Before the end of June, 1860, four Presidential tickets were in the field. The Republican ticket was headed{27} by Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, the Northern Democratic ticket by his old rival in State politics, Stephen A. Douglas. The Southern Democrats8 had nominated John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, then Vice-president, and what was left of the Whig party had united with the peacemakers generally in naming John Bell of Tennessee. When Lincoln was elected in November, every one knew that a crisis was at hand; for, although opposed to the use of violence for the extinction9 of slavery, he disbelieved utterly10 in the system, and the radical11 leaders in the South proceeded at once with their plans for divorcing the slave States from the free States.
South Carolina led the actual revolt by adopting an ordinance12 of secession and withdrawing her delegation13 from Congress. Almost simultaneously14 she sent three commissioners15 to Washington, “empowered to treat with the Government of the United States for the delivery of the forts, magazines, lighthouses and other real estate within the limits of South Carolina” to the State authorities. President Buchanan, fearing lest any discussion with them might be construed16 as a recognition of their claim to an ambassadorial status, referred them to Congress, which met the difficulty at the threshold by turning their case over to a special committee, with the result that their demands{28} were disregarded. The committee, however, played a pretty important part in the activities of the succeeding winter, for the union men in its membership organized themselves into a sort of subcommittee of safety, and opened confidential17 channels of communication with men and women all over the city who were in a position to tell them promptly18 what the enemies of the union were planning to do. These secret informers included all classes of persons, from domestic servants to Cabinet officers. The correspondence was conducted not through the post-office, but by cipher20 notes hidden in out-of-the-way places, where the parties for whom they were intended could safely look for them after nightfall.
The militia21 and fire departments of the District of Columbia were modest affairs then, but their members were alert to the growing possibilities of trouble. Some who were secession sympathizers formed themselves into rifle clubs and drilled privately22 at night; while the unionists built up a little body of minutemen, who elected their own officers and secreted23 stands of arms at the Capitol and other convenient points, so that they could respond instantly, wherever they chanced to be, to a summons for emergency service. Day after day brought its budget of news from the South, saddening or thrilling. Thomas and Floyd{29} quitted the Cabinet, Dix became Secretary of the Treasury24, and Holt Secretary of War. In January, 1861, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi seceded25, seizing all the forts, vessels27, and other Government property on which they could lay hands; and Dix put upon the wire his historic despatch29 to his special agent at New Orleans, “If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot,” but it was intercepted30 and never reached its destination.
February witnessed the secession of Texas, the election of Jefferson Davis as President and Alexander H. Stephens as Vice-president of the Confederate States of America, and the withdrawal31 of several Senators and Representatives from the United States Congress. The only cheering news of the month was the refusal of Tennessee and Missouri to secede26, though both States contained a multitude of citizens who would have preferred to do so. Daily the galleries of Congress were crowded with spectators representing all shades of opinion and at times uncontrollable in their expressions of approval or disapproval32. When the House voted to submit a Constitutional amendment33 forbidding the interference of Congress with slavery or any other State institution, one element in the gallery burst into deafening35 applause; the{30} opposing element in the Senate became equally boisterous36 in applauding a speech by Andrew Johnson, denouncing as a traitor37 any man who should fire upon the flag or conspire38 to take over Government property for the Confederacy. The difference in the treatment of the two outbreaks was significant: that in the House was merely rebuked39 in words, but in the Senate the gallery was cleared and closed to spectators for the rest of the day.
In fairness it should be said that at this trying juncture40 several men in positions of responsibility, who had made no secret of their interest in the Southern cause, acted the honorable part when put to the test. Vice-president Breckinridge was credited by current gossip with an intention, at the official count of the electoral vote, to refuse to declare Lincoln elected, or permit a mob to break up the session and destroy the authenticated41 returns. On the contrary, he conducted the count with as much scrupulousness42 in every detail as if his heart were in the result. Equal praise is due to the chief of the Capitol police, who, though bitterly hostile to Mr. Lincoln, took all the precautions for his safety on the day of inauguration43 that his best friend could have taken.
Thus the Buchanan administration went out, and the Lincoln administration came in. The persistent{31}
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Octagon House
warnings of a plot to kill or kidnap the President-elect led to the adoption44 of an extraordinary program for bringing him safely to Washington. Under the escort of an experienced detective, he made the journey from Harrisburg at high speed, in a special train provided by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, all the tracks having been previously45 cleared, and the telegraph wires cut along the route. Meanwhile, a sensational47 newspaper had published locally a story that Lincoln was already in the city, having been smuggled48 through Baltimore in disguise in order to elude49 the conspirators50 who were waiting there to assassinate51 him. This fiction so incensed52 William H. Seward, who had been in Washington preparing for the arrival of his future chief, that Lincoln was not allowed to make a toilet after his night’s journey, but was hurried, all unwashed and unshaven, to the Capitol, so that the members of Congress could see him and satisfy themselves of the falsity of what they had read.
