Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1896-12-16

Washington Reeonsc-
lions and Comments.
NY FIRST GLIMPSE OF coNGREss.-sooN
FoRGoTTEN.-sABE" AND "BoB'
LINCOLN.
NJ Y first glimpse of Congress was IN
1865 in the midst of great de-
bate in the Senate, and had an oppor-
tunity to listen to q dozen of the most dis
tinguished members Of that dignified
body. l had read dariug my boyhocd
and early manhood all about these great
statesmen, aud when saw them, and
heard them speak, felt that ought to
| 20 out and crawl under a barn, some
where, to hide myself from so much
human greatness. Twenty years
later, after l had the opportunity
| to know the avs rage senator and MEM
her c! Congress ar ne really is, | should
not dream Of being so modest and defer
entail. With many years of observation
aud experiences at Washington, will re-
peat in print what l have said to many
people verbally. I'll you want good
! opinion OF Congress keep away from it. y
There is glamour about public life, and
| a halo around the heads of our public
men that leads many people to hall wor-
ship them, and place them, in imagina-
ton, upon much higher pedestal than
some of them deserved to beplaced. Our
public servants are just like other men,
and sometimes a good deal more so.
Some of them shrink to pretty small
size when you come to know them inti-
mately, and you wonder how they ever
reached such high positions. Washing
TOMS the town where you can get thepo-
litical prejudice knocked out of you more
effectually, and in less time than any
place l know Of You meet men you
have read about and idolized, and after
you have met them awhile you don't
idolize them any more. Then you meet
Others against whom you have become
bitterly psjudiced, and you find them
noble, genial men who coon become your
staunchest friends. But am wandering
away off from the topic started to
write about-a great debate in the Sen
ate. I heard Charles Sumner and Henry
Wilson, of Massachusetts; John P. Hale,
of my own State; Preston King, of New
York; Reverdy johnson, of Maryland;
bluff old "Ben" Wade, of Ohio; Lyman
Trumbull, of Illinois; "Zacha Chandler,
of Michigan; Lane, of Kansas, and sew
eral others whose names do not now
recall. Every one of them have joined
the Silent Majority, and other men oc
cupy their places.
SOON FORGOTTEN.
have heard Joe Jefferson in his won
derful impersonation of "Rip Van Win
kle," exclaim with exquisite pathos,
'sAre we so soon forgotten when we're
gone?," and it always seemed to me
that the words applied with redoubled
force in Washington. As long as q man
has high office and favors to grant he is
surrounded by an army of applicants,
sycophants n fatterers; but the mo-
ment he has nothing to give, or goes out
of office, he is of no more consequence
than log of wood. have seen, during
my residence at the Capital, many striking
Illustrations of this peculiar phase of hui
man nature, and may write of them
more in detail hereafter. When death
strikes down some great man there is a
perfunctory display of grief for a few
days, but it is soon gone. and sorrow
broods only in the home circle of the be-
reaved. No man was better known, or
more deeply lamented than james A.
Garfield the second of our Presidents to
| fall by the assassin's bullet; but in less
| than six months after he was shot /
mingled for several days in crowds in
the Capitol building, including nearly all
the Congressman and senators, and l
never heard bis name mentioned. Again
l repeat the apt and pathetic query ofOld
"Rip," care we 80 soon forgotten when
we're gomez"
| "ABE' AND "BoB" LINCOLN.
The night before Lincoln's second inau-
guration was dull and drizzly. the city
was full OF strangers, and, being very i'll,
l concluded to go home and not stop to
SEE, for the first time, how q man becomes
President of the United States. Had
known of the impending tragedy, or fore
seen the thrilling events that soon fol
lowed, 1 should have remained, though
sick, to see the greatest man of the Cen
tury. As it was, | never saw him at all,
and regret to this d8y the opportunity !
missed. To be sure Abraham Lincoln
was nothing but q man-and an exceed
ingly homely one at that-but there is
always something about the personality
of the head Of q great nation that
l
prompts nearly every one to wish to sec
him. have shaken hands with nine
Presidents of the United States, and
have seen three of them inaugurated. but
to have missed seeing the greatest ol
them all, when was within dozen
hours of seeing him sworn into Office
was throwing away the opportunity o1
lifetime in that direction. My first
vote for president was castfor Abraham
Lincoln-or Honest Old Abe" as he waf
called at that time, and ! have never re
gretted it. In the light Of subsequent
events believe him to have been thu
greatest of all our American statesmen
and his tragic death will endear his mem
ors as long as we have history. OF Ell
the prominent men connected with ths