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A
WASHINGTON CITY.
Reminiscences of Distinguished
Public Men.
Iueidents Which Ilavc Transpired at
the National Capital.
Gen. Schenck, The Marine Band, Aunt
Sallie Davis, Mrs. Elizabeth Ben
ton, Mr. McMullen and
Mr. Taylor.
NO. 21.
General Nelienek.
Gen. Sohenok, of Ohio, who served eight
years in Congress—1843 to 1751—before the
war, was one of the early champions of
emancipation, and had several altercations
with the slaveholder. On one occasion it is
narrated that the venerable Jo6hoa R. Gid-
dings was virtually refused a hearing when
he deBired to make personal explanation.
A scene of almost riotous confusion fol
lowed, and in the midst of it Sehencb, broad-
shouldered, square-headed and powerful,
rose in his plaoe and commanded silence
by the intensity of his manner and the ve
hemence with which he said :
“ I have no personal interest in this mat
ter, Mr. Speaker, nor knowledge of the
matters alleged; but w hen the honorable
gentleman, my colleague, who has been so
vtqlently and gravely assailed, desires to
make a personal explanation, surely he
should be to do so. Under such
circumstanoMgktf-% no gentleman would
object.” . 1 Dfewt-, *
Again, howeve^Hh^Vti came from differ
ent parts of the ehaBiWV cries of “I objeot!
I object!” and again Schenck, with renewed
emphasis, said: \
“I repeat, Mr. Speaker, that under the
circumstances no gentleman would objeot.”
result of Mr. Scbdt>jk’eocuratf»--'ad
pertinacity Mr. Giddinns was allowed to
make his explanation. When the scene was
over there was much discussion as to who
Sobenck referred to when he said that no
gentlemnn wonld objeot, and Jacob Thomp
son, of Mississippi, who was afterward
Secretary of the Interior, communicated to
him the impression, which was general in
the House, that be meant Slidell, of Lou
isiana.
“That is a mistake,” replied Mr. Uchenok;
“I did not even know that he was in the
House.”
“Are you willing to make that explanation
pnblio ?’’ asked Thompson.
“Certainly," was the reply, “I will do so
with pleasure.”
The next day on the floor Mr. Slidell, in
accordance with this arrangement, rose and
asked if the gentleman from Ohio referred
to him when he said that no gentleman
would objeot to Mr. Giddmgs’ explanation.
“No, certainly not, air,” replied Sohenok.
“I did not even know that
from Louisiana was in the
Still Slidell questioned
the gentleman froi
member from Lo
wonld he have
“That,” re;
chi question,
that fashii
gentleman
“If
ying:
lew that the
the House,
k?”
a hypotheti-
questioned in
went on to
^'entirely ont of
he' floor, ag.iinst
I which his friend,
Je to resUain him,
bit tha* what the
t desires to kuow is
ben I said yesterday
9d objeot to the ex-
gue. Lest there be
this subject, I will
f-meant and referred
member from Alabama,
Still
intern _
patienee,
the almost
Gov. Vano'j
-and saidyAwi
membarffam
to whom Fa
that no
planatioi
any furtl
say here
to the i
Felix G. Mi
Asmay mall be imagined, this declaration
created the wildcat excitement in the House.
MeOonnell, one of the most violent of
Democrats and pro-slavery men then in
Washington, rushed down the aisle shaking
his fist at Schenck, and for a moment it was
believed that a personal encounter could
not be avoided. With great difficulty order
was at last restored, and the ordinary busi
ness of the Honse for'a time resumed. Just
before adjournment, however, Garret Davis
came over to where Mr. Schenck was qui
etly Beated, and Baid: “Have you a pistol,
Sohenok ?”
“No,” replied the latter, “I never carried
one in my life.”
“Well, yon had better carry one to-day,”
said Davis, “for McConnell is swearing he
will shoot you on sight.”
“8till, I heven’t got a pistol, and don’t
know where to get one,” replied Schenck.
“Take mine, take mine,” said Davis, qui
etly, at the same time handing his friend a
pistol. For some days after this Mr. Sohenck
went armed. Three days later he met
McConnell as he was walking down the
eastern steps of the Capitol. The Alabamian
was standing quietly on the portico, but
made no demonstration as Scheuok passed
him, and so the affair ended.
