The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-10-30

10 1914 there was a strong party in
Congress opposed to an appropriation
for their repair.
The people who dwelt in the Fed
eral City" in 1900 were poor, idle, un-
clean. Mr.. Wolcott said. "They live
like fishes, eating each other" Some
OF them were white, and some of them
were negroes. The most considerable
persons in the settlement were MI.
Law, an Englishman who had gone
there to speculate in land, and Mr..
Burns, upon whose farm the White
House and other public buildings were
erected. 1t was as difficult to pro-
cure laborers or to lind tradesmen as IL
was to cur comfortable lodgings.
Both were TO he had no nearer than,
Georgetown, nov part Of Washington,
but, then a distant port, to be reached
only after an arduous Journey over
execrable roads, muddy or dusty, a
the weather was wet or dry, and
through a swamp which crossed what
Is now one OF the main n in the
fashionable part Of the city. Gouve-
neur Norris, writing to the Princess
de la Tour ct Taxis, in 1900 said,
We want nothing here but houses,
cellars, kitchens, well-informed men,
amiable women, and other trifes of
this kind to make our city perfect"
Yrujo, the Spanish Minister, said that
1t was impossible "to produce a decent
dinner at the new capital without
sending fifty to sixty miles for the
material"
There was social material, however,
within visiting distance Of the capital,
as Sir Augustus Fisher, an attache OF
the British Legation, discovered.
The country families Of Pennsylvania,
| Vipninio nn1 Mou1,~l Ill
many OF the customs of their English
ancestry, ana among them the sport
Of fox-hunting. The Gloucester Fox
Hunting Club Of Philadelphia and the
South River Club of Anne Arundel
County in Maryland we're formed early
In the eighteenth century, that their
members might enjoy periodically in
groups what was their almost daily
pastime on their lands. The early
British ministers and their secretaries
and attaches ;fOund much to amuse
them and to remind them of home on
the large estates in the immediate
neighborhood of Washington. Sir
Augustus Fisher wrote admiringly OF
the rich Maryland population
especially Of the CAROLS, Lloyds, and
Taylers. He was enthusiastic oyer
the pretty girls of Georgetown, where,
he said, society vas centred. Indeed
society centred there for many 9
But If the men took pleasure in chasing
the fox and in admiring the Southern
beauties, the women must have founG
time hanging very heavy on thei,
hands and the men themselves mus
have longed for q little variety il
their occupations, for an occasional
new face or q fresh subject for con
versation. News was making very
fast in Europe in the days whei
Napoleon was topping over tn,
thrones of kings, and much of it wa,
news in which the government of tn,
United States was intensely interested
but 1T was a month old when it reached
America, and it doubtless seemed pur,
idleness to discuss issues that mus
have beer settled before the Presiden
and the members OF the Diplomat,
Corps had heard of them. Society q
the capital was u good deal like life at
frontier post in the present day an,
men then, as now, found relief from
ennui in gaming-which is said +
have been rife "-and in drinking
which is said to have been the nationa
curse.