The Republican journal., 1906-05-03
Sight Seeing in Washington

! Sight Seeing in Washington
What Brooks Man saw in Visit to the
, National Capitol.
! PHILADELPHIA, Pa, April "a, 1906.
have read and heard much about
Washington, but one must see it in
order to fully appreciate its wealth and
beauty. We arrived there Saturday
night, tired from our journey, and i'm
mediately proceeded to eat and rest.
Having established our home at the
old National Hotel we had an excellent
view of all that was going on. Sunday
we attended the First Congregational
Church and listened to a fine address.
Some fine music was rendered by
choir of fifty singers and there were
three solos. The large pipe organ play
ed by a blind organist filled the church
with music that was grand and inspir-
ing.
| am unable to enter into anything
like description OF the places we VISIT
cd from lack of space, and. perhaps,
more from lack of ability to do so. sun
day D. NJ. we visited The Cocoran
Gallery of art, magnificent structure
and very interesting. Monday morn
ing we went through the Capitol, hav-
ing guide to explain everything and
show us all that was of interest. In
the fternoon we made the trip to Mt.
Vernon, visiting the old home OF George
Washington. This old mansion con-
tains eighteen rooms, furnished with
ancient furniture formerly belonging
to WASHINGTON and the Washington
family. The room in which Washing
ton died and the room in which Mrs.
Washington died are furnished with the
old canopy bedsteads, and in fact every
thing about them has a very ancient APP
peara nee. | have not seen more
beauti full location than the spot where
this old mansion stands. 1t is built on
an elevation overlooking the Potomac
and surrounded by beautiful grounds,
trees and shrubery. 1t certainly was
an ideal home.
Tuesday we went through the Smith
sonian Institution, the Bureau of
Printing and Engraving, and part OF
the National Museum. In the Bureau
of Printing and Engraving | saw them
making money faster than can make
it in the insurance business, but not
much faster than some of our leading
statesmen and financers made it in
the above business. In the afternoon
we took an auto ride around the city
with a lecturer to point out and ex-
plain the points of special interest,
such as the public buildings, homes of
foreign representatives and of promi-
nent men, such as Senators, Represen-
tatives. and the houses in which
Lincoln, Blaine, Dewey and others
lived. Our guide also pointed out the
house in which Lincoln died. the alley
through which Booth escaped after his
dreadful crime, and other things in this
line. We passed the house lot recently
bought by Senator Clark at cost of
S133 600, on which he is to build a home
at cost of only s., 600, GOO. In Maine
we count the cost of our buildings by
the thousands, but III Washington they
count by the millions.
The Library of Congress cost S6,000,-
10000, but this is a place that | have
not the ability to describe. | will
simply say that it is built chiefly from
Italian marble, contains % miles of
book shelves, and is said to be the fin
est building of its size i'll the world.
Wednesday on our visit to the White
House the Presidents team came up
and took Mrs. Roosevelt out to ride.
OF course we could not expect her to
rem ain at home on our account, espec-
tally since we did not send her any
word that we were coming. AS near
as l could judge, the east room in the
White House is 100 feet long, so feet
wide and "a feet high. In this room is
grand piano which cost 1922, 500. The
room is lighted in the evening by three
CHI andeliers, each containing $1,000
pieces of cut glass. This room was
under the care of Mr.. Pendle, man
81 years of age, who has been on duty
here for long time. He told me that
he let Mr. Lincoln out of the house the
last time that he ever went out, on the
night of the assassination. He also
said that there had been three funerals
and four weddings since he became an
inmate of the White House. He show
ed me the spot where Alice Roosevelt
stood during the marriage ceremony;
also where Nelly Grant stood. We
were in the dining room where all the
state dinners are served, and also saw
the green room and the red room. On
the whole we made quite visit.
In the afternoon we made the trip to
the National Cemetery at Arlington
Heights, Va. This is a very interesting
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