The marine Band.
The Marine Band originated on the frig
ate Constitution, Commodore Hull, when
cruising in the Mediterranean in 1S05. Sev
eral Italian musicians, including Gaetano
Carusi, Giacoome Gaetano, Michael Sardo,
Carolus Masi and Francisco Pulitzis, came
to Washington, and formed a band that
was attached to the marine barracks. Ca
rusi was the leader from 1815 to 1825, and
then Miohael Sardo. These Italians and
their descendants formed a better portion
of the band for many years, and adhered to
the old-sohool clarionets, hautboys and bas
soons long after the introduction of crass
instruments. Indeed, they were regarded
at Washington as they regarded themselves,
as the best band in the world, until the
Boston Brass Band, with the famous bugler
Kendall as its leader, oame here with a mil
itary oompany
Aunt Sallie Davis.
Aunt Sallie Davis, a well-educated lady of
the old school, who died in September, 1881,
aged ninety-four years, had shaken hands
with every president, from Washington to
Hayes inclusive. She was tali and com
manding in appearance, with a strong and
pleasant face, keen black eyes and affable
manner. She was born in a house which
stood near where the Congressional Ceme
tery was afterwards located, was married in
the same house, died within sight of the
place, and was buried in the cemetery. Mrs.
Davis saw Washington lay the oorner-stone
of the Capitol on the 18ih of September,
1793. She was then a little girl, six years of
age. A few years afterward she saw the
Father of his Country at Rockville, Md.,
and was fond, in after life, of telling an
incident of that occasion. So great was the
enthusiasm that the people took the horseg
from the carriage and pulled it along the
crowded thoroughfares. At a certain point
the carriage was stopped by the crowd op
posite to where she was standing. Directly
in front of her a mother proudly lilted up
her ourly-haired boy to get a glimpse of
Gen. Washington. The little fellow burst
out in exolamation: “Why, mother, he’s
only a man!” Washington heard the re
mark, and laughingly called the child to
him, gave him a coin, and said: “Yes, my
son, only a man; always remember that.”
Mrs. Elizabeth Benton.
Mrs. Elizabeth Benton, the devoted wife
of Col. Thomas Hart Benton, who died at
Washington on the 10th of September, 1854,
had been for several years deprived of ut
terance. She had borne her sufferings with
Christian resignation, and the ruling feeling
in her heart was her devotion to ner hus
band. During the later years of her life
she had sat constantly by his side when at
his labors at home, and indeed their lives
may be said to have been inseparable, for
she had made her home wherever his busi
ness called him. She was reconciled to
part with him on his retnrn to Missouri just
before her death, because she was too weak
to accompany him, and knew that his duty
requiiedbis presence at home. When she
felt the approaoh of the crisis which termi
nated her life, she led her daughter* to the
vacant chair in which her husband worked,
and, by iook and gestures, made it apparent
that she required bis recall. It was too late.
She waited to sue-bed- in the next apart
ment, from which she was never able to rise
again.
Mr. McMullen and Mr. Taylor.
When the bill for the payment of Texan
claims was under discussion in the Thirty-
third Congress, Mr. McMullen, in advo
cating the reduction of the amount to be
appropriated, alluded to the remarks of the
gentleman from Ohio, not the one (Mr.
Giddings), who bellowed so loudly, he said,
but to his sleek-headed oolleague (Mr. Tay
lor).
Mr. Taylor, who was entering the hall
just as this allusion was made to him, re
plied that he wonld rather have a sleekhead
than a blockhead.
Mr. McMullen.
Mr. McMullen then said: “I intended
nothing personally offensive; whioh no
one ought to have known better than the
gentleman lumeelf. I made use of the re
mark at which the gentleman exhibited an
nndue degree of excitement to produce a
little levity; ueither of us ought to complain
of our heads. If united, there would not be
more brains than enough for one common
head.”
Mr. Taylor.
Mr. Taylor rose to reply, and no objection
beiug made, said: “I am the last man to.
make an improper allusion, though the first
to defend myself from offensive remark. I
take back what I said alter the personal ex
planation of my friend from Virginia, with
whom i have had long intercourse. I think
neither he nor myself, nor the whole House,
has more sense than the country demands at
oar bands.”
