The evening times., 1899-07-03
CHICAGO VERSUS WASHINGTON
4 Chicago Journalists Trip to Mar
shall Hail..
(From the Chicago Journal.l

From the Chicago Journal.)
Washington, June 6.-The night had
passed in one long semi conscious dream of
strangulation. There were variations on
the general theme. Sometimes it was
drowning; sometimes wandering in a
waterless desert; and again it was con-
finement in a bakers oven. with the fires
just beginning TO roar. When 1t came TO
a precipice in Nevada and after a long
fall we struck bottom it was day, and the
mating glowed in q late morning sun.
Without was still air, redolent of tar
from the softening asphalt in the streets.
The sky was steely and cioudless. The
leaves hung motionless in a shimmering
heat. The distances were blue.Is hot day
was in store for Washington.
It was Sunday, and thank heaven for
that. There was no call TO stay and fry.
If there were any refuge the way was
open. But where? That was the question.
Some one had mentioned excursions; trips
down the Potomac; an old historic hall
which had been a manor before the war
and dated from the days of Chief Justice
Marshall and George Washington. Excur-
sioni At the thought there rose the ghosts
OF many past excursions. Dragged, soul
raking affairs. beginning under fair au-
spices and ending in WEAKNESS, CRIME and
heartfelt relief that the end had bean
itS'NAi-A. llioSt NiaNSSbiCS Ou l4tdSuIe
That mockery of rest. One was particu-
| laTly conspicuous in my mind 1t pre-
serted a youth with an overepat on his
head sleeping on the floor OF an over
crowded steamer bound for Milwaukee
Around were fellow -suferers-women with
| sprawling, squalling, dirty ofspring-men
| looking for rest and finding seasickness-
| cold wind blowing down Lake Michigan,
and an unhappy supercargo of voyagers
| yearning most for warmth and land. An
! other memory, and the excursion is hot
and tedious and filled with cinders The
boat IS crowded, and 1t is struggle 10
get a seat. There ere the same dirty.
sprawling infants, and in addition a crew
OF half-grown youths, tipsy and bolster
Gus, with women to match The end of
that long WEAKNESS is remembered when
| the beginning is forgotten; the heavy
footed procession, the soiied dresses the
! haggard faces, the cross and sleepy chill
dren, the snappy tempers, the disappoint-
ment, the sordid realism. Excursion, A
word to conjure up all the devils OF un-
rest that ever beset weary brain or body.
! But there is no sounding the limits of
| human endurance. 1t was morning; no
| two ways of suffering are alike: there is
a certain pleasure in novelty-even novel
| ties of discomfort; and it was morning
when the heart is strong and the imagina-
tion optimistic. Why not explore this alien
/ farce? Why not go and see the people of
| this city in the act of deluding themselves
into the belief of a good time? At any
rate nothing could be more uncomfortable
I than the baking solitude of south-front
room with no company but the New York
papers and the last months magazines
So l hurried through breakfast and plunged
for a car and the wharves.
| The fare was % cents for the round trip
At the start this seemed most discourag-
ing. What could one get for such a price:
Had not all previous excursions been a
dollar? And yet people had said it was
respectable and patronized by the white
inhabitants. Well, man by himself car
take his chances with the crowds. / was
| lucky in being alone Such were my
thoughts as l purchased nay ticket and
boarded the steamer.
| From that point it was chapter OF
pleasant disappointment. Imagine mod
crate number of people, sans babies, sans
drunks, sans freshness, sans excitement
sans hoggishness; sitting comfortably
reading papers or magazines, looking al
the scenery, or listening to the music
Imagine beautiful ride down wide
sheet of silvery water, cooled by a ruff
fling breeze and framed in meanderine
shores green with the richness of springs
receding city, it's little cluster of ship
ping, the roofs of dwellings, the grey
dome of the Capitol. the fading flame OF
the Library's golden roof, and forever
conspicuous the slender shaft of the Mon
ument white and glistening against the
steely morning sky. Reads like guide
book, to be sure, or an advertising folder
for Western railroad. But it must stand
1t was part of the dreamy voyage, as were
the graceful yachts and z the numbering
oyster boats, and the fitting canoes, ant
the monotonous pounding of Tour steam.
er's engines. The last was, a lullaby
while the rest was like the first pleasant
dreams before oblivion's shore is reached
1t seemed pity that the end must com,
so soon; for surely there can be no res
| where there are merry go-rounds ant
shooting galleries and wide pavilions TO
dancing and the sale OF beer. But again
experience was reversed. The historic al
Of that grey brick manse, with. its wid'