Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1902-08-07

CThe MaE Who Mace Washington City
u BeautyJ
there distribute them To their proper
trains. This idea was adopted. and
that was the origin ~ the d. n. o.. a. il
was called. meaning the distributing
post 0iiire~. Ia short time We cleared
our office of accumulated mail. and
thea congress Increased our force
Why. .u those days while the army
was camped On the Virginia hills.
across tie Potomac. tie army wagons
came IL here loaded with immense
stacks Of mails anu a. soon a. We
were able 90 handle the returning
missl'es We sent those wagons 1acA
10 the army loaded with a ike amount
Of mail matter. IL was a great work
70 handle the army maj alone. Be
side that We were required To ham
de greatly increased amount Of mail
for THE MAR department, the navy de-
partmeut auc the state depart ment.
the latter office having been melted
20 great activity 10y diplomatic cor
respunleuce The eve. - the peo-
pie were conferred on the army. but no.
body knew what we official> IN civilian
positions were doing in order to keep
the army and all of the other branches
Of the -er,ice in motion.
You have no idea what scare we
had after the first battle II Bull Run.
when our army came streaming back
with all SORTS of stories Of the black
horse cavalry and >tonewall Jackson's
tremendous reenforcemruts. We ex-
pected the rebs TO capture Us all at
once Again. after the second bat
tie If Bail Run. the following year.
there was an awful scare But in
ls64 great army If confederates
came right mp 70 the north defenseS
Of the city and gave us the greatest
scare.
"As II the city, growth there Is
little te tell Il didn't grow a. all I'M
til the civil war. after that war il
grew rapidly but irregularly II
was in l>52 that President Grant de-
termined 10 have a capital city here
10 be proud Of. and he ordered Alex
ander shepherd 70 rip It to pieces and
put it together right. according To the
original plans. Well. the way he did
tear down and build up was a eau
tiou. Every body that owned property
was bowling mad. but the president
stood by Shepherd and he went ahead
For example. on the Dig square
where the new Carnegie library is De
ing erected there was what was called
the Northern Liberty market. II con.
sisted Of hundred. q little shacks
which completely covered the square
That block OF ground was intend ed
for a public square. and Shepherd or
dered every body to get out of the
way. for they were trespassers. They
paid no attention TO his orders. anc
gave notice Of riotOus resistance. s.
one night he gathered small arm,
Of laborers and set them 70 work a
midnight. When the huck.ters cah..
n sunrise there was nothing left 81
the market L had all been torn dowr
and carted away. Well Shephers
went ahead in that arbitrary manner
and by 1874 he had the city started
right In the succeeding years Their,
has been strict adherence to the origi
nal plans Of the city. and il ha.
grown beautifully and rapidly Blu
up 70 the time of the Shepherd re
gime this was not a creditable city
and is growth was sluggish
Forty years ago the horse ear,
came. and we thought that we wer,
+ growing into a metropolis. That wa
Il years after 1 was married. Thel
came improvements in roadways. fol
+ lowed by cable cars. then overhead
/ trolleys. and at last the beautiful un
foreground electric system Of tn
present \ young man living on Eas
/ Capitol street nowadays can ride owe
to see his girl in Georgetown insid
/ of 20 minutes. II used TO take m
more than a hour of trudging. an,
/ then more than another hour o
trudging back home about midnieh;
But / guess the young couples of III
present are no happier than we wer
then and are now. I've never regret
ted my choice nor the trouble I too
to win her; and she seems to have bee
eontented. too, with her long-walkin
sutton for a husband
Yes. this is the mildest summe
I've seen here in 81 years"
SMITH D. FRY.