His immunity53 thus far did not quiet the apprehensions54 of Lincoln’s friends, who took especial pains to prevent the interruption of his inauguration at any point. A temporary fence was built around the space immediately in front of the platform from which his address was to be delivered, and an enclosed alley55 of boards was constructed from the place where he{32} would leave his carriage to the place where he would pass into the Capitol. On the morning of the fourth of March, armed men in citizen’s clothing were stationed on the roofs of all the buildings overlooking the main east portico56, and others on and under its platform, while yet others mingled57 with the crowd of thirty thousand spectators that early assembled on the plaza58. Batteries of light artillery59 were posted in commanding positions, with their cannon60 loaded and prepared to sweep any of several converging61 streets on the approach of a mob. Buchanan drove with Lincoln to the Capitol, and their carriage was surrounded by a hollow square of regular troops, in formation so dense62 that the occupants of the vehicle were scarcely visible from the sidewalk. Hannibal Hamlin, the Vice-president-elect, walked up from Willard’s Hotel, on purpose to hear what the people who lined the Avenue were saying. Their comments were, as a rule, far from friendly to the incoming administration, and some were distinctly ominous63.
Lincoln appeared very calm, in spite of the general atmosphere of excitement. Buchanan’s face was graver than usual, and he spoke64 little during the drive. When the party came upon the platform, Senator Baker65 of Oregon stepped forward and said simply, “Fellow citizens, I introduce to you Abraham Lincoln,{33} President-elect of the United States”; and the tall, ungainly hero of the day advanced to the rail. He laid his manuscript, to which he had put the finishing touches at daybreak that morning, upon the little desk with his cane66 for a paper-weight, and looked about for somewhere to lay his high silk hat; Stephen A. Douglas, who was sitting near, reached for the hat and held it throughout the proceedings67. Lincoln, after a brief pause, drew from his pocket a pair of steel-bowed spectacles, which he adjusted very deliberately68, and began to read with a seriousness of manner that soon quenched69 all disposition70 to frivolity71 in his audience. The address was a plea for the preservation72 of that friendship between the North and the South which had been hallowed by their united warfare73 in the past against the enemies of their country, and ended thus:
“Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot74 grave to every loving heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell75 the chorus of the union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
When the last syllable76 had passed his lips, he stood still a moment, slowly sweeping the multitude with{34} his eyes. Then he bowed to Chief Justice Taney, who, in a voice tremulous with emotion, administered the oath of office.
Within six weeks thereafter Fort Sumter had been fired upon, and the new President had issued his call for seventy-five thousand volunteers to maintain the laws of the United States, and summoned Congress to meet in extra session on the fourth of July. Almost the first thing the Senate did when it came together was to expel six of its members who had cast their fortunes with the seceding77 States. Meanwhile, Washington had been transformed from an outwardly peaceful town into a military camp. A home defense78 corps79 was hurriedly enlisted80 by Cassius M. Clay of Kentucky and James H. Lane of Kansas, and a guard was posted around the White House every night. The minutemen were called out repeatedly for special service. Once they seized a vessel28 which was about to sail from a Potomac wharf81 for a southern port, laden82 with munitions83 of war alleged84 to have been stolen from the Government. Again, they marched to Georgetown and took forcible possession of the flour stored in a mill there and reported to them as destined85 for the Confederate army; this, by commandeering all the wagons86 in the neighborhood, they removed to the Capitol and stowed away in the basement rooms. In{35} the streets, all strangers were eyed with suspicion. Signals to the police, the home defense corps, and the minutemen were conveyed by certain tollings of big bells; and, as every signal meant trouble either present or imminent87, the townspeople lived continually as if on the brink88 of a volcano.
Among the earliest State volunteers to reach the city were regiments90 from Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. The Massachusetts Sixth, which had been fired on by a mob while passing through Baltimore, was quartered in the Hall of the Senate, and the New York Seventh in the Hall of Representatives; while bivouacked in other parts of the same building were about five hundred Pennsylvanians and a company of United States artillery, for there was general expectation of a Confederate attack upon the Capitol. The New York Seventy-first was assigned to the Washington Navy Yard, so as to be convenient for repelling91 approaches from Alexandria by way of the river.
