRES-
SIVE HEAT AT THE CAPITAL,
Some Delightfully."- Cool Places, Such as the
Corridors Under the Capitol and in the
Washington Monument Curious Facts
About the Monument
Especial Corresnondence.l

Washington Monument - Curious Facts
About the Monument.
Especial Correspondence
WASHINGTON, tuv- Washington in
midsummer and Washington in midwinter
are not the same cities. 1t is at this season
of the year a deserted capital The govern
ment is still here, and its wheels go on re-
volving lazily, but, with few exceptions, all
the well known faces Of public men have dis
appeared; the social queens and drawing
room bellies are at the seashore CT lakeside;
few stylish equipages are seen on the streets;
the caterers have nothing to do; even the
largest hotels are lucky to get dozen new
guests In day; one-half of the big houses
are tenanted only by servants. Society is
dead, trade is dull, and even Newspaper row,
wherein hundred correspondents maintain
pretense of labor, is 4istlesS and uninterest-
ing. The capital has fairly entered her an
nual period of warm weather Information
Without the senate, the house, the supreme
court and their thousands Of retainers and
satellites Washington is deserted village
Three months or so this siesta continues, and
then come the statesmen back again, and
then are renewed the innumerable activities
of legislation, politics, party strife, persG Gal
ambition, society, love, intrigue, lobby,
trade, which make so striking the contrast
between Washingtons summer and Wash
ington's winter.
No wonder people get away. 1t is a desert
town in which the heat holds carnival Built
in a sort of amphitheatre, surrounded by
hills, it swelters in the sunshine, often unre-
lieved by stirring breeze. A breeze from the
north or the south does little good Then the
hills cut it off But east or west winds come
down or up the river and mitigate the power
Of the heat. On a very hot day Washington
is a furnace Few of the buildings are tall
and the streets are wide. The sun pours in
unobstructed 1t warns the asphalt pave
ment heats it, fries it. Hard enough in
ordinary weather, the pavement softens
in mid-July till it is marked with foot
prints. The concrete stones heat by day
to give off at night. Stand on the treasury
steps at Of sultry afternoon and look
toward the Capitol. There is a long, wide.
glaring avenue of waving, twisting, sizzling
heat. You can see it, can feel its hot breath.
The great Capitol, a mile and half away,
seems to be dancing about in the hot blaze.
And the poor goddess Of liberty, standing up
there in the sun-won't some kind soul send
her a parasols
Yet there is no cooler spot In all the town
than may be found in the great building
which the goddess surmounts The Capitol
is kept open the year round, Sundays ex-
cepted. There are always visitors from
abroad eager to see its treasures of art, archi-
lecture and historic association. There are
always brides and bridegrooms. An old
guide says there never was day too hot,
nor yet one too cold, to keep the brides away
Al D. l. A.
visitors here whose homes are almost within
the shadow of the dome. The long, dark,
gloomy corridors in the basement are as cool
as cellars The suns rays never enter them.
the days heat hardly reaches them. When
the parks, the hammocks, the shady veran-
ias and all other resorts fail TO give relief
from heat, the paSsageways in this huge pile
of masonry are reliable and popular resort,
Children come here TO romp and play, and
their elders to sit in the comfortable tempera-
ture of the dark recesses
The Washington monument is another cool
place. Its interior is like cellar, only it is
a cellar that runs half a thousand feet toward
the sky The sun never enters, and there is
good ventilation from bottom to top, because
Of the difference of temperature between the
air which enters the door at the base and that
which comes in the eight windows at the top.
On hot afternoon there is no more pleasant
Journey than the elevator ride to the top of
this artificial mountain. Cooling winds blow
always through the shaft at the 500 foot
level, and a look at the white and sizzling
city beneath makes one all the more grateful
for the comfort here found OF course there
are many visitors. The elevators are loaded
with humanity at every trip leaving under
heath them as they ascend scores of persons
who were unable TO get aboard. These will,
however, patiently await the return of the
ear, for between them and the suns heat is
IN envelope of twenty feet of solid masonry.
1t is singular fact that there have never
been any suicides at this monument. | was
reminded of this one day last week on accom-
panying to the top of the shaft Mr. Charles
Lederer, the famous artist, cartoonist and
wit, of Chicago. Said he, pointing to one of
Tho windows at the 500 foot level:
81 suppose one goes out there once a week
On an average"
lone whatF'
"Whv, man or woman
No." replied, ''there has never been
suicide at this shaft"
'What, not one suicidel Has nobody ever
thrown himself out here9 Washington is IA
dull, unenterprising place, sure enough.
Why, if this monument were in Chicago the
authorities would have TO keep a net all
around these windows. If they didn't do
that they'd have TO send couple of wagons
around every evening 10 gather the bodies
from the base of the shaft. Such be"uti-
full, such charming, such perfect place for
. suicide, and nobody has made use of i'll 1t
is a shame The first man who throws him
self out here will win fame In Chicago
some fellow would have improved that OPP
portunity the day the monument was opened,
and from that precedent monument suicides
would have become all the style \ few
months ago young man out in our town
committed s'eT;ide in dress suit Now that
style is all tie rage We have had a half
dozen such suicides since. and the newspapers
have stopped writing them up because the
tailorS complained 50 bitterly. Three Of our
full dress suicides were mean enough TO go
aud do ii in rented suits, and any one can see
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