The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-05-16
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
IN F 0 R M A TON
Blu RE AU
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington. D. c.
A CAPITOL GUIDE.
Washington. d. c.

| A CAPITOL GUIDE.
| Washington, D. c., May 13.-Every
morning punctually at 9. while the
parks Il Washington are still fresh
with dew and tourists are lingering
over coffee at their hotels, little old
man walks briskly up the long flight
of steps from Pennsylvania avenue
and sits MIN down in the rotunda of
| the capt. d, which has been his head
| quarters and place of business for
| over twenty years.
| He is Ira NJ. Bond, an official guide
| at the national capitol, and one espe-
cially qualified for his post by reason
of his long residence in Washington.
| and his well-stored memory. Born
near st. Louis, ten years before the
| Civil war, Mr.. Bond first came to
Washington as "a mere boy, arriving
OF. the nay when General Grant was
| inaugurated president of the United
| States for his first term. He secured
| an invitation to the grand inaugural
ball that night. shook hands with the
| soldier-president and his wife, ana
| told Grant thea and there that ne
| had decided to make Washington his
hcme.
so have 1, for time at least"
! laughingly replied the new president.
! Eight years later Grant ieft the
| Bond STAYED on, and has watched nine
different men act as chief executive
For some years he served as a news
paper correspondent for. ST. LOUIS
paper, and then, his health raining
| him, rec sived from the pen OF Grover
| Cleveland the nomination to the post
| he now holds
Half a million men, women and
| children, the population of a great
city, have been chaperoned AROUND
| the capitol by Mr.. Bond in the TWEEN
| ty years he has discharged his duties
| there. They have come from Florida
and Oregon, from Arizona ana YER
mant and from every intermediate
state: from Europe, Asia, AFRICA anu
| the South Sea Isles.
Altho the majority of those who
have seen the famous building under
| Mr. Bonds tutelage have been PLAIN
citizens of the Union, many celebrlties
have been ushered ground by the ola
guide Princes and potentates have
| been among them. Bond served as
guide, first to Prince Henry OF Prus-
| STA when the kaiser's brother visited
Washington in February, 1902, and
then. fifteen years later, to Marshal
Joffre of France.
His recollections of Prince Henry's
visit show how our attitude toward
Prussian royalty has changed. In this
| way Bond recalls the occasion:
prince Henry of Prussia visited the
capitol on the gath of February, 1902,
who filled the plaza and places of
vantage inside the building. He was
accompanied by Ambassador Won
Bernstorff and suite. and was received
| on the eastern portico by special
committee of the house of representa-
tives. Amid cheers they proceeded
| thru the rotupda and statuary hall and
| on thru the corridor to the speakers
| room. where the prince was received
| by Speaker Henderson with a short
address of welcome. They say that
the speaker began his greeting by re-
| ferring to the friendly feelings existing
between the princes republic and
| ours. but, seeing his error, quickly
changed the word republic to nation.
| II Mr.. Henderson had been right,
been much happier today.
| Anyway" continues Bond, "the
| prince then went to the house gallery
| where he was cheered by the other
visitors and the representatives as well.
Later he shook hands with all of them
and then crossed to the senate where
the entire body rose, out of respect
to His Highness.'"
Another incident which Mr. Bond
will recount for favored visitors is the
time when Mckinley, the third mar
tyred president, lay in state in the
| rotunda beneath the great dome of the
capitol. Few men have been thus
honored, the last being Admiral
Dewey, to whom this tribute, generally
reserved for presidents who die in
office, was granted by special act of
congress.
Directly under the rotunda, but two
| floors down. below the level of the
ground is the crypt which was spe-
cially designed to hold the remains of
George Washington, had his wife not
| asked in her will that the body be left
at Mount Vernon. 1t is a quiet, mys-
terious little sepulchre and by a
strange custom none of the capitol
| guides will lead visitors there unless
| specially requested. Out of the hun
dreds of thousands Mr. Bond has, con-
Quoted round the upper building only
a few hundred, he says, have asked
the privilege of examining the crypt.
In 1t rests the plain wooden bier COW
cred with black cloth on which the
the rotunda, and before them Garfield
and Lincoln. A single unshaded cleo
| trio light burns in the crypt by day
| and night and it is one of Bonds
duties to see that this vestal fire shall
| never be accidentally extinguished
Abraham Lincoln never had a.
firmer admirer than this old guide.
Brought up at a time when Lincoln's
name was on the lips of every man,
Bonds yeneration of his hero is of a.
sort different from that which is
learned out of books. He keeps his
chair, when off duty. next to the
famous statue of the great president
| by Winnie Ream in the rotunda, and
this and the bust of Lincoln by Gutzon
BoEglum, whose name is now promi-
nent in connection with airplane dis
closures. are subjects on which he Law
! 1shes much oratory for the benefit of
| visitors.
The gradual growth of the capitol
from the time the original cornerstone
was laid by Washington on the 18th of
| September, 1913. is a subject on which
Mr.. Bond is better posted than most
historians. Every school boys knows
of the victory the British won at
| Washington in 1914 and that after the
| battle the victors set fire to the un-
finished capitol. kindling the blaze
with furniture and books from the old