The first incident of the war in which Alexandria figured, however, was not a foray on Washington but a tragedy at home. Colonel Ephraim E. Ellsworth, who had recruited a regiment89 of zouaves from New York City, came to Washington at its head. He was young, handsome, soldierly in bearing, and{36} full of enthusiasm; but Mr. Lincoln, though greatly attracted to him, felt some misgivings92 as to his ability to control his zouaves, for the New York firemen of that period had a reputation for turbulence93. Hence, when arrangements were made for moving troops into Virginia to occupy a region which must be held for the defense of the capital, the President consented to let Ellsworth’s regiment go only on condition that it should be instantly disbanded if its members committed any breach94 of discipline.
At two o’clock on the morning of May 24, 1861, the zouaves boarded two Potomac steamboats, which before sunrise had dropped down to Alexandria. Leaving most of his men on the wharf, Ellsworth started with a small squad95 toward a telegraph office whence he could report to Washington by wire. He observed a Confederate flag flying from the roof of a hotel known as the Marshall House, and, realizing what might happen if his men caught sight of it, entered with the purpose of directing its removal. Jackson, the landlord, was abed, and the man in charge of the office seemed irresponsible, so Ellsworth and his squad hauled down the flag themselves. As they were descending97 with it, Jackson suddenly emerged from his chamber98 in the second story and leveled a double-barreled shotgun at Corporal Brownell, the soldier{37} nearest him. Brownell, with his rifle, struck Jackson’s gun just as its trigger was pulled, and the shot went wild; but in an instant Jackson had aimed again and discharged the contents of the second barrel into Ellsworth’s breast. The Colonel fell dead, and Brownell, firing and using his bayonet almost simultaneously, killed Jackson where he stood.
Except one who had lost his life by an accident, Ellsworth was the first union soldier to fall in the Civil War. He was buried from the White House by the President’s order; and the news of his death so aroused the North that volunteers poured into Washington for a time faster than the Government could arm and provision them. Mostly they were militia regiments which had come on under their own officers. In Washington they were united in brigades, with generals of some experience in command, and sent into Virginia by way of the “Long Bridge,” which had its terminus on the fringe of the Arlington estate; it was a wooden structure, and the troops had to break step in crossing it. The first battle between the two armies was at a point near Manassas, and took its name, Bull Run, from a small stream which, about twenty-five miles southwest of Washington, joins the Occoquan River.
So little conception had the people at large of the{38} actualities of war that many Washingtonians and tourists, of all ages and sexes, drove down in carriages to watch the battle from a safe position on the hillside. Fighting began on the morning of Sunday, July 21, and the first reports that reached the city described everything as going favorably to the union cause. The despatches sent to Northern newspapers all reflected this view, and some went pretty elaborately into detail concerning incidents on various parts of the field. But suddenly the tide turned, and with a panicky force which started the whole body of Federal troops on a pell-mell rush for Washington. The light-hearted spectators ran, too, often impeding99 the retreat of the soldiers by getting their carriages wedged together on a bridge or a narrow road, while the air shook with mingled profanity and prayers, punctuated100 with hysterics. Not a few of the carriage folk, as night drew near, became so terrified that they cut their harness and rode their horses bareback, two sometimes clinging to one animal. The Confederates, discovering the rout46, were as much surprised as the Federals. They set out to follow their foes101, but, not fully102 grasping the real conditions, stopped about fifteen miles short of Washington and waited for morning, thus giving the fugitive103 army a chance to recover from its first demoralization. Had they{39} pressed on, they might have taken possession of the capital that night, captured the stored munitions, and looted the Treasury; and the record of the next four years must have been written in a different vein104.
Meanwhile, the true story had been brought in by the fleeing non-combatants, and the Associated Press attempted to send out a correction of first reports, but discovered too late that the Government had seized all the telegraph lines and established a temporary censorship, postponing105 any further dissemination106 of news. As far as known, only one prominent paper in the North was able to describe the disaster in its Monday morning’s issue. That was a Philadelphia journal, whose correspondent had taken to his heels as soon as the panic began. By the time he reached Washington, he was so convinced that the Confederates were going to capture the city at once, that he boarded a train which was just pulling out for Philadelphia, and at his desk in his home office dictated107 his observations of the battle and the stampede.
