Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1909-10-01
Off-yoSDER CORRESPONDENCE,
FAM LETTER NO. 3.
Written from Washington. d. ca

4
This is truly the City Beautiful
without an equal anywhere city
of domes and spires, statues anc
monuments. broad streets and leafy
parks. There is no dust. no smoke
even the telephone and electric wires
are laid in the tiling underground
After breakfast, | went at once tC
the State, War and Navy Building
where | was to work. 1t is the lar
| gest and finest office building in The
word-but | will tell you about i
some other time, after being ''sworr
in, | went right to work the same
morning Of my arrival. We worl
from niue A. NJ. till four-thirty p
NJ. with half an hour at twelve fol-
lunch. While the work is not very
nard, it is very exacting simp
ly must not make mistakes.
! We have all holidays off, and they
have managed to scrape together {
good many of them up here; also
Saturdays after one O'Clock and O
course no work on Sunday in my de
partment.
The first day after Office hours
Immediately started to the Capita
Building as it was supposed thai
Congress would adjourn some time
that evening. Passing the White
House, had the pleasure of seeing
for the first time the President OIL
these United States, He came down
thr north steps of the White House,
got into an automobile closely fol
lowed by his two negro bodyguards
on motor cycles, and passed close by
me on his way to the Senate. The
crowd cheered and he raised his hat
and grinned I wouldn t call it smil
ing, there was too much of it,
Going down Pennsylvania Avenue
| came to that magnificent pile of
marble and granite, the Capitol I
went in on the west side of it. The one
you are all familiar with in the pic
lures, up that long fight of stone
steps, through the Rotunda and
Statuary Hall, up more marble steps
to left along a lofty corridor, to the
right through a guarded door and
below me lay the governing ma
chinery of this Government, the u.
S. Senate. OF course it was rather
awe-inspiring, but the thought struck
me the most forcibly when first ]
looked down upon that august assem-
bly,. was the predominance of bald
heads, it looked more like the front
row at vaudeville than anything else
l had ever seen.
1t was the last day of the now his
toric Tariff Congress and one could
easily see there was spirit of IN
rest in the air Rumors of filibuster-
ing were running riot and even the
trainers of the Bill appeared uneasy.
Some of the members were gathered
in little excited groups, others fit
ted here and there like courIers be-
fore the battle The floor was hit
tered with scraps of torn paper-I
think fitting motto for that last
day would be: Everybody works
but father, and sometimes he works
too" Suddenly the gavel raped
and every thing was quiet as death.
I have heard fast talking, but be-
lieve the fastest | ever heard was
done by the President of the Senate
when he called the vote for adjourn
ment He stated the question, call
ed for ayes and nays ard declared
the Senate adjourned all in one
string of words and with one breath
before most of them realized what
was going on, but there was no
flibustering. I think everybody
was glad for they all looked tired.
| l then went across the building to
the House" and heard Uncle Joe
make goodbye speech. [ had seen
so many cartoons and read SO many
bad things Of Speaker Cannon that
really expected to find him wearing
horns and a spiked tail. | was some
what curprised at both his speech
and appearance. He would pass
easily as a very conservative preach
er. His talk was real good. He
said that Democratic Government
could be ruled only through com
promise. That all should accept in
GOOD faith the middle way chosen be-
tween two extremes.
The House then adjourned sine die
End mid many goodbYes and hand
shakes the crowd left the Building.
Outside it was fairly pouring rain,
The papers afterward called it q
storm, but pshaw they had never
lived in Greene County and didn' I
know what real healthy full grown
storm was.
Very truly,
J. c.. FAIN
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