Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-05-18

When asked to give this paper I was
told that not many of the old soldiers
have been to Washington since sixty
FIVE and they would be interested to
know what Washington now is.
What Washington WAS in sixty-five l
know very little. In coDversing with
a gentleman recently he remarked,
"Why, insixty- five Washington wasn't
much-oLly few houses, and the
pigs were running about the Streets"
That being "A fact, there has been
some progress since then. The pigs
have been killed off anyhow. We ar
rived In Washington in the midst of
pouring rain just as the city was be-
ginning to be lighted for the evening.
We proceeded directly from the sta
ton to "Hotel Dunbarton" to secure
headquarters. We were very fortu-
nate the following day in securing
headquarters at 116 Maryland Ave-,
N.E.intbe home of Geo. Tower, a man
known to many in this section of the
county. From our location we had
but little more than cross the street
to enter the east side of the Capitol
grounds. The Capitol, a magnificent
building over six hundred feet in
length, grand, majestic, artistic and
sublime-words cannot express it. 1
loved to linger around it and went
oftentimes that might gaze upon it.
From an artistic point of view the
east front excels, but for grandeur
the west front exceeds all The north
and south wings have been added to
the original building. These spacious
structures to the right and left of the
very impressive dome give an idea of
grandeur and solidity we'll represent.
ing the nation which they are de-
signed to serve. On entering the
east front you find yourself in the inn
mense rotunda. Here we have an
exhibition of art, the room being en-
tirely surrounded with paintings rep
resenting many of the important
events in history, such as "Lee's Sur
render" etc. In looking upward
there was nothing to obstruct the view
for distance of three hundred feet to
the top of the dome where stands
Crawford's statue of''Armed Liberty"
In the evening the interior af the
dome was an especially beautiful sight
with its thousands of incandescent
lights it surelyis splendor unsurpassed.
l will not try to tell all about the in
terror of this building ofsuch wonder
ful magnitude, but the room of freaks,
If 1 may term it thus, is worthy of
mention. Passing from the rotunda
through corridor you at once enter
a marble room, and such marble with
it's tints as varied as the SUMS rays.
In this room every state is represent
ed with statues of two of it's famous
men, Vermont being represented by
statues of Ethan Allen and Senator
Collamer. After looking at the stat
uary the guide directed US to a copper
plate sunk in the marble floor. "Now
look at that steady" We did. In
moment he said, ''Do you hear me?"
And he sounded directly underneath
us. We conversed for a moment,
then he said, "Look into the corner at
your left" We did as We were d.
rected and to our surprise the man
we had been talking to underneath
the copper-plate was in the remote
corner of the room, and had been
there all the time. We, being YAM
KEGS, of course asked for an explana-
ton. He replied that it was purely
accident-no one has ever explained
it. We only know whenever person
speaks in an ordinary tone of voice, it
can be heard in any part of the room
and sounds as though 1T was the one
touching your elbow that spoke. Also,
in this room high on the marble wall
is a dark line in the marble, which
Pres. Mckinley. This room is in the
original building and is famous for it's
hot contests between the Wings and
Democrats. / will mention the pres
ident's room, the most elegantly fur
nished and decorated in the building.
1t is small compared with the other
rooms, but with its wonderful paint
ings, rich han iDgs and gold orna-
mentations it makes up for size.
Passing out at the east entrance,
crossing the Plaza through the grounds
and across the street you enter at
once the Congressional Library, with
its golden dome glimmering in the
sunshine-a plain but imposing look
ing edifice. Over the entrance were
busts of our eminent men in science,
philosophy aud art. The most elo-
quent could not describe the interior