The President, having received only cheering bulletins in the earlier part of Sunday, went out for his usual drive in the cool of the afternoon. On his return, about half-past six o’clock, he found awaiting him a request to come immediately to General Scott’s room at the War Department. All his Cabinet had gathered{40} there, and his hurried consultation108 with them resulted in messages directing various movements of troops in the field, and appeals to the Governors of the loyal States for more men. When he came back to his office, he threw himself upon a lounge, where he spent the night, not in sleep, but in listening to, and closely catechising, parties of civilians110 who had made their way in from Manassas and had hastened to the White House to pour their disjointed narratives111 into his ear. By daylight the streets of Washington presented a pitiful spectacle. Ordinary business was almost at a standstill; excited citizens were gathered in knots at every corner; and a multitude of disheartened soldiers, lacking leaders and organization, not knowing where to look for their next orders and thinking with dread112 of the effect the bad news would have upon their friends at home, were wandering aimlessly about. The President, after twenty-four hours of anxiety, was greatly relieved when the responses from the Northern States began to reach him, showing that the shock had not broken the faith of the people but had awakened113 them to the realities of the situation. This change was reflected in the Cabinet councils, too, where a sudden revision of opinion was observed on the part of those members who had fancied that the war would be merely a three months’ holiday—a{41} triumphal march of a Northern army from Mason and Dixon’s line to the Gulf114 of Mexico.
This is not a history of the civil conflict; its beginnings have been thus outlined only because they made so deep an impress on the future of Washington, which, from being generally regarded by the American people with comparative indifference115, had become a center of interest for all the world. The city was not again seriously threatened with capture till July, 1864, when the Confederate General, Jubal A. Early, with a corps of seasoned soldiers, had worked his way around so as to descend96 upon it from the north. The news of his approach, spreading through the community, did not cause the consternation116 which might have been expected in view of the slight defensive117 preparation that had been made in the menaced quarter. Requisitions were sent to the army in Northern Virginia for such troops as could be spared. Wounded and discharged union veterans shouldered their guns once more. The male nurses in the hospitals were drafted for active duty. A troop of cavalry118 was recruited among the civilian109 teamsters at work in the city. From all the executive Departments the able-bodied clerks were called out, armed with rifles or muskets119 as far as possible, and for the rest with pistols, old cutlasses, axes, shovels120, and whatever{42} other implements121 might be turned to emergency use, and ranged up on the sidewalks for elementary instruction and drill. Those who were least strong or most poorly armed were organized into a home-guard, to act as a last reserve if the Confederates succeeded in piercing a line of earthworks thrown out north of the city. Some of these fortifications can still be identified, though worn away by a half-century’s exposure to a variable climate, overgrown with trees and vines, and at intervals122 used as building sites. The most interesting of the chain is Fort Stevens, near the present Seventh Street Road, for there President Lincoln stood for hours under fire, refusing to go home as long as there seemed a chance that his presence could lend any inspiration to the men. The invading force was repulsed123 after a two days’ effort to break through, and Washington breathed freely once more.
We come now to the concluding stage of the great struggle. Mr. Lincoln was re?lected in November, 1864, and inaugurated on the fourth of March, 1865, making the chief theme of his address a plea for generous treatment of the South. Within a month Richmond fell, and five days after that General Lee surrendered his army. There was great rejoicing in Washington over both these portents124 of peace, and parties of men and women paraded the streets after{43}
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union Engine House of 1815
nightfall, singing patriotic125 songs in front of the dwellings126 of prominent Government officers. On the night of April 11 a great crowd gathered in the White House yard, loudly cheering the President and calling for a speech. Having been notified in advance, he had jotted127 down a few remarks which he now read from manuscript. This memory of him we shall take away with us, as he stood framed in an open window, with one of his secretaries at his side holding a lighted candle for him to see by, and his little son Tad taking from his hand the pages of manuscript, one by one, as he finished reading them, while the rest of his family, with radiant faces, were grouped where they could overlook the scene.
Three nights later, almost at the same hour, Booth’s bullet laid the good man low in his box at Ford’s Theater; and in a little back hall bedroom of the house across the street to which he was carried, he breathed his last at an early hour on the following morning. Simultaneously with the shooting of Mr. Lincoln, an attempt was made to kill Secretary Seward, and the detectives unearthed128 evidence of a wide conspiracy129, which contemplated130 a simultaneous murder of the President, the Vice-president, all the Cabinet, and General Grant. The conspirators were soon tracked. Booth was shot in a Virginia barn in which{44} he had taken refuge from his pursuers; four others were tried by a military commission and hanged.