Gen. James Findley.
Gen. James Findlay, who had served cred
itably in the war of 1812, was a Jackson
Demooratio representative in the days of
the contest between “Old Hickory,” and
“Biddle’s Bank.” He was a type of a gen
tleman of the old school, and the descrip
tions of him recallsWashington Irving’s pic
ture of the master of Bracebridge Hall. The
bluff and hearty manner, the corpulent per
son and the open countenance of the gen
eral, his dress of the aristooratio blue and
buff, and bis gold-beaded oane, all tallied
witb my conception of the English country
gentleman of the olden time, and his some
times tender walk and gouty toe gave evi
dence that although he possessed most of
their excellences, he also partook somewhat
of their weaknesses. He was greatly be
loved in Ohio, and several anecdotes are
told of his kindness in enforcing the claims
of the United Suites when he was receiver of
the Distnot Land Office, for lands sold on
credit, as was the custom in those days.
Upon one occasion there had been a time of
general tightness in money matters, and
many farms in the region northeast of Cin
cinnati but partly paid for, were forfeited
to the government. In the discharge of his
official doty Gen. Findlay attended at the
place of sale. He learned soon after his ar
rival there, that many speculators were
present prepared to purchase these lands.
Mounting a stump, he opened the sale. He
designated the lands forfeited, and said
that he was there to offer them to the high
est bidder. He said that the original pur
chasers were honest meu, but that in conse
quence of the hard times, they had failed to
meet their engagements. But if they had
more time the government would lose noth
ing. It was hard thus, to be foroed from
their homes, already partly paid for. But
the law was imperative, and the lands must
be offered. “And now,” continued he, “I
trust that there is uo gentleman—no, I will
not say that—I hope there is no d—d rascal
here so mean as to buy his neighbor’s home
over his head. Gentlemen, 1 offer this lot
for sale. Who bids ?” There was no for
feited land sold that day. Ciroumstanoee of
this kind were some of the causes of Gen.
Findlay’s popularity throughout his dis
trict; and, consequently it was folly, in the
days of his vigor, to attempt his defeat for
Congress. W tien he ran for Governor of
Ohio, however, in 1834, he was defeated by
Robert Luoas.
SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN, BUILDER OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
THE HAN AND HIS HOUSE.
Would-be Esthetes Who Hake Them
selves Absurd.
Time, whioh is so bold and subtle in its
criticism of art and manners, ridicules the
craze for esthetic house decoration, or
rather the discordance so often seen be
tween the furniture and decorations of a
house and the people who inhabit it. These
same people are often as utterly unsuited to
the homes they have made for themselves
as a “betty bug” would be in a humming
bird’s nest. They feel it, too, and are
vaguely unhappy and oppressed by the beau
ty with whioh they have surrounded them
selves. Time pictures a fine old Queen
Anne room, furnished in the dainty artifi
cial style of that day scented wnh flowers
and panneled in satin, and in this deiioate
apartment a common looking woman in a
half dirty wrapper plunges about, sits down
on the pale blue satin sofa, opens what
looks like a fish basket and proceeds with a
class oi work whioh is fit only for the house
keeper’s room.
Or what is worse—you enter some pictur
esque, nooky room, got up after mediraval
precedent, with exquisite carved chairs, flue
old painted windows, and fifteenth century
tapestry—all the decoration good and in
character, sometimes of antiquarian value—
and you Bee the place populated by creatures
frilled and pinched into nameless forms,
tneir hinder quarters swaying, vibratiug,
bobbing up and down, by reason of an ap
pendage which appears most difficult to
keep in its intended position—a thing which
always wriggles to one side, or bounds upon
passing a chair, aud occasionally trips up
the owner—and is generally as unmanage
able as the “slow length” of the Worm in
Waguer’s opera. These waspish creatures
will strive for ever to feel comfortable in
the high oarveu chairs—will assure you that
dear Mr. So and-So has built the bouse ex
actly afttr their own design—will talk about
appropriateness and the influences of beauty
without the slightest idea that they them
selves are the most inappropriate eye sores
in the room. They have got up the style,
and the lingo, they have, spent the money,
they think they like it all, but in reality they
only like fashion. They resemble the
wretched boor who was sworn in an Invin
cible—he did not know what an Invincible
was, but he was delighted to be sworn in,
and if it lead to heaven, or to the felon's
dock, he could not help it.
