and the strength of the state must always be in the manhood of its people, who, if worthily trained, will make their own success in their chosen walks of life the glory of the commonwealth. CON OUR CONGRESSMEN: THEN AND NOW. ONGRESSMEN, correspondents, compositors and claimants move on Washington from all parts of the United States, "when the wild geese southward fly." In the olden time it was for many who came a fatiguing journey, especially for those who had to cross the Alleghany mountains. Henry Clay, with a few other western congressmen who raised horses on their home farms, used to journey here in the saddle, accompanied by their families, in light covered wagons, and dispose of the horses and vehicles after their arrival. A few of the wealthy New England Federalists and of the aristocratic southerners went to Washington in state, in their coaches-and-four, which they retained through the winter for their personal use. But a majority of the senators, representatives and delegates came here as passengers in the famous old lines of stages, drawn by five good horses, two on the pole and three on the lead. Those were the days of comfortable wayside inns, where the teams of horses were changed, and where hungry travelers found well-cooked meals of venison, fried chicken, beefsteak, hot waffles, tea and coffee, for which never more than fifty cents-sometimes only twenty-five-was demanded. It was somewhat exhilarating, after having been shut up in a stage-coach for several days, to come in sight of the dumpy dome which then crowned the capitol, and which looked for all the world like an inverted wash-bowl. The coaches belonging to the rival lines of stage-coaches used to come dashing into the Federal city, as many then called it, those which carried the mails having guards sitting beside the drivers, armed with blunderbusses, there having been several daring robberies of the mails on the Baltimore and Washington turnpike. It was an old saying that the owners of the lines of stages furnished horses, but that the drivers had to furnish whips, and the skillful reinsmen would pick a fly from a leader's neck with an adroit motion of the wrist. The coaches stopping before the hotels, each one of which was designated by a larg swinging sign, out would come the landlords, bare-headed, to "welcome the coming" guests, and the tired passengers, often covered with dust, would be shown to a long sink, where they would perform their abiutions in tin wash basins, and then use crash towels hung on rollers, finishing their toilettes with a comb and hair-brush chained to the side of a looking-glass. In those days, when the charge for board and lodging at the best Washington hotels was two dollars per day or ten dollars a week, decanters of brandy and of whiskey were set upon each dinner table, to be used by the guests without extra charge. The public sitting-room had at one side a bar, where an adroit manipulator of drinks concocted potent beverages. Need I say that disturbances, often ending in bloodshed, were common in these bar-rooms at the beginning of this century? The waiters at the Washington taverns were all slaves. Free men of color were gradually introduced, and then came the Irish, one of whom was shot dead in the dining-room of Willard's hotel one morning just before the war, by a California congressman, because he had not displayed sufficient alacrity in bringing a warm plate of buckwheat cakes. The quaint, sleepy old borough of Georgetown, established at the head of navigation on the Potomac river, fifty years before the Federal metropolis was located, was long the sea-port and the court end of Washington. English dry goods, West India groceries, Madeira wines, Brazilian coffee and New England "notions" were landed at its wharves, the vessels that brought them taking return cargoes of the excellent flour brought down the Potomac in boats from the Shenandoah valley. On the heights behind the town were many commodious villas, each in its garden, in which there resided old Roman Catholic families descended from the followers of Lord Baltimore, thrifty Quakers from Pennsylvania, a small New England colony, with a few senators and representatives, whose private fortunes enabled them to live in style and to keep carriages. Other congressmen boarded at Crawford's famous Union hotel, and they were taken to the capitol and back in a large stage-coach with seats on the top, known as the "Royal George." Before the Washington hotels were able to accommodate comfortably those who visited the metropolis, many of the congressmen boarded at private houses, where they formed what was known as "messes.” These were generally composed of those of congenial political opinions, and it was understood that no additional boarders were to be taken without the approval of the "mess." Many pleasant acquaintances were thus formed among congressmen away from their homes, especially when the table and the sitting-room were graced by the presence of one or two ladies. In those days, however, not over one member of congress in twenty brought his wife to Washington. Now over forty senators and upwards of one hundred and fifty representatives are accompanied by their wives at Washington, and the daughters and other ladies attached to the families of congressmen number over one hundred. The home-like effect of these women is very salutary, and to it may be ascribed a decided change for the better in the morals of the congressmen. There is now an abundance of hotel accommodation of the different grades at Washington, although some of the best public-houses have grown, by accretion, from comparatively small buildings, and lack many of the modern conveniences. The guests coming from all parts of the country differ widely in deportment and in dress, and the professional politicians, who congregate at the National metropolis in crowds, are generally not strictly up to the Chesterfield type of good breeding. They like to rendezvous in the room of a representative from their state or district, where they order drinks and cigars at his expense, and discuss the probabilities of success in place-hunting, hour after hour, occasionally sending forth one of their number, as the dove was sent from the ark, to reconnoitre and ascertain, if possible, what rival applicants are doing to ensure success. Washington has always been well supplied with amusements. In the olden time the elder Booth, Warren, Jefferson, Fanny Kemble and other genuine stars gave the play-goers better performances than they now enjoy, and