Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-01-31
DAILY KENNEBEc JOURNAL WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 81, 1884,

cry and haberdasbery skcSs ssan any oeher
city in the country Of the same sax
Washington is exceedingly 1ond % sne
theater. The humdrum. rou$ane gk1ndine
government employees must nave sOme
sentiment in their lives, even y tney nssS
to 60 to the theater for II. Ile sleaIli.a.
houses are nearly always crowdeo ners. ~
matter what the charecter OF tee elses sa'u
ment AS for the millinery and haoeiuasn.
ery,. those trades thrive amazingly n
the Capital City, where there are 50 many
men and women whose pfincipei ca1o IN
life is to make certain that tney arg pfopeli!
and 'fashionably attired.
An Earnest Throng.
Adifferent lot Of men are those that leave
the capitol between and in the afternoon
and move westward along the avenue.
Thes., are the senators, the representatives,
the newspaper correspondents. As rule,
thew are as earnest as the column moving
in the opposite direction is careless. The
statesmen walk down by pairs, trios and
ouartets. As like as not they are discuss
ing the tariff or Hawaii. They are not as
we'll dressed as the department clerks.
Yon will see among the lawmakers 10
suits of clothes that do not fit where you
see one among the department people. The
statesmen are especially weak in gloves,
hats and neckwear Little trouble with
gloves have they, because life is too earnest
or real to bother with such trifies. While
the statesmen from the north usually wear
good silk or derby hats, those from the
south still affect the planters style, the
soft SLOUGH. Itis the characteristic south
ern bat, and when accompanied by black
string neckties lying fat and stiff on ca
pacions shirt bosoms of plain or white
frilled edges mistake as to the locality OF
the wearer is impossible.
And the popularity of the southern states
man is his dislike for overcoats. Fully one
half of the senators and members from the
southern states do not own topcoats at all,
or if they do own them rarely put them on.
The verv men who most need the protection
of such garments in this climate, because
coming from a region in which they are
not hardened by exposure, leave them of /,
while the men from the north, who could
more safely Withstand exposure here, are
the more careful to wear warm, thick top
coats. One result of this characteristic
recklessness of the southerners is that many
of them suffer with bad colds, while not a
few of them have been stricken with la
grippe. One of them indeed, Senator Wal
thall of Mississippi, has felt constrained to
resign his seat on account of continued i'll
health due to an attack of this mysterious
and persistent malady.
Mark of the Southerner.
The southern men develop more striking
characteristics in dress, in speech and in
manner of living than their northern COM
a~1x nlx .oyrcd ist c n
a southern statesman by looking at him.
If you fail in this, you will easily right
yourself when he opens his mouth to speak.
The southerner has an infection and pro-
nunciation ell his own. Moreover, if you
stop in the two big hotels which are situate
along the avenue about where the two
streams Of humanity meet and mingle ev.
cry afternoon, you will find them full OF
southern senators and representatives.
Thirty or 40 years ago the National and
Metropolitan hotels were southern head
quarters, aud such they remain to this day.
In each of these houses two or three scors
of southern statesmen and their families
live. Corn pone is served at every meal.
and the pone woman-an old slave-draws
pretty good salary for doing nothing else
than making the coarse bread which every
true southron loves SO we'll.
An Unclassified Crowd.
Just as the National and Metropolitan
hotels, on the avenue, are the southern
headquarters, so is Wizards, farther west
on the same thoroughfare, the Illinois rem
devious In the lobby of this house the
Illinoisans meet every night to fight over
their battles and exchange stories of the
hard luck they have met with in the field
of Office hunting. The New Englanders
meet principally at the Shoreham, while il
you are looking for a New Yorker you may
save yourself trouble by going to the Ar
lington. AS for the crowd which meets
every night at John Chamberlain's, it defes
classification by states. 1t is drawn from
every part Of the Union. About midnight