To the visitor who knows the city only in its present aspect, the choice of this hill for the monumental building now crowning it seems most natural. This is not, however, the place originally considered for the purpose. James Madison favored Shuter’s Hill, an eminence3 a little west of Alexandria, now embraced in the tract4 set apart for George Washington Park. Thomas Jefferson supported Madison in this preference; but President Washington, feeling that Virginia{55} had already had her full share of the honors in launching the new republic, insisted that the most important architecture at the seat of government should stand on the Maryland side of the Potomac. His view prevailed; and, when the sites of the principal public buildings were marked on L’Enfant’s plan of the city, that selected for the Capitol was the elevation5 which, besides being fairly central, commanded in its outlook, and was commanded by, the greatest area of country on both sides of the river.
Like almost everything else architectural in Washington, the Capitol is a pile of gradual growth, subjected to many changes of detail in the plans. Sketches6 were submitted in competition for a prize; the two competitors who came nearest to meeting the requirements, though adopted citizens of the United States, were respectively of French and English birth; and the drawings finally evolved from the general scheme of the one modified by the more acceptable ideas of the other were turned over to an Irishman to perfect and carry out. Most of the credit belongs, undoubtedly7, to Doctor William Thornton, a draftsman by profession, who afterward8 became Superintendent9 of Patents. The material used was freestone from a neighboring quarry10. Only the north or Senate end was far enough advanced by the autumn of 1800 to{56} enable Congress to hold its short session there, and the disputes which arose over the succeeding stages of the work led President Jefferson to call in Benjamin H. Latrobe of Richmond, the first architect of already established rank who had had anything to do with it. Under his direction, the south end was made habitable by 1811; and the House of Representatives, which till then had been uncomfortably quartered in such odd places as it could find, took possession. There was no central structure connecting the Senate and House ends, but a roofed wooden passageway led from the one to the other. In this condition was the Capitol when, in 1814, the British invaders11 burned all of it that was burnable.
The heavier masonry12, of course, was unaffected by the fire except for the need of a little patchwork13 here and there; but in his task of restoration Mr. Latrobe found himself so embarrassed by dissensions between the dignitaries who gave him his orders that after three vexatious years he resigned, and the celebrated15 Charles Bulfinch of Boston took his place. In 1830 Mr. Bulfinch pronounced the building finished and returned home, and for twenty years it remained substantially as he left it. Then, the needs of Congress having outgrown16 the space at their disposal, Thomas U. Walter of Philadelphia was ordered to prepare plans{57} for an enlargement, and he was far-sighted enough to make the extension the vehicle for some other improvements. The great wings attached to the northern and southern extremities17 were built of white marble, which has rendered imperative18 the frequent repainting of the old freestone surfaces to match; the dome19 was raised proportionally; and additions made, then and since, to the surrounding grounds, have given the building an appropriate setting and vastly enhanced its beauty of approach.
This is, in brief, the story of the Capitol as we find it to-day. A stroll through it will call up other memories. As you look at the building from the east, you will be struck by the difference in tint20 between the painted main structure and the two marble wings. Imagine the wings cut off and the dome reduced to about half its present height and ended abruptly21 in a flat top, and you have in your mind’s eye a picture of the Capitol as Bulfinch left it, and as it remained till shortly before the Civil War. Its most conspicuous22 feature now is its towering dome, surmounted23 by a bronze allegorical figure of American Freedom. As the sculptor24 Crawford originally modeled the image, its head was crowned with the conventional liberty-cap; but Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, objected to this on the ground that it was the sign of a freed{58} slave, whereas Americans were born free. The cap was therefore discarded in favor of the present helmet of eagle feathers.
Filling the pediment over the main portico25 is a bit of sculpture which enjoys the distinction of having been designed by John Quincy Adams, because he could not find an artist who could draw him what he wished. It consists of three figures: the Genius of America in the center and Hope and Justice on either side, Justice appearing without her customary blindfold26. Flanking the main staircase are two groups of statuary. That on our left is called “The Discovery”—Columbus holding aloft a globe, while an Indian woman crouches27 at his feet. It was done by the Italian sculptor Persico, who copied Columbus’s armor from the last suit actually worn by him. And now comes a bit of politics; for Congress, having awarded this work to a foreigner, was besieged28 by a demand that the next order be given to an American, and accordingly engaged Horatio Greenough to produce “The Rescue,” which stands on our right. It represents a frontiersman saving his wife and child from capture by an Indian.
The portico has an historic association with another President besides Adams, for it was here that an attempt was made upon the life of Andrew Jackson.{59} At the close of a funeral service in the House of Representatives, he had just passed out of the rotunda29 to descend30 the steps, when a demented mechanic named Lawrence sprang from a place of hiding, aimed a pistol at him, and pulled the trigger. As they were less than ten feet apart, the President was saved only by the failure of the powder to explode. Lawrence instantly dropped the useless pistol and tried another, with like effect. Jackson never could be talked out of the idea that Lawrence was the tool of political conspirators32 who wished to put some one else in his place as President.
