Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1889-12-20
Washington Letter.
From Our Regular Correspondent.
noooo,Lor 18th 1920

from Our NeHular SorrcSponucnt.
December 10Th, 1889.
Your readers may be somewhat
surprised to hear that the Gov
ernment clerks we're favored with
half-holiday on the day of the
funeral of Jefferson Davis. | am
sure the clerks themselves were
very agreeably surprised. as one
of them told me 80, for it was only
known to them at the eleventh
hour of the day, that is, at eleven
A. NJ. But this short respite from
toll was not in honor of the con-
federnte chieftain, but in memory
of the congress centennial, which
event was appropriately commem-
GRATED by the chief dignitaries of
the United States assembling in
the hall of the House of Represen-
tatives, the main feature of the
occasion being an grafton, by
Chief Justice Fuller, on the career
of Washington and the nature and
progress of the "Great Federal
Republic of the World" Forced
in narrow space were President
Harrison, Vice President Morton,
Gen. Schofield, Speaker Read, the
members of the cabinet and the
Justices of the Supreme Court,
to say nothing of scores of small
er fry too numerous to mention.
General admission was only by
ticket, and had your correspondent
not attached himself very closely
to certain eminent statesman,
whose great modesty would be
shocked were his name mentioned
in your columns, in this connec-
ton, l might not be writing this
letter. Can that great scene, rep
resenting as it did in most
memorable aid picturesque man.
ner, the strength, glory and Dig
nifty of the National Government,
with the grey haired Chief JUS
tice, whose noble mien and elo-
quent periods fittingly made him
the presiding genius of the Con-
gress Center nial, ever be forgotten?
What theme and what moment
for master of the divine art of
painting. 1t is only once in life
time that such chance presents
itself.
Congress itself, at least a good
deal of it, has been thinking more
of Christmas cash, or the woeful
lack of it, than of centennials dur
ing the past week. The solons
have Lot yet evolved a satisfactory
solution to the Silcott theft and
defalcation, that is, whether the
loss shall fall upon the Treasury
or the members OF the House in
dividually. Of course it would be
very comforting, if not entirely
patriotic and unselfsh, to shift
the financial responsibility of that
colossal steal from their own
shoulders to those of our much re-
spected and overburdened Uncle
Samuel. But that is easier said
than done, and, besides the ap-
proval of the dear people might
not be forthcoming at the next
congressional election. The losses
fall very heavily on some of the
representatives. Roger Q. Mills,
OF tariff fame, who is a poor man,
loses three thousand dollars while
singularly enough, Roosevelt P.
Flower, the millionaire New York
er, is not out one cent. 1t is
thought the custom of giving re-
ceipts for salaries in advance and
making a banker of the Sergeant
alarms, will fall into .'inocuous
desuetude."
Grief was brought into the
Presidential household the past
week by the death of Mrs. Lord, a
sister of Mrs. Harrison, and the
mansion was closed to visitors one
day on account of the sad occur
renee.
Speaking of death reminds ME
of Chaplain Hilburn's remarkable
prayer, in which he ingenuously
coupled graceful md tender allu-
sions to Abraham Lincoln and
Jefferson Davis, without offending
the advocates of either of these
statesmen. AS Speaker Reed we'll
said, "Our Chaplain has a way of
telling the Lord all the news.
The blind man eloquent has in the
course of his ministry, preached
in twenty-five states and more
than travelled the circumference of
the globe, and he is perhaps the
only Democratln the country who
could see his way clear to holding
office under a Republican House.
! E..l