Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-07-28
THE NATIONS CAPITAL
As Described by Mr.. Marion Crawford, the
Novelist.
The Romance of the Place-One of the
Most Interesting Cities in
the World.

Marion Crawford writes an aprreciative
study of the city of Washington for the
August number of the Century, and Andre
Costaigne furnishes some striking pictures
for the article. Mr.. Crawford is particular
ly well fitted for such task as this. He is
perfectly familiar with all of the great
capitals of the world his tastes are cos
mopolitan. and yet he is a thorough end
loyal American at heart. Mr. Crawford
says:
Washington is a city planned and built
solely for the purpose Of government. 1t is
probably the only capital in the world
which has had such origin: which is
named after a nations first leader, laid out
according TO his Individual views and beau
titled, to some extent, ACCORDING 10 his ideas
of beauty. Washington. it stands today,
n ay be said to be the expression of George
Washinston's intention and personal taste
and. in a consequent way, of his character.
The plan of the city reminds one of the
mans face. with ITS large. quiet features.
It's calm symmetry, and It's singularly Cnob-
trusive Individuality. One might almost
say that the face of Washington the man.
like the face of Washington the city, was
tances." We even feel IL little. in spite Of
what We know of his youth. that the man
himself was planned and built solely for
purposes of government
first President, as we know them from his
many portraits remind one irres;stibly, by
their almost supernal calm. of some of
those beautiful heads of Buddna modelled in
the far east by the hands OF believing men;
and his capital recalls very strongly the
odern and English portions of sum an In
dian city as Allahabad, for instance. The
beautiful trees the endless perfectly
smooth roads. the brick houses, the dark
faces of the Colored population, AMI. above
all. the moist softneSs of the sunny air on
summer days when It has lately rained. are
points which Washington has in common
both with Allahabad and Bombay, and
which cannot fail to strike one who has
lived long in all three places.
The Breath of Dream Life.
In Washington almost everything is meant
to be enduring. and in one sense. which is a
coed sense. there is. perhaps. no city in any
part of the world where a conventional
standard has been arbitrarily adopted with
such determination and adhered to with
such consistency throughout so long a period
of time and on the whole with such good re-
suits. There is no city in the world think
where so many public buildings are of Greek
style and yet so unobtrusive.
But in these days of specialism il Is for
specialists to talk of architecture and 1t Is
the province of the novelist to enjoy such
fiction as he can lind in the world and to
Inake it enjoyable for others. 1t must be.
Iii spite OF its conventionalism. that WASH
fngton suggests romance and breathes the
breath OF dream life into the nOstrils of dead
stat,:es. and in through the windows of life
less buildings, and through all the bright
air Of blazing modernness in which we. the
living ones. have our being. There is 70
mance-let US not define the pretty word-in
the dim. soft dawn, when the mists of the
river are surprised in their loves with the
sleeping trees: in the fresh morning. when
the quiet streets ring with the double trili
of the song birds, as each in turn and all
together. and none last, they lift up their
n in InnQ -.,lV, rhA
rising sun: in the broad day, wherein men
work and struggle. and quarrel and make
peace. and speak words which all the nation
hears and judges. condemns. approves. or
laughs at as all humanity laughs or looks
grave over its own centralized self; in the
red evening light, when the perspective of
the avenue grows long and fairy like, and
the brilliant eQuipages roll swiftly and
smoothly through the sunset air that red
dens the horses bay coats and enriches col
lar and harness with it's fiery gold.
Visions of the Night.
And most of all at night, when the trees
are all breathing again, and the broad
streets are quiet; when the great army of
workers Is gone to its boarding house quar-
tiers, and the little regiment of do-nothings
is broken up into squads to hunt the beast
of Boredom with laughter and sometimes
with tears; when the stars play hide-and-
seek with the moon round the corners of
the silent Capitol, and kiss the great liberty
on either cheek. high in the cool, dark blue
air; when the moonbeams run ouiyering
through the rustling leaves, and weave
white lace across the dark pavement; when
the soft lights stream from the windows of
the White House, across the broad lawn
and through the trees. to the high ratings
Of the avenue; when the darky boy and
girl. hand in hand, pour out their little Ia lie
of woe to the passing dandy, trotting be-
side him as he strolls along in white tie
and black cloak. on his way from a dinner
to a reception; when the herdic cab backs
up under the trees against the curbstOne
swinging wide its self-opening doors, and
throwing its bright flash out upon a vision
of fair hair. and satin and white lace and
slim silk-clad ankles, just as the impressive
English foOtman opens the door of the
house and let's out a blaze of other light ;
honey-sweet voices of colored men echo
very softly from back streets to the reso-
nant little drumming and twanging of a.
banjo. There is assurediy something i'm it
all that suggests romance something that
delcately stirs the heart with a Fremont
ton. as it were, of some other heart wait
ing for 1t somewhere, in shadow, or moon
light, or monday sunshine.
1t has been. and is still. the fashion to
laugh at our capital city. and to speak
with very lbelOus contempt of what is
done there. Many fashions are set by the
Europeanized American, and they are not
on the whole. good ones. There are, ill.,
deed. two distinct classes of transatlantic
Americans-those who live most of their
SO by circumstances not to be controlled
and those who spend half the year on the
other side as a matter of taste. The former
are often more patriotic than those who
stay at home. For them ther, is a rlamor
over everything; they feel little patriotic
thrills at the sight of the stars and stripes
and the bald eagles screaming is as rnelodi-
Gus to them as the song Of the nightingale
But the other Is an unpleasant person who
affects strange accents and quaint gcs-
lures. wears curiously elaborate garments
Of great price. and calls America a beast
of a hole" which Is a coarse expression
not susceptible of grammatical explana-
ton. One chief object of this mans CAL
umnies Is Washington, under which general
term he abuses the city, its Inhabitants
and those whose thankless task it Is to
make laws for the general cases I'm which
our federation must needs figure as one
state. The American Partisan and the
British New Yorker consider Washington
Q failure. its offcial society a band of in
enable cads. and the government Of the
United States a fraud.
WashlnGton and New York.
Even in New York 1t is anna zing to see
what prejudice there is against Washing
ton, and what indifference even where there
is no prejudice. And yet, even as a mere