The National tribune., 1902-11-13
lW4yTiINGTON~@
ka~ F. y GOSSIP
CHAT OF THE CORRIDORS.

CHAT OF THE CORRIDORS.
The collection of animals in the Wash
ington Zoo has been enriched by the ad
dition of zebra Wolf,' an almost ex
tinct species of the wolf family. Th'
ThyIacynus Cyno Cephalus which in plail
English means wolf striped like zebra
is n native of Tasmania, and this one cam,
to us from our American Consul at New
castle, New South Wales, Mr.. Frederic
W. Cooling. 1t is the only one in captivi
ty. excepting one in the Zoo in London
This queer creature belongs to the famil,
of marsupials which includes the opossun
and the kangaroo. The only marsupials
now existing are the OpoSsum in the
United States and the other species il
Australia. The zebra wolf carries its
young in a pouch. and the unique speci'
men just received has three frisky little
babies, which she seems very fond of, and
which it is Hoped she will be able to raise
Congress will now be pressed for an
appropriation to build home for the Dis,
trict National Guard, and incidentally to
provide hall large enough to accommo-
date an Inauguration Ball. Washington
Is the worst off for large halls of any city
of its size in the world. While it is COM
ing to be the Convention City of the
United States. it has no place to entertain
its crowds after they get here. There is
no theater- large enough, and it costs as
much to vacate the Pension Office, built
with a view to use for national conven-
tons and balls. for the period it requires
to decorate it for an Inaugural Ball as 1t
would to build a structure for the purpose,
as was done in Grants time. Washing
ton needs a great hall. sOrely. Those who
have been the guests of the city at one of
~, el,1, 1n1,
with their Members of Congress and in
duce them to provide suitable accommo-
dation Mt the National Capital for the ma
tional encampments and conventions that
come here.
While Washington has no vote, there
Is not a city in the United States where
interest, weighed with more care, or which
are fraught with greater significance than
In Washington. OF course, the pOpula
tion of Washington is migratory, in one
sense of the word. But while 5000 may
60 as the result of an election, 5000 will
come to take their places Every two
years there is a season of suspense, last
ing from the time the political campaign
opens in the States till the ballots are
counted ont in November and the result
assured. The unrest is felt in every cir
Gle, business and social. The "Oficial
Set" is unhappy, because six months later
most of it may be "out," and no more
worth as drawing card in Washington
than a last years Democratic platform.
The grocer, the baker and candlestick
maker refuse the customary credit to
those lin Office" because six months later.
when the same may be "out of Office"
there will be hiatus of funds with which
to lquidate Indebtedness, and it saves
trouble and lawyers fees to be fOrehanded.
Real estate men are uneasy, because their
houses, sold on partial-payment plans, are
likely to be thrown back on their hands
when those who are paying for them on
the "monfhly-rent plan find that the fail
ure OF their Influence" to be reelected
Seaves them liable to be stranded without
money or Office in Which to make it.
One of the pathetic features of this bien-
nial breaking up of Washington homes is
mirrored in the secondhand furniture
dealers shops. One can, just after an elec-
tion. furnish house handsomely from the
secondhand shops, where the little-used
furniture of the Department clerk, who,
seeing the handwriting on the wall, hedges
In time, and disposes of his household ef-
fects. SO as to cut down expenses and be
ready for the ak to drop. 1t was sup
posed that Civil Service would protect
does not, and never will.
The biennial elections for Congress af-
feet Congressional homes, and Senatorial
ones as well. Faces familiar for a score
of years in high official society drop out
after Congressional campaign, and the
coming guest, if heraided as an "easy"
spender, with wealth to back it up, is well
coined with open arms, while the defeated
ofieeholder passes from the stage of ac-
tive political life, unnoticed and almost un-
mourned. A man in public life, no mat
ter what his prominence, leaves upon its
surface not even a ripple when he goes
out of it. His friends miss and mourn his
departure, but the general public, except
in rare instances, notes it no more than
q brimming Pail of water retains the i'm
preston of the finger thrust into its coE-
tents and then withdrawn. The business
world concerns itself only so far as the
meeting of obligations is concerned; thu
society world smiles serenely on the conner
and turns its back upon the goer, and that
Is Az there is to it Yet between the acts
political revolutions are accomplished, and
National policies exactly reversed.
One of the interesting features of the
program the night of the welcome of the
Encampment to Washington, which was
extended in Convention Hall on Tuesday
evening. Oct. Z, was a poem by Comrade
ID. L. Ainsworth, of Rochester, n. Y. The
poem was titled, Our Nations Welcome
" AicI DcsS III due, ana was reminiscent
of the days from 81 to '65 and the lesson
taught and learned between those fateful
years.
Comrade II. p. Brainerd, who has been
for number of years resident of Peta-
luna, Cal. which he thinks the garden spot
of the world, was an Encampment visitor, |
He was member of the 31st Mass.
Another yoIupfaar caIJ;ar x,.;ty r, ~.
head Of the army when Lieut. Gen. Mel
son Miles retires from age next August.
Maj.-Gen. S. NJ. b. Young is the officer
slated to succeed Gen. Miles. He entered
the service as a private in Co. X, 18th
Pa, April 25, 1851, in the three months
service. AT the end of his enlistment, he
entered the 4th Pa. Cav, and was mus
tered out in 1865 as a Brevet Brigadier-
General of Volunteers, bestowed for gal
liant and meritoriOus services throughout
the war. In less than year he entered
the regular service as Second Lieutenant
of the 18th {. s., and rose steadily, till
the breaking out of the Spanish
War, when his services were of that char
acter that he was made a Major General
OF Volunteers, and later promoted to that
rank III the Regular Army. Gen. Young
Us the inst private soldier to attain the
rank which he will reach next August.
He is great big. soldierly looking fellow,
with no airs nor friils about him, but ap-
proachable and companionable. He is a
tine campaigner, careful of his men, but
able to get out of them the very best SER