Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-01-04

their boots all covered with the red clay
Of Maryland aud Virginia. On the same
New Years day the friends and admirers
of Jackson drank several barrels Of
White House punch, and made tho his
tcric halls ring with their shouts Of glee.
On another occasion they ate up whole
cheese which New York dairyman had
sent the president, and which he had or
dered cut into pound pieces for the en-
tertainment Of his callers. Not only did
the crowd gorge itself with cheese, but
II trampled what It didn't eat into the
carpets Of the east room, filling the
mansion with cheese factory flavor,
which did not come out Of 1t, It's said,
for several weeks
Sixty years ago Christmas was even
moro Of holiday at the national capital
than It is now. Almost every house In
Washington, whether occupied by rich
or poor. set up its big punch bowl, and II
was much easier To get drunk than to stay
sober, and fully IA respectable. At that
time Daniel Webster punch" SO called,
was the great favorite, and was every
where served from antique silver punch
bowls. Nearly all public men were
drinking men then, and from Christmas
till after New Years il was impossible
to get n quorum Of sober men in the
house Of representatives. Now, verify
believe. large majority Of the members
Of that body do not drink at all, even on
Christmas, let alone getting their states
mems skins 80 full that they could not
sit upright in their chairs. A half CEN
tury ago the holidays were celebrated in
Washington in arollicking, rosy fashion.
Bands OF young colored men paraded the
streets singing and shouting. and in the
great fireplaces, whose chimneysone may
still see by the dozen in the older parts Of
the town, burned the huge Yulc logs, !
am constrained to think that the people
have been growing in sobriety and re-
fnement ever since tho days Of jackson.
l Certainly an incident like that of the
cheese would now be impossible. That
such an incident occurred in Jackson's
day was not so much the fault of Jack
son as Of the people.
Without doubt the society Of the cap
ital was deteriorated by the war and by
the conditions which grew out Of that
tremendous demoralizing agency. One
of the phases OF the "gilded era" Of the
war and the flush times Immediately
following was the desire of everybody TO
get into society. Pretty much every
body did manage to get In. Camp fol-
| lowers, suffers, army contractors, the
numerous persons who had grown sud.
denly rich by lucky speculations or by
the rise Of values, each and several want.
ed to shine in the social armament.
Many Of these shoddy magnates spent
money lavishly, and 1t was in that era
that Washington broke away from the
simple means Of dissipation which had
been sanctioned by tho bon vivants OF
| nearly q century. Plain, good whisky
would never do for these newly rich per
sons and their sycophants, nor was the
mutton and fish and oysters which Clay
and Webster and jackson had toasted OF
sufficiently luxurious for their tastes. !,
was then that the champagne and terra
pin season set in, and, as result. cham
payne and terrapin have been the gas
tronomic models Of swelldom ever since
As for the terrapin, that has become, II
fact, a fad. II ia liked simply because l
is expensive. II the little turtle cost ,
nickel instead Of S2 apiece no one coul'
be found to take q mouthful Of him
Terrapin is an acquired taste, and thougl
it was served at many New Year lun
cheon yesterday, as it will before sprin
be served at countless dinners in this cit,
Of dining, not one man in ten who par
takes of ii and pretends to like II reall
does like 1t.
The war and reconstruction era CAV
US that shoddy sort of aristocracy whic)
depended so much on the cost OF enter
tainments, of houses and equipage,
Mrs Hayes helped society to get ava
from the evil influences Of that era, NJ
so much by her temperance resolution
as by the admirable example which sh
set i'm other ways. Year by year sine
her day the society OF the capital ha
been growing better, and in this city
where almost everybody forty or fift
years ago was more or less intoxicate
on New Years day, drunken man wa
yesterday an object Of curiosity on th
streets.
In one important particular the ofiicii
society Of the capital has not been muc
changed in half century. IL is still {
easy to get into society here--oflicial s.
ciety, mind you--as it is to get into
political or marching club during pre-
idential campaign. All you need is II
regalia and to have your name printe
on package of calling cards. As ma
ter OF fact, tho official society of Wasl
ington is species of political campaigl
ing. In order to keep in the good grac'
of the public the wives Of cabinet mini
ters and other members of the goverl
ment throw open their doors, No one
denied admittance, no one is treated
less than equal. Every precaution
taken against offending even the hun