Evening star., 1898-05-14

| Wk. ~ 81 a. necessary to alter
ls s::: :;: s:;:.: ':.' s: s: s, .,:s: G.:
Ili'i!4!!s!s11 lILI, Progress, were they Gs
-WSIsG to glance through a
| Washington directory
| S for the year 1854
| hateFer the word and the rest of the solar
| system have been doing during the past
| slxty-four years-a couple of generations.
minus pair of years-this old town has
surely been swinging right along On the
axis of progress without any days Off or
| vacations Whatsoever. Now. at the finish
| ing wire OF the nineteenth century. there
| can De hut one reflection uron looking
through the pages of this time-yeliowed
| directory of Washington for he year 1924
ara that is, that the national capital must
nave been a Jolly queer old burg" as a
| place OF residence at the conclusion of the
first third of the century. The whole popu-
lation Of the District of Columbia is given
In the directory for 1854 as 1854. which
included free whites" free colored" and
slaves Therefore, there couldn't have
been any great amount Of jostIing and ell
| powlng on the streets of Washington when
tne circus and the wild west parades Ct the
period struggled through the swampy lnor-
onghfares-
The buildings of Washington were of
course, net numbered when this directory
| LOT 1854 was printed. The stranger in Town
| must have been under the ne.essity of do
ing lot or inquiring ami creeping 20 fnd
/ tne domiciie and place of business, for ex-
an'pie, OF James Cadis, tcord) Shoe
maker, side n av, btw Canal ara Fast
ern Branch. or even 20 discover the resi-
dence of Edward Casteel Gentleman. w
SIDE e. btw Va av and L s. He might.
perhaps. nave found less difficulty in
searching out the operating establishment
| OF Samuel Clark, Cupper, Leacher and
| E-eeder, W side IL W. btw Penn av and Z,
| n, from which it appears that Mr. Clark
| practiced mis- now obsolete profession only
few doors from the press plant IF this
| no nowspaper.
| OF Interest TOday.
There is a lot of matter. however. in this
| 1884 directory, besides the names and the
trades and professions of the owners of
| the names that is of-interest to the Wash
| ifstonian who has a spare moment dur
| ing which to withdraw his gaze from the
| expanding horizon of the future and TO
! rivet 1t upon the receding vista of the past
| The grandiloQuence of the preface itself is
| amusing en- account of the apparent in
| genuous belief of the publishers that their
| wcrk was one of huge magnitude. There is
| in The Evening Star every afternoon twice
| as much printed matter, for the collection
| collation. and distribution of which indus
| trious men in every corner of the earth are
| accountable. as there is in this slender lit
! tie directory, ali of the matter contained in
| which was easily accessible within the ten
| miles square of the District of Columbia
! The publishers of the directory however
could not refrain from expressing their
| pride IN their achievement. and they patted
themselves on the back entertainngly in
| the preface. I'm preparing it, write the
| publishers in this preface, they have nee
essarny encountered great expense. and
| the! conhdently expect their reward from
| those who have felt the want of a full di-
rectory. and from those who. on arriving
| here, will. without this work. feel them
| selves at loss in their attempts to dis
eoaer @ ihe residence of those with whom
they wish to transact business" They then
J proceed to say that. attracted by the
| growing spirit of enterprise and the inter-
| nal improvements already commenced here
| they fatter themselves that while they ex-
| ert themselves i'm portrayiHg the advan-
| tages of the section of the Union which
| they have chosen their residence their
Fellow citizens will properly appreciate
| their efforts and reward their Industry
| etc.
Almanac and Year Book.
The directory Is sort of combnat ton al
| manac and year book besides. 1t gives the
phases of the moon for every day in the
year, in connection With astronomical char
| acters and hieroGlyphs that prove that our
| forefathers of that day must have BEEN
away up in that science. Then 1t gives
| "Dr. Herschers Perpetual Weather Table"
which, owing to the extreme difficulty of
making head or tail of II, must surely have
| been intended as an all-the- -year-around
| puzzle for hreslde eiucidation. Besides, it
publishes lot of local tabulations tn At
4 We're probably highly valued at the time
| they were given out.
Washington was the first of American
cities to prescribe legal rates for public con-
veyances. The table giving Rates of Fare
for Hacks in WaShiOPfnp p1ll, bed i,
this 1854 directory, shows that IT didn't
cost such great deal TO move about the
| old town Oh wheeis-not wheels" that
term Is understood today, but within the
hooded shelter of old ''one-hoss shayzes,"
| and that sort of vehicle. For example, the
public conveyance OF 1884 had to haul the
Washingtonian of that day from the Cap
itol Square to the Navy Yard" for d quar-
ter; or the man who didn't elect to walk
could be hauled from the Capitol Square to
the south and of New Jersey avenue" to
the south end of South Capitol street." to
"Greenleaf's Point" to the Presidents
Square" for the same modest sum. But it
cost him 81 cents-a queer odd number, that
to get himself conveyed from the Capitol
Square to the Eastern Branch bridge.
Two bits was also the figure for carrying
the citizen of two generations ago from
''the Presidents Square to the western linn
its OF the city," Washington cabmea of to-
day would probably not care TO bark back
to the year 1884 for an adjustment of their
legal rates of fare-for il is to be remem-
DereQ the nackmen OF tTdt u4y cOIn-
monty had 10 pry the wheels Of their We
hiclss out of the mud by the Insertion of
heavy levers under the hubs.
Postal Rates.
Washingtonans of 1884 addicted to the
ep!stolary habit did not have such a simple
and comparatively inexpensive system of
forwarding hither and yon their lengthy
letters containing their views on the liml
tations of the infinite and such other minor
matters as have their progeny of this era
For single letters composed of one piece
of paper" Ga cents was the charge for
forwarding to any point mot exceeding
thirty miles, For any distance not ex-
ceeding 50 miles the charge for forwarding
such letters was 10 cents, and "a bit.'' or
12ls cents, was the figure for any distance
up to $50 miles. Up to 400 miles the cost
was 18 cents. and up to 500 m les-the
greatest distance. according to this direc-
tory's table, that letters were then for
warded-the postage was an even two
bits or twenty-five cents. Double let
teis" cost double rates"
Here 10 the way the publications of thai
day Jared In the matter of postage: