Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1896-12-09


mainly, of his recollections and observa-
tions of Congress during several years Of
fetal connection with the House of Rep
resentatives. and as the Washington Cor
respondent of three weekly newspapers
In this series of papers L will drop the
editorial "we," and write in the first per-
son singular of men and measures as they
came under my daily observation. Previ-
GUS to my appointment as one of the en-
crossing and enrolling clerks of the Forty
fifth Congress, had been to Washington
but once That was during the last
week in February and the first week in
March 1S65-six weeks before the close
of our great Civil War. had been down
to visit some friends in Grants army
and arrived back in Washington the
third OF March before Abraham Lincoln's
second inauguration as President of the
United States On the following day. l
had been tramping around the army for
sever..i days III al kinds CT weather and
very deep mud, and not being accust-
omed to tent life and pine poles for bed,
had taken severe cold and was sick
enough to be under the doctors care
when landed at the Capital. We left
Grants headquarters on the morning
of the second, and embarked on the
steamer at City Point, up the James
River. The steamer was crowded with
officers on their way to LiDcoln's inaug-
uration, and hundred or two of them
had to sleep on mattresses, and cush-
ions on the floor, or on chairs and ia
bles, or go to sleep like Shanghai
Notwithstanding up. One of the pass
engers who came up with US was the
President of Yenzuela, South America.
At any other time such a distinguished
civilian would have been paid some at
tention and received in a manner befit-
ting his high position; but at that time
any man who wore citizens clothes was
of not much consequence. The govern
ment steamers were principally for the
use of officers just then, and a man with
out uniform was as much out of place
as a minister in bar room. So my dis
tiDguished fellow-pa passenger, although he
was the President of several million peo-
pie, did not fare any better than l did.
He was very pleasant old gentleman
and sat at 3 big table in the cabin and
made himself agreeable to the rest of us.
He talked pretty good English, told us
about his country and his visit to the
United States, and then played dominoes
with us until midnight. Then he donned
Turkish cap, elegantly and richly EN-
broidered with elk, and all hands of us
turned i'm on top of the big cabin table,
That's the only night in my life that l
slept with a President, a commodore
and a half dozen brigadier-generals.
When lett the steamer had good
silica OF the State Of Virginia on my boots,
a voice Ikea bull-frog, and a head that
felt ike an old toper's when he is sober
lLg up from what be calls good time
with the boys"
Those who have seen Washington only
as it is now-the most magnificent city
in all the world-can form no idea of
what it as then. The streets were not
paved, and Pennsylvania avenue-the
main thoroughfare of Washington-was
a sea of mud from one to- two feet in
depth. | saw the big army wagons,
drawn by six or eight mules with the
forward wheels rolling in the mud, and
the mules plodding along knee deep in it.
have no doubt that some of the veteran
soldiers, who may chance to read this
letter, will recall the scene L have de-
scribed, and also remember the sluggish
old canal that ran through the city filled
with thick, black, nasty fluid that was
called water. The drinking water was
drawn from the Potomac River, and a
tumbler full oft would produce about
a quarter or half inch of sediment when
it had settled for an hour or two.
After tasting the stuff | can readily
understand why some oftheinhabitants,
and even the visitors, would prefer to
take their chances with beer and whis-
key. Before went down to the Army,
while dining at the National hotel one
day, with friend from my native State
New Hampshire,) | noticed an elegantly
dressed and strikingly handsome young
man dining with q fine-looking young
lady at one of the tables near where
sat. 1t needed no interpreter to tell me
they were in love with each other, and
that the girl fairly idolized her lover. A
few weeks later the young man lay dead
upon the ground, near burning barn in
Virginia, with bullet-hole in his head,
and the girl was half delirious and heart
broken from grief, disappointment, and
horror. The young man was Wilkes
Booth, the assassin ofAbraham Lincoln,
and the girl was the daughter ola United
States Senator. She is to-day the wife
of a very distinguished senator of the
| United Statee, and has an interesting
family of children; but ] imagine she
cannot wholly blot from her memory the
recollection of Loves young dream, :
and the CHASTITY tragedy that shocked
this country and startled the world.
In future articles l shall write concern
ing how business is transacted in Con
gress; something of Washington and its
public buildings; of exciting scenes Ihavt
witnessed; Of visits to the White HOUSE
and official etiquette; of receptions aH(
paradee; of orators and oratory; of th'
Lobbyists" of both sexes; of public mel
and measures, and of many other topic
too numerous to mention, In short, {
little Of everything, andnot much ofany
thing.