Andrew Johnson, the Vice-president, was not a tactful man, and had already drawn131 upon himself the enmity of the radical wing of his party in Congress, which was intensified132 by his first acts as President, foreshadowing a considerate policy toward the South. A tiresome133 petty warfare set in, Johnson vetoing bill after bill, only to see it repassed over his veto. Of the members of the Lincoln Cabinet he had retained, Secretary Stanton was the one with whom he had most friction134, and in August, 1867, he called for Stanton’s resignation, designating General Grant to manage the War Department temporarily. On Stanton’s refusal to resign, Johnson suspended him, and Grant took over the Department and held it till the Senate adopted a resolution declaring its non-concurrence in Stanton’s suspension. Then Grant stepped out, and Stanton returned to duty. Johnson suspended him again, this time designating General Lorenzo Thomas to act in his stead. Matters had now reached a climax135, and the House in 1868 impeached136 the President. His trial by the Senate consumed nearly two months and ended in a failure to convict. In view of this defeat, Stanton resigned, and from that time till the close of his term President Johnson continued his quarrel{45} with the opponents of his policy, celebrating his last Christmas in the White House by proclaiming a general pardon and amnesty, so framed as to include all grades of political offenders137.
Johnson was President when the enlargement of the Capitol building was finished, including the rearing of the present dome19. While the alterations138 were in progress, the grand two days’ parade of the victorious139 armies took place on Pennsylvania Avenue, the President reviewing it as it passed the White House. General Grant was elected by the Republicans to succeed Johnson, taking office in March, 1869. During the next sixteen years, divided between his two terms and the administrations of Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur, Washington almost doubled in population. While Grant was President, it was so constantly in the public eye that many rich men discerned its future possibilities and invested in real estate there. Army and navy officers, retired140 from active duty, found it pleasant to settle down where they would be most likely to meet their old comrades. A few scholars drifted in, so as to have easy access to the Government libraries and records. Thus, in both a material and a social way, Washington took a strong upward start.
For the esthetic141 side of the general change, less can{46} be said in praise. Most of the dwellings built during this era can still be distinguished142 by their gratuitous143 ugliness. The parks became strewn with flower-beds of fantastic shape, overrun by a riot of inharmonious colors. Statues sprang up like mushrooms, unrelated in size or style or any other quality. Alterations of street grades left little houses perched on bluffs144 and leaning against big neighbors built at the new level, or sunk in dingy145 pits. All this contributed to give the city an unfinished look, like that of a child growing out of its small clothes. Over the whole process of transformation146 loomed147 its master figure, Alexander R. Shepherd.
No man of his day, unless it were Grant himself, endured more wholesale148 denunciation or found more valiant149 defenders150 than he. Like Grant, who believed in him thoroughly151, he had an iron will which treated all obstacles as negligible when he had set himself to accomplish a certain end. As a plumber152 by trade and a very competent one, he had accumulated a fortune before middle life. Early in his business career he had made up his mind that Washington’s failure to fulfil L’Enfant’s ideal of a beautiful capital was due to the sluggishness153 which pervaded154 it, and this he resolved to dispel155. Grant listened to his projects and encouraged them. The first step was to abolish{47} the existing form of municipal government and to substitute a Territorial156 form, with a Governor and a Board of Public Works. Shepherd was made vice-president of the Board and virtually its dictator.
What he had to face in his effort to launch the city afresh can hardly be conceived by an observer of to-day. Although ten years had elapsed since the outbreak of the great war of which Washington was the focal center, local conditions had improved but slightly upon those described toward the close of the previous chapter. The road-bed of Pennsylvania Avenue had received a pavement of wood, which was fast going to pieces. A single square in Vermont Avenue was surfaced with a coal-tar product that had proved its unfitness. A few other streets had been spread with a thick coat of gravel157, which, as it was gradually ground down, filled the air with fine grit158 whenever the wind blew. The rest of the highways were either paved with cobblestones or left in their primitive159 dirt, which became nearly impassable in very wet weather for mud, and in very dry weather for dust. It was not uncommon160 for a heavy vehicle like a fire-engine to get stalled when it most needed to hurry, and to avoid this contingency161 the engines sometimes ran over the sidewalk. In the northwestern quarter, now so attractive, the marshes162 were undrained, and the people{48} forced to live there suffered tortures from chills and fever. There was no efficient system of scavenging, but swine were kept in back yards of dwellings to devour163 the kitchen refuse. Poultry164 and cattle roamed freely about the vacant lots in thinly settled neighborhoods. There were several open sewers165; and the street sweepings166, including offal of a highly offensive sort, were dumped on the common south of Pennsylvania Avenue and strewn over the plots set apart for lawns.