Chacun a son gout. But it is better to be
simple and happy than sathetio and ridicu
lous. Affectation is the most repugnant
quality in life. The affectation of pretending
to understand what every word and move
ment betrays one is indifferent to, is no less
oontemptible than the practice of profess
ing to be wicked and dare-devil when one is
really a good sort of harmless soul. “How
can a man be oonoealed?” said Confucius.
Why not be yourself? Why not admit that
you are miserable in a Queen Aune chair,
and that you hate yellow and mnd color,
and that you think modern things much
nioer than ancient ones—until you have
studied and begun to understand what is
good and bad in either, and why, and until
your views have insensibly and naturally de
veloped?
Why not indeed ? Who shall say that the
bustling person in a halt-dirty plaid, knit
ting oomfortera for the poor, is not worth a
hundred times more than the empty, wick
ed, vicious elegante who loitered gracefully
about the fine room one hundred and ;fifty
years ago? Why should she be ashamed of
the woollen gown which is mnoh fitted for
her dutiful mission among the hospital pa
tients, or looking properly after her ser
vants, than the rich silk whioh her ances
tress’s hoop tossed up to her knees, aud the
dainty lace which certainly did not conceal
her bust?
Only that particular figure, amongst that
particular furniture, is out of character
from the point of view of good taste, and
she would be the better, and so would the
delicate staina, for using a different kind of
room until such time as she see6 her way to
blooming out in a satin richer than the
chairs, and lace finer than the mantel
shelf s.
Who, again, shall deny .the pinched girl,
who spoils her natural graces with humps
and stays, some useful place in the world ?
Probably she is the best of wives and daugh
ters, having none of the groes conversation
of mediaeval wom-n, none of their oaths
and ugly ways. She may spend too pinch
money on her wires and trimmings, and
spend it in the wrong way, with a lamenta
ble result; but she pleases her “set” whose
eyes are all vitiated like her own, and so
far is just on a level with more cultured
people, whose culture merely teaches them
to please their sec likewise.
Only, this girl, in jnstice to herself, should
not surround herself with those objects
which, by their refinement, draw attention
to her want of it. She should be seen in
rooms of the same kind as her costume—or
au even worse kind—so that the coup d'leil
may be “all of a piece,” and herself still the
best point in it.
□A room is essentially a background, a
means to an end, not the end itself. To
make the walls aud furniture the end, and
the inhabitants subservient to them is the
wrong way of decorating the house. If a
room is intended to be inhabited, it is ridic
ulous to make it uncomfortable by banish
ing every endurable seat, by employing ma
terials that have no “wear and tear,” and
by making the walls obliterate the compa
ny.
A Thomas Concert, as Described by
BiD Nye.
Theodore Thomas is certainly a great
leader. What a pity he is oat of politics.
He pounded the air all up fine there Thurs
day. 1 think he had 25 small-size fiddles,
ten medium size, and five of those big, fat
ones that a bald-headed man generally an
noys. Tnen there were a lot of wind instru
ments, drums, et cetera. There were 600
performers on the stage, oounting the
ohorus, with 4,500 people in the house and
3,000 outside yelling at the ticket office—also
at the top of their voices—and swearing be
cause they couldn’t mortgage their immor
tal soul’s and hear Nilsson's ooin silver
notes. It waa frightful. Tue building
settled twelve inches in those two hoars and
a half, the oieotrio lights went out nine
times for refreshments, and on the whole
the entertainment was a grand success.
The first time the lights adjourned an usher
came in on the stage through a side entrance
with a kerosene lamp. 1 guess he wonld
have stood there and held it for Nilsson to
sing by if 4,500 people hadn’t with one
voice laughed him out into the starless night.
You might as well have tried to light be
nighted Africa with a white bean. I shall
never forget how proud and bouyant he
looked as he sailed in with that kerosene
lamp with a soiled chimney on it, and how
hurt and grieved he seemed when he took it
and gToped his way out, while the Coliseum
trembled with ill-concealed merriment. I
use the term “ill-oonoealed merriment”
with permission of the proprietors, for this
season only.—Bill Bye.
