The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-10-30
EARLY DAYS IN WASHINGTON.
THE CAPITAL OF THE YOUNG
isEPUBIIIC.
Social Life in The Beginning OF Our
National Eyistence-How a. Looked

Social Life i'm the Beginning OF Our
National Existence-How a. Looked
Ia Foreigners.
Social life In New York and Phila-
deiphia while these cities were sue
cessively the capital Of the United
States does not seem to have been
altogether pleasing to foreign visitors,
but it must have been beautiful and
luxurious compared with the first
years of Washington. Henry Loonis
Nelson, in the November Harper's, |
describes ONE of the honest cru6ites
OF that early period under the title
"At the Capital of the Young Re-
public.n The following extracts will
be found interesting
Life In Philadelphia during these
ten years-from 100 to 1SO0-must
have been as delightful as provincial
life can ever be to those who are bred
In capitals. There was q little gloss
OF finish, and there was the beauty of
the American women, which led to
certain International marriages, but
there was the eternal mont0ny of o
new and small society. Outside of
this temporary capital, in the woods
where the people we're beginning to
real life OF the new experiment.
Civilization had pitched its tent there,
but while the future glewed with
hope for the country and Afor hui
mainly, the present was crude and
uncomfortable. The few Europeans
who saw the hopefulness of the expert
ment were men of broad and philo-
sophie minds. of those who came
hither on business or for pleasure
complained only of the barbarism of
the backwoods. The representatives
Of foreign countries who were forced
to dwell at the seat of government
found life almost UNDESIRABLE. 1t was
OF Turreau, whom Napoleon sent as
minister to the United States in 1904,
that Mr.. Henry Adams was writing
when he said: AT best, tho position
| OF q French minister in America was
not agreeable. The mere difference
in habits, manners, amusements, and
the want OF a thousand luxuries and
pleasures such as made Paris dear to
every F~repchman, rendered Washing
ton a place of exile. Perhaps nothing
but fear Of the %guillotine could have
reconciled even republican French
men to staying in q country whore, in
Frenchman who did not feel himself q
stranger"
But what did Jefferson or Madison
care for Turreau-Turreau of whom
Dolly Madison wrote, 81 have heard
sad things of Turreau-that he whips
his wife, ana abuses her dreadfullyn;
the wife who was servant in his Jail,
who rubbed out the red mark on his
door placed there as a guide to the
guillotiners: and whom he married
because she had thus saved his life?
II Philadelphia vas sad, what can
be said OF Washington in these early
days? When the government moved
there in 1900 the journey was made
over roads that did not deserve the
name OF highways, that we're mere
wagon-tracks biazed through the
woods. The wagons were rough and
s%pringless makeshifts. The company
was promiscuous and democratic. The
inns were generally neat, but the food
was chiefly of sailed pork. There
was everywhere inadequate accom-
mediation. Europeans complained that
they were compelled to sleep in rooms
which contained from two to q dozen
beds, Il sometimes to occupy a bed
with a stranger. The journey from
Baltimore to Washington that is now
made in an hour required q long day
a century ago, while the best part OF
three days was consumed by the
journey from Philadelphia to the new
capital. AS Mrs. John Adams recalled
it, the way was sombre, the woods
were thick, the swamps were noisome,
the evidences of life were few. Now
and then a nut was seen in q small
clearing, and there were inns at the
end OF the stages between Philadelphia
and Georgetown.
Washington itself was the most un-
comfortable capital in the world.
Nothing was finished. The President
mnVa1 into. an pnnNrnn1ofo WHIT
House, and Congress into an uncom-
pleted Capitol. Pennsylvania Avenue
was described by John Cotton Smith
as q I" deep morass covered with alder
bushes" The trees had been cut from
it, sidewalks had been made with
chips from the stone of the Capitol,
the black Tiber Creek which crossed
1t had been spanned by a timber
bridge. Here and there were groups
OF wooden buildings for the accommo-
dation of Congressman. Six. brick
dwelling-houses that are still standing
on Pennsylvania Avenue between
had been built with money derived
from the sale of lottery tickets. There
was one good tavern about forty rods
from the Presidents house, but there
was enormous difficulty IN securing
lodgings. The members of Congress,
the cabinet officers, and all but a few
persons who were compelled t O keep
house lodged in the tavern and board
lighthouses. What discomforts thew
endured is best illustrated by an entry
In the diary Of u member Of Congress.
Speaker Sedgwick," he wrote, was
allowed q room to himself: the rest of
us in pairs" The Northern members
who had never favored the removal of
the capital to the banks of the Potomac
began to talk about their e%xpatriation,
and to grumble at tho loss of luxuries
they had enjoyed in New York, and
especially in Philadelphia. Attempts
to repair the mistake and to, move
back to Phiiadelphia were at once
begun. These failing, an effort was
made 1904 to romovc the capital to
Baltimore. Tho two wings of the
capitol were not completed until
1911, and SO slow had been the progress
OF Washington that after the public
buildings had burned by the British