Because Shepherd foresaw the hostility167 he would excite by his program of reforms, and that what he did must therefore be done quickly, he crowded into three years what might well have consumed twenty. To save time and cut red tape, he awarded contracts to friends whom he believed to be as much in earnest as he was—a practice which of course laid him open to accusations168 of favoritism; he experimented with novel materials and methods, many of which proved ill-adapted to his needs; and his expenditures169 reached figures which surprised even him when he found leisure to foot up his debit171 page. But he shirked nothing because of the danger or trouble it might involve for himself, and his opponents had to lie awake nights to outwit him.
For instance, there stood on the present site of the{49} Public Library in Mount Vernon Square a ramshackle old market building, the owners of which had contrived172 so to intrench themselves behind legal technicalities that they could not be ousted173 by any ordinary process. One evening, after the courts were closed, a platoon of brawny174 laborers175 was marched up to the building, armed with battering-rams, axes, and sledge-hammers, and, before proprietors176 or tenants177 could hunt up a judge to interfere34, the party had reduced the market to kindling178 wood and prepared the ground for conversion179 into a public park. Again, when the time came to improve the lower end of Pennsylvania Avenue, a railroad crossing stood in the way. It had been laid during the war, with no legal warrant but as a temporary military necessity, and the company had repeatedly refused to remove it. So at one o’clock one Sunday morning, when injunctions were out of the question, Shepherd brought down a gang of trusty men and proceeded to tear up the rails, which could never thereafter be replaced.
The boldness of this performance so stirred the admiration180 of John W. Garrett, one of the most powerful railway magnates of the day, that he offered Shepherd a vice-presidency of the Baltimore and Ohio Company. But Shepherd was not to be lured181 away. He was promoted by Grant from the vice-presidency of{50} the Board of Public Works to the Governorship of the District, a move which, though flattering, made him all the more shining a mark for attack; and a group of large landowners, shuddering182 at the prospect183 of further increases in taxation184, induced Congress to reorganize the local government, wiping out entirely185 the Territorial system and popular suffrage186, and putting the administration of affairs into the hands of three Commissioners to be appointed for limited terms by the President. This plan has remained substantially unchanged for more than forty years, to the satisfaction of the citizens who have most at stake in the welfare of the city.
Having entered office rich at the age of thirty, Shepherd quitted it at thirty-three so poor that he had to begin life anew in the Mexican mining country. He left as his monument a record expenditure170 of twenty-six million dollars, about half that amount remaining as a bonded187 debt; many miles of newly opened or extended streets; a splendid achievement in shade-tree installation and parking improvement; modern water, sanitation188, and lighting189 plants; and, above all, an awakened popular spirit as to civic190 advancement191. Albeit192 his ways of working out his plans often were so crude as to shock the sense of quieter people and not to be commended as a continuing force for{51}
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On the Ruins of Fort Stevens
good, they served their time, which needed the application of a crowbar rather than a cambric needle.
True to his human type, Shepherd was an odd mixture of incongruities193. He poured out public funds like water, yet profited never a cent himself. In his own fashion he was pious194, yet he could swear like a trooper when aroused, and once halted in the midst of family prayers to order a servant to “drive that damned cow out of the rose-bushes!” He was overheard, after hurling195 imprecations at some contractor196 who had mishandled a job, murmuring a prayer to the Almighty197 to forgive and forget his momentary198 loss of temper. A lady who once engaged him as a plumber to hang a chandelier in her parlor199 noticed that it swayed under her touch, and sent for him again to make sure that it would not fall upon the heads of her guests. His answer was to mount a chair on one side of the room, pull the chandelier toward him till he could grasp it with both hands, jump off, and swing his whole weight of two hundred and twenty-five pounds across to a chair on the opposite side. This exhibition of his confidence in his work completely restored hers.
Little more need be told here. The sodden200 soil plowed201 up by Shepherd was gradually harrowed and seeded, watched and watered, till it brought forth202 a{52} new city, which under later administrations, in spite of many vicissitudes203, has prospered204 in the main. Presidents Cleveland, Harrison, and McKinley took an interest in it which, while kindly205, had some of the detached quality of their interest in any of the States or Territories; under them, however, the beautiful Rock Creek206 National Park and its neighbor the “Zoo” were planned and largely developed, and the pleasure-ground and suburban207 expansion programs received a considerable impetus208. President Roosevelt felt a lively sense of the importance of the city as the capital of a great nation. It was in his time that the White House underwent its restoration, and the L’Enfant plan generally was revived as a standard. He was responsible, also, for attracting to Washington, as permanent residents, many literary and scientific workers whom it had formerly209 welcomed only as visitors, and the foundation of the Carnegie Institution went far to make this period notable in local annals. Mr. Taft’s interest took more the neighborly bent210, as if Washington were his home. He bore an active part in the popular movements for beautifying the city, not so much because it was a capital, as because he wished to have a hand in the civic enterprises of his fellow townsmen.