W. W. Story, who really is an American
sculptor that Boston may be proud of, has
now in clay ready to be put in marble, a
statue of the Prophetess Miriam pro
nounced by Borne oritios to be a wonderfut-
y successful work.
AN EARTHQUAKE IN 1811.
What Happened at New Madrid, Mis
souri
Earthquakes used to be quite common in
the vicinity of the Mississippi. In the year
1811 a violent earthquake was felt at New
Madrid, Missouri. It was most severe at
that place, yet it was felt as far up as Pitts
burgh, on the Ohio river. It was daring the
Indian war, and a number of boats that Were
on the river kept near eaoh other in oase
the Indians might attack them.
Daring the night the boatmen were
aroused by the violenoe of the shook, and
the jarring of the boats, and, supposing that
the Indians had attacked them, they came
on deck well armed; but a more awful scene
presented itself than a band of savages.
The different kinds of birds, such as wild
geese, ducks and swans, were flying about
in the greatest terror, and with soreams
showed their alarm. Soon a loud hissing
was heard, like the steam escaping from the
boiler of an engine. The solid shores
shook, and huge waves rolled up the stream,
and the boats tossed about so as to make it
difficult for the boatmen to stand upright.
Lofty trees sank in the stream, tossing
their branches to and fro as they disap
peared, crashing and cracking as if they
were in dismay. The water became reddish,
and thick with mud, and large masses of
foam floated along. The earth on the
shores opened in wide chasms, and, as it
closed again, the water and mud flew in jets
higher than the tree-tops.
The air seemed of a purple tinge; the
stream almost ceased to flow for a few min
utes, and, rising five or six feet, it suddenly
rushed on again, carrying the boats with its
curr nt, where they were safer than near to
the shore, where the solid ground was open
ing to swallow them np. Indeed, more than
one of the boats went down with the men
on board. Some of the boats were wrecked
and stove by old snags, which were thrown
out on the land, and there left. The air
was disagreeable to the smell, and the water
to the taste; and the town of New Madrid,
built on a bluff, fifteen or twenty feet above
high-water mark, sank five or six feet below
it, and the bottom of several lakes in the
vicinity became so elevated, that corn was
afterwards raised where the water had
been.
How little is man as he contemplates this
vast expanse of water moving on night and
day, sometimes with so full a current as to
swell its width to thirty miles, and again, as
daring the present season, bursting its levees
and spreading desolation and rain through
out its immense valley.
Yes, the broad Mississippi has been a wit
ness to many a sorrowful tale. Along its
banks, from Arkansas, many of the lofty
trees are covered with a kind of moss called
Mississippi or Spanish moss. It hangs from
the branohes in long, thick mas&s, of a
grayish color, making the forests appear
solemn as if in mourning. Mr. Longfellow,
in his most beautiful poem, “Evangeline,”
thus alludes to this pendulous growth:
“Over their heads the towering aud tenebrous
boughs of the cypress
Met in a dusky arch, and trailing mosses in mid
air
Waved like banners that hang on the walls of an
cient cathedrals.’’
Bismarck’s physicians have forbidden him
keeping late hoars, and the iron chancellor
has therefore substituted the “fruhschop-
pen,” or breakfasr, for the soiree. He now
disarms his opponents by giving them a
hearty morning meal, with the best lager
brewed in a Munich monastery, and ohoioe
champagne.
PERS0NA1MENTI0I
What the People Are Doing and
Saying.
FAMILIAR OBAT ABOUT MEN
AND WOMEN
Thomas Bowman is now the senior bishop
of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
At the recent national election in Mexioo
General Diaz was eleoted President There
was no opposition.
The proudest and most self-satisfied wo-
man in Amerioa to-day is Mrs. Jptm Logan.
Truly, “she hath dope what she <Mnld.”
Zola is at work upon a novel d JvApg with
Socialism. In these days the bovnfltfi fol
low very closely in the tracks of to
tionists.
President Arthur was honored by
ton College with the degree of LL.
same degree was also conferred upo
ernor Abbott and Justice Harlan.