in those days there were none of the variety shows now so abundant. There were birthnight balls and assemblies, with dances at the hotels to the music of a darky fiddler, whose saltatory orders directed the cotillion and regulated the intricate figures of the veil. These parties, which always broke up at midnight, have been replaced by "Germans" commencing at that hour, in which the leader dashes about like Sheridan leading a charge of cavalry. Then, as now, there were horse races in the spring and fall, in which congressmen from Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland have always taken an especial interest. Cock-fighting is now contrary to law and only secretly indulged in, but some of the old "handlers" of bel. ligerent "birds" recall the regular attendance of President Jackson at the cock-pit, and tell how he brought some of his "Hermitage" fighters here to be ignominiously defeated. Quite a number of Revolutionary heroes, men of giant minds and pure hearts, were members of the earlier congresses, and endured the bitter attacks of the journalists of those days. They were the representative men of the infant Republic, and many of them, with their immediate successors, possessed that loftier statesmanship which, rising above the atmosphere of fierce political passions, impelied them to prefer the welfare of their country to the clamorous demands of party. With these leaders were many others who took such parts in the drama of congressional legislation as are assigned in theatricals to that useful body of men known as supernumeraries. Prompted only by humble aspirations, they doubtless succeed to their heart's content, leaving on the journals no other evidence of congressional service than a parrot-like repetition of "yea" or "nay." Yet these pawns on the congressional chess-board never sold their rights to appoint cadets at West Point or Annapolis for money; never accepted Credit Mobilier railroad or telephone stock; never brought to Washington a lot of impecunious henchmen for whom they demanded places; never passed days in supplying their rural constituents with garden seeds; never sold the quotas of public documents which came to them for distribution, and never clamored for places for "their sisters, their cousins and their aunts" in the bureau of engraving and printing. The senate used to meet at noon and remain in session about three hours, adjourning over every Thursday until the following Monday, while the house, which was rarely in session four hours a day, seldom sat on Saturdays. Business was transacted-especially in the senate-very much as a board of bank directors deliberates around its table. There were no verbatim reports, and as the stenographers who prepared for their respective newspapers skeleton reports of the proceedings devoted but little space to routine business, congressmen could freely advocate, oppose or amend resolutions before them without having every word they uttered put in print to be scattered over the country as a part of their "record," to be brought up against them on some future occasion. When a senator or a representative intended to speak at length, or when gentlemen at either end of the capitol informally agreed to discuss an important question on a designated day, a formal announcement was made in the National Intelligencer. The few stenographic notes taken were afterwards transcribed for the speakers, who wrote out at length their remarks-or what they would have said. Many of these post delivery speeches were models of oratorical strength and grace, after the original skeleton had been clothed with well-worded sentences. John Randolph was a privileged character, and many of his clean-cut sentences were flavored with venom, while the retorts by Tristam Burgess of Rhode Island were compared by Ben Hardin of Kentucky to "cuts with a butcher's knife sharpened over forty senators and upwards of one hundred and fifty representatives are accompanied by their wives at Washington, and the daughters and other ladies attached to the families of congressmen number over one hundred. The home-like effect of these women is very salutary, and to it may be ascribed a decided change for the better in the morals of the congressmen. There is now an abundance of hotel accommodation of the different grades at Washington, although some of the best public-houses have grown, by accretion, from comparatively small buildings, and lack many of the modern conveniences. The guests coming from all parts of the country differ widely in deportment and in dress, and the professional politicians, who congregate at the National metropolis in crowds, are generally not strictly up to the Chesterfield type of good breeding. They like to rendezvous in the room of a representative from their state or district, where they order drinks and cigars at his expense, and discuss the probabilities of success in place-hunting, hour after hour, occasionally sending forth one of their number, as the dove was sent from the ark, to reconnoitre and ascertain, if possible, what rival applicants are doing to ensure success. Washington has always been well supplied with amusements. In zhe olden time the elder Booth, Warren, Jefferson, Fanny Kemble and other genuine stars gave the play-goers better performances than they now enjoy, and in those days there were none of the variety shows now so abundant. There were birthnight balls and assemblies, with dances at the hotels to the music of a darky fiddler, whose saltatory orders directed the cotillion and regulated the intricate figures of the veil. These parties, which always broke up at midnight, have been replaced by “Germans" commencing at that hour, in which the leader dashes about like Sheridan leading a charge of cavalry. Then, as now, there were horse races in the spring and fall, in which congressmen from Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland have always taken an especial interest. Cock-fighting is now contrary to law and only secretly indulged in, but some of the old "handlers" of bel. ligerent "birds" recall the regular attendance of President Jackson at the cock-pit, and tell how he brought some of his "Hermitage" fighters here to be ignominiously defeated. Quite a number of Revolutionary heroes, men of giant minds and pure hearts, were members of the earlier congresses, and endured the bitter attacks of the journalists of those days. They were the representative men of the infant Republic, and many of them, with their immediate successors, possessed that loftier statesmanship |