Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-08-30

wood Mrs. Adams. the wife OF the fir,t presi-
dent who took up his residence in WASH
ington. could secure none for the CRATES Of
the White House. The house required thirty
servants TO keep il in order. and all the
food had to be brought from Baltimore,
Georgetown or Alexandria. Gouverneur Nor
ris. writing to the Princess de Ia Tour ct
TaNis, in December, 1900. SAYS, sportively:
We want nothing here but houses, cellars.
kitchens. well-informed men, smiable women
and other trifes OF this kind TO make our city
perfect, for we can walk here as in the fields
and woods. and considering the hard frost the
AIR OF the city is very pure. II. then. you are
desirous OF coming TO live in Washington,
hasten to assure you that freestone is very
abundant here; that excellent bricks can be
burned; that there 10 no lack Of sites for mag
nllcent hotels; that contemplated canals can
bring vast commerce to the place. In short.
that 1t is the very best city In the world for
future residence"
Nothing was further from the writer's
thought than verifcation OF this ironical pro-
phecy IN the space of not abnormally long
lifetime. For quarter of a century the capt.
tai, SO Grandlose on paper, WAS the mock OF
foreign ministers and tourists. The gossip OF
other days gives us an amusing glimpse of the
shift our early statesmen and their families
were put to IN carrying out the modest fuac-
Tons thought requisite even for Jeffersonlan
simplicity. In 1872 the city. shabby as il WAS.
invited the torch OF the British. When the re-
building began, experience was of value to the
new founders, and while all OF the old ambition
for Greek beauty and modern spaciousness was
not wholly rejected, the city arose more COM
pact and habitable than before. Down. how
ever, to 1861 Washington Was far from lovely or
inviting. The magnificent avenues that now
rival the boUlevards OF Paris and Vienna were
wastes OF red clay, with the Capitol and White
House rising at either end emphasizing the
squalor of the streets the wretchedncss of the
Int 4 II q.
nearly over that the Capitol and its wondrous
dome became the creation of beauty they now
present The original structures in which the
houses sat were rather mean in appearance,
the sight alone giving them significance.
The ambitious patriots who printed the sub
joined doggerel lines when the founding of the
city was mooted would have found them
prophecies could they have foreseen the city Of
today:
II q. The United s.ats, "a congres. assembled:
That your Federal city must soon have q name,
Anu An wishes to have one that may command fame.
Superior 10 each raltry city or town..
fs H 70 be ever, sTa OF a and free PEOPLE
The New York Journal which published
these lines on the 10th Of August, 1871, were il
in existence today would have no reason to
complain OF tho handiwork OF the commits
sioners who for years suffered the sings and
arrows OF public reyilement for their lneffi-
cleuSy, youOcry anu mdlNersatlOn. Nnether
these much harrassed patriots builded wiser
than they knew or not, the evidence ia there
in imperishsble form that they founded city
and adorned it with edifices that compare not
unfavorably with the older and more favored
capitals of the world. Nor is it wholly with
ont Significance that the Capitol itself,
built in perjury and perfected in civil war,
Is ornamented by dome that shares
with ST. Peters, the Pantheon Of the Caesars
the handiwork OF Brunelleschi and Michael
Angelo. the critical admiration OF the Guilt
waited world. The great circle has diameter
OF nearly 100 feet and a height from the rim to
the apex inside Of IS feet. 1t is 200 feet from
the pavement of the floor to the vault of the
ceiling. The exterior. seen for miles about
presents a peristyle Of LIS feet within a frac-
ton, supported by columns q feet in height
The top OF the dome is go feet above the pave
ment. The lantern above this rises 50 feet and
Is IL feet in diameter. Above this again is a
bronze statue OF Liberty Is feet high. 1t prob
ably does not enter in the scheme Of things
taken account Of by the honeymoon tourists
that, as they gaze upon this colossal dome,
they see masterpiece of architecture that
equals the most admired work of the kind, from
Michael Angelo to Sir Christopher Wren.