Miss Beatrice Biddle, a young lai
does society and fashion work on a
York paper, earns at that employment
compensating sum of $50 a week.
The ex-Queen of Hanover and the
Prince of Germany are expected at
gen, and a villa has been engaged for P
Bismarck, who is to arrive there early
July.
The Rev. T. De Witt Talmage has reoe
the degree of doctor of divinity fro
University of Tennessee, in aooordan
the unanimous vote of the faeulty and
of Trustees.
Robert Browning’s new book of
will bear the rather striking title of
osse ; Divers Fancies of Dervish Feri
The title, however, is unpleasantly sag
tive of howlings.
A German scholar has corrected
that has found its way into many
of Byron’s “Prisoner of Chillon,” s
that the line “fettered in hand and pined
heart” should read ‘joined in heart.”
Captain Young, of the schooner M.
Millen, reports sailing through a ’
over oDe ^hundred sperm whal'.-
miles off Cape Hatteras, which
thirty to forty feet long and as ta
ful kittens.
A Parsec girl has astonished h
India by bringing on action for
promise of marriage. It is the
kind known among them, and
great. As the girl was unsn
suit it wonld seem that the P
civilized femalee, waa'
onions.
Miss Marion Lan
tiful girl in New
Miss Chamberlain or
year, when she is twenty-
into a fortune of seven
is said to be a learned y
and austere as becomes a
are valued at millions o
The Sioux ohief True
Sitting Boll’s prinoip
battle of the Big Horn,
for the last year a mem
combination, was sei
nal meningitis at the P
day morning and died
al to the Ninety-ninth S
In Lewisbnrg, near Co
John’s Catholic Churoh,
married at the same
were John Stevenborg and
Joseph Schwertman and
H. Kruse and Lizzie M
sister, Miss Lena, was brid
big - mass was celebrated b
Robbers, pastor of the ehuro
formed the ceremony. One
foralL
A careful German of the m , ,
forty-seven, after searching th^ b . qm fc.-tgl/
ber of newly-arrived immi«;r«.- .; / ^
York for a wife, found one ihat' “
in the-person of a maid. of eig
mers. He finally -ronoluded however, that
be wonld not marry her, becaose she was
without a truckful of clothes.: V4am was
not as particular as this when he-tVvk Eve
for a wife. The world moves. y 3
The entire management of Mammoth
Cave—hotel, cave and all—is done by a wo
man—a handsome English “old maid.”
She succeeds very well, exoept that the
books running to and from Cave City al
ways arrive at the cave just after the hoar
for entering the save and leave just before
the hour when tourists come out of the oeve.
Anybody intending to do the esve must
give themselves at least forty-eight hours
for the trip.
Lewis Gordon, of Patohogue, oonoeived
the idea of flying a kite with a duplicate
string, to whioh he attaohed several baited
fish-hooks and a sinker. He raised the kite
over the water at the seashore, keeping the
strings separated until they had attained a
considerable altitude. Then he threw out
as far as possible one of the strings with
the hooks attaohed. The line, after sinking
so as to be drawn taut, answered every pur
pose of a deep-sea drop line, and the inge
nious fisherman soon had a sixteen-pound
cod and another of similar size.
At a recent city election in Marshall, Mich
igan, M. V. Wagner, Esq., was re-elected
mayor by a largely increased majority. The
Marshall Statesman (a Republican paper),
in commenting on the result says: “Mayor
M. V. Wagner’s majority was larger this year
than last. Evidently his stirring adminis
tration has fonnd favor in the eyes of many
Republicans. While we would have pre
ferred seeing a Republican in the chair, we
are certain there is no other man in the city
who wonld bear the honors of the office
more gracefully or work more heartily for
the best interests of the town.” Mr. Wag
ner is a practical business mao, thoroughly
systematic and possessed of untiring en
ergy. As the aotive manager of the Vol
taic Bety; Co. of Marshall, Mioh. { whose
goods have been so long and extensively ad
vertised as to guarantee their merit, he has
bnilt np an enormous business not only
throughout the county, but also in every
part of the world.
BETINCT PRINT
1. U. & W. B. SEAL*
NO. 458