President Wilson’s attitude has not thus far been{53} so clearly defined as that of his recent predecessors211. Other pressing public concerns have left him scant212 time for looking into municipal improvement projects. Mrs. Wilson, however, gave them much attention; and a hope expressed during her last illness so touched the heart of Congress as to bring about the enactment213 of some long-delayed legislation to abate214 the use of unwholesome alleys215 for the tenements216 of the poor.
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convened
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| 召开( convene的过去式 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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controversy
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| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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precipitate
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| adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物 | |
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ballots
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| n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 ) | |
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wrangling
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| v.争吵，争论，口角( wrangle的现在分词 ) | |
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verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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democrats
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| n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 ) | |
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extinction
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| n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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11
radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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12
ordinance
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| n.法令；条令；条例 | |
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13
delegation
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| n.代表团；派遣 | |
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14
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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15
commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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16
construed
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| v.解释（陈述、行为等）( construe的过去式和过去分词 )；翻译，作句法分析 | |
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17
confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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18
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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19
dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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20
cipher
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| n.零；无影响力的人；密码 | |
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21
militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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22
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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23
secreted
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| v.（尤指动物或植物器官）分泌( secrete的过去式和过去分词 )；隐匿，隐藏 | |
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24
treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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25
seceded
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| v.脱离，退出( secede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26
secede
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| v.退出，脱离 | |
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27
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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28
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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29
despatch
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| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
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30
intercepted
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| 拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 )； 截住； 截击； 拦阻 | |
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31
withdrawal
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| n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销 | |
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32
disapproval
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| n.反对，不赞成 | |
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33
amendment
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| n.改正，修正，改善，修正案 | |
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34
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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35
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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36
boisterous
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| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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37
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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38
conspire
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| v.密谋，（事件等）巧合，共同导致 | |
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39
rebuked
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| 责难或指责( rebuke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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41
authenticated
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|
| v.证明是真实的、可靠的或有效的( authenticate的过去式和过去分词 )；鉴定，使生效 | |
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42
scrupulousness
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| n.一丝不苟；小心翼翼 | |
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43
inauguration
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| n.开幕、就职典礼 | |
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44
adoption
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| n.采用，采纳，通过；收养 | |
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45
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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46
rout
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| n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮 | |
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47
sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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48
smuggled
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| 水货 | |
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49
elude
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| v.躲避，困惑 | |
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50
conspirators
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| n.共谋者，阴谋家( conspirator的名词复数 ) | |
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51
assassinate
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| vt.暗杀，行刺，中伤 | |
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52
incensed
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| 盛怒的 | |
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53
immunity
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| n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权 | |
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54
apprehensions
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| 疑惧 | |
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55
alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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56
portico
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| n.柱廊，门廊 | |
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57
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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58
plaza
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| n.广场，市场 | |
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59
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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60
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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61
converging
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| adj.收敛[缩]的，会聚的，趋同的v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的现在分词 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集 | |
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62
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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63
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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64
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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65
baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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66
cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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67
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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68
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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69
quenched
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| 解（渴）( quench的过去式和过去分词 )； 终止（某事物）； （用水）扑灭（火焰等）； 将（热物体）放入水中急速冷却 | |
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70
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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71
frivolity
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| n.轻松的乐事，兴高采烈；轻浮的举止 | |
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72
preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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73
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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74
patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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75
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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76
syllable
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|
| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
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77
seceding
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| v.脱离，退出( secede的现在分词 ) | |
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78
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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79
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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80
enlisted
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|
| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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81
wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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82
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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83
munitions
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|
| n.军火，弹药；v.供应…军需品 | |
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84
alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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85
destined
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|
| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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86
wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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87
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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88
brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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89
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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90
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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91
repelling
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| v.击退( repel的现在分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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92
misgivings
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|
| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧 | |
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93
turbulence
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| n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流 | |
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94
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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95
squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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96
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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97
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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98
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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99
impeding
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| a.(尤指坏事)即将发生的，临近的 | |
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100
punctuated
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| v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的过去式和过去分词 )；不时打断某事物 | |
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101
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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102
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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103
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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104
vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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105
postponing
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| v.延期，推迟( postpone的现在分词 ) | |
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106
dissemination
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| 传播,宣传,传染(病毒) | |
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107
dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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108
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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109
civilian
