The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1897-09-23
BY KATE b. SHERWOOD.

IT is SAID THAT WHEN THE
Young surveyor George Washington,
q SURVEYED the grounds along the Poto-
- mac River. now occupied by the build
incs of the Capital of the United States
and bearing his name he even then had IN
mind their adaptability to the uses of the Ma
tional Capital Standing upon the knoll now
occupied 10y the classic pi e which is the seat
of free Government there seemed to unfold to
him as in vision the beautiful scenes upon
which the eye of the traveller to Washington
now rests.
From that hight he could see the blue
Potomac coming down with wide sweep
from its wooded glens, spreading out into
vast open flats, skirting the pleasant hills of
Virginia and Maryland. Afterwards TO be con-
secIated and reconsecrated to Freedoms holy
cause, flowing on peacefully down the valley,
where, miles below, was his own beloved
Mount Vernon.
To the right of him, as he looked towards
the west. was the circiing majesty of wooded
hills, fiecked with sunshine and vibrant with
the songs of birds Here, he thought, in syl-
van solitude, away from the clamor of trade
and the sights and scenes of a great CONNER
cial court was a fit place for the genius of
liberty. unfettered and embarrassed. to work
1t was the thought of Washington, who
from a surveyor had become the great liberia
tor and later the ncorruptible statesman who
spurned a proffercd crown, that had much to
do with selecting Washington as the perina-
nent seat of National Government, and it
was with him that l. Enfant consulted when
he laid out plan for the city, which he
placed before the Commissioners, who, acting
under an act of Congress of July 8, 1880, es-
tablshing the District of Columbia as the
National Capital, were preparing for the
erection of suitable buildings.
1t was Washington's thought that the
Capitol Building should be At the east end of
PENNSYLVANIA avenue and the White House at
the west. as now, with q mile intervening for
the erection of Department buildings. These
two buildings were the first erected, and by
Jelferson's suggestion the first was from the
beginning designated rs the Capitol. though
Washington always persisted in calling it the
Federal Building
Washington has been pronounced bv MANY
the most beautiful Capital in the world and
in one sense this is true. 1t is the only Capt.
tai which combines all the beauties of the
country with the inventions and conyeniences
Of a great city. 1t has no commerce. no
trade, no manufactures, but it has beautiful
shaded avenues and paved boulevards.
Wealth and culture have taken up their
abodes around its shady parks and graceful
circles, and trees and flowers, shrubs and
vines grow in luxuriant masses around its
grassy yards and lawns.
Washington has been compared to Paris for
metropolitan beauty, but. with the exception
of Its fine pavements and its multiplicity Of
parks and squares and circles, there is no COM
parisoa. Paris is metropolis, with its
splendid business structures and residences
Set close to the pavement, massive in pro-
portions aHd stately in form.
Washington has all the sylvan beauties of
princely Summer resort. The buildings
show every style of architecture, from the
castellated plesof the Feudal ages TO the fanci-
full creations of architecture run mad
Washington became Corporation May 3,