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| adj.平民的，民用的，民众的 | |
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110
civilians
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| 平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓 | |
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111
narratives
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| 记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分 | |
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112
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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113
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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114
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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115
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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116
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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117
defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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118
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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119
muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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120
shovels
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|
| n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份 | |
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121
implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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122
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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123
repulsed
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| v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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124
portents
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| n.预兆( portent的名词复数 )；征兆；怪事；奇物 | |
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125
patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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126
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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127
jotted
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| v.匆忙记下( jot的过去式和过去分词 )；草草记下，匆匆记下 | |
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128
unearthed
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| 出土的（考古） | |
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129
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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130
contemplated
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| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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131
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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132
intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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133
tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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134
friction
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| n.摩擦，摩擦力 | |
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135
climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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136
impeached
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| v.控告（某人）犯罪( impeach的过去式和过去分词 )；弹劾；对（某事物）怀疑；提出异议 | |
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137
offenders
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| n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物） | |
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138
alterations
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| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
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139
victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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140
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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141
esthetic
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| adj.美学的，审美的；悦目的，雅致的 | |
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142
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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143
gratuitous
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| adj.无偿的，免费的；无缘无故的，不必要的 | |
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144
bluffs
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| 恐吓( bluff的名词复数 )； 悬崖； 峭壁 | |
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145
dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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146
transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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147
loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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148
wholesale
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| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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149
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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150
defenders
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| n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者 | |
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151
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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152
plumber
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| n.(装修水管的)管子工 | |
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153
sluggishness
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| 不振，萧条，呆滞；惰性；滞性；惯性 | |
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154
pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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155
dispel
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| vt.驱走，驱散，消除 | |
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156
territorial
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| adj.领土的，领地的 | |
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157
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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158
grit
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| n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关 | |
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159
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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160
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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161
contingency
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| n.意外事件，可能性 | |
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162
marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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163
devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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164
poultry
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| n.家禽，禽肉 | |
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165
sewers
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| n.阴沟，污水管，下水道( sewer的名词复数 ) | |
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166
sweepings
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| n.笼统的( sweeping的名词复数 )；（在投票等中的）大胜；影响广泛的；包罗万象的 | |
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167
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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168
accusations
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| n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名 | |
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169
expenditures
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| n.花费( expenditure的名词复数 )；使用；（尤指金钱的）支出额；（精力、时间、材料等的）耗费 | |
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170
expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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171
debit
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| n.借方，借项，记人借方的款项 | |
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172
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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173
ousted
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| 驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺 | |
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174
brawny
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| adj.强壮的 | |
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175
laborers
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| n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工 | |
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176
proprietors
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| n.所有人，业主( proprietor的名词复数 ) | |
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177
tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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178
kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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179
conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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180
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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181
lured
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| 吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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182
shuddering
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| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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183
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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184
taxation
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| n.征税，税收，税金 | |
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185
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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186
suffrage
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| n.投票，选举权，参政权 | |
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187
bonded
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| n.有担保的，保税的，粘合的 | |
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188
sanitation
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| n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备 | |
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189
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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190
civic
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| adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的 | |
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191
advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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192
albeit
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| conj.即使；纵使；虽然 | |
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193
incongruities
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| n.不协调( incongruity的名词复数 )；不一致；不适合；不协调的东西 | |
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194
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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195
hurling
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| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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196
contractor
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| n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌 | |
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197
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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198
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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199
parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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200
sodden
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| adj.浑身湿透的；v.使浸透；使呆头呆脑 | |
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201
plowed
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| v.耕( plow的过去式和过去分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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202
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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203
vicissitudes
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| n.变迁，世事变化；变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 )；盛衰兴废 | |
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204
prospered
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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205
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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206
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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207
suburban
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| adj.城郊的，在郊区的 | |
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208
impetus
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| n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力 | |
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209
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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210
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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211
predecessors
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| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
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212
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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213
enactment
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| n.演出，担任…角色；制订，通过 | |
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214
abate
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| vi.(风势，疼痛等)减弱，减轻，减退 | |
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215
alleys
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| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
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216
tenements
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| n.房屋，住户，租房子( tenement的名词复数 ) | |
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