We enter the building between the bronze doors designed by Randolph Rogers, commonly called the “Columbus doors” because they tell, in a series of reliefs, the life story of the discoverer. In the rotunda, the center of the building, we find ourselves surrounded by paintings and sculpture dealing33 with historical subjects. Hung at even intervals34 are eight large canvases, of which four are by John Trumbull, a portrait painter who was also an officer of the patriot36 army in the Revolution. For the one representing the signing of the Declaration of Independence, old John Randolph could find no better designation than “the shin piece,” because “such a collection of legs never before came together in any one picture”; but a more{60} friendly commentator37 has discovered by actual count that, of the nearly fifty figures, only ten show either legs or feet, the rest being relieved by drapery or deep shadows. In another, the “Resignation of General Washington,” are the figures of two girls, which have given rise to many a discussion among sightseers because the pair seem to have five hands between them; I shall not attempt to solve the problem.
The paintings of the “Landing of Columbus,” “Discovery of the Mississippi,” “Baptism of Pocahontas,” and “Embarkation of the Pilgrims” are from the brushes of Vanderlyn, Powell, Chapman, and Weir38 respectively. Their subjects permit of picturesque39 costumes and dramatic groupings which Trumbull could not use. But whatever his limitations, we owe to him, probably more than to any other one man, the rotunda as we know it. Bulfinch had under consideration various schemes of treatment for the center of the building, but Trumbull’s foremost thought was of a good light for his pictures; and, as he was a valued friend of the architect, the pertinacity40 with which he urged this design won the day.
Four doors pierce the circular chamber2, and over each is a rectangle of sculpture in high relief. As works of art, the quartet are little short of execrable, but as milestones41 on the path of esthetic42 development{61} in America they have a charm of their own. All were the work of Italian sculptors43, whose acquaintance with our domestic history and concerns was presumptively scant44; and when the tablet showing William Penn negotiating his treaty with the Indians was first exhibited to the public, the head of the gentle Quaker was adorned45 with a cocked hat and military queue. It was necessary, therefore, to decapitate him and set upon his shoulders the head he now wears. All four reliefs deal with our aboriginal46 problem. In one, the Indians are welcoming the Pilgrim Fathers with a gift of corn; in another, they are conveying to Penn the land on which Philadelphia now stands; in a third, Pocahontas is saving the life of Captain John Smith; while in the fourth, Caucasian civilization, personified in Daniel Boone, has already killed one Indian and is engaged in bloody47 combat with a second. The series drew from an old chief the comment that they told the true story of the way the white race had repaid the hospitality of the red race by exterminating48 it; and another observer, pointing to the huddled-up body of the fallen Indian under Boone’s foot, remarked: “The white man has not left the Indian land enough even to die on!”
Running all around the circular wall and immediately under the dome opening, we note an unfinished frieze49,{62} so done in neutral tints50 as to convey the suggestion of relief sculpture, depicting51 the most notable events in the history of America from the landing of Columbus to the discovery of gold in California. Six of the fourteen scenes were painted by Constantino Brumidi, and the others after sketches left by him. It was an ambitious design, in view of the rapidity with which history is made now and the brevity of the space. Only a trifling52 gap is left for all that has happened in the last sixty years or so, and Congress has had more than one debate over what ought to be crowded into the record of this interval35. Among the subjects considered have been the emancipation53 of the slaves, the completion of the first transcontinental railroad, and the freeing of Cuba; but the proposal which has met with most favor is a symbolic55 treatment of the Civil War, not as a breach56 between the sections but as the cementing of a stronger bond. This was set aside because the design outlined was a representation of Grant and Lee clasping hands under the Appomattox apple tree—the objection being based on the discovery that the apple tree existed only in fiction, and that the real meeting-place of the two commanders was too unromantic for artistic57 use.
From the frieze our eyes ascend58 to the canopy59, or inner lining60 of the dome, which hangs above us like an{63}
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Survivals from “Before the War”
inverted61 bowl enclosing an elaborate fresco62 in colors. This, too, is from the brush of Brumidi. Although it is ostensibly allegorical, many of its sixty-three human faces are recognizable portraits, including those of Washington, Franklin, Hamilton, Robert Morris, Samuel F. B. Morse, Robert Fulton, and Thomas U. Walter, who was architect of the Capitol while the work was in progress. In a group representing War, with an armed goddess of liberty for its center, are heads resembling those of Jefferson Davis, Alexander H. Stephens, Robert E. Lee, and John B. Floyd. Whether the likenesses are there by the deliberate intent of the artist, or merely by accident, no one will ever know, as Brumidi died in 1880.
The door on our left leads, through a short corridor, into what was once the Hall of Representatives. It is now known officially as the Hall of Statuary, but to irreverent critics as the National Chamber of Horrors, because of the varied64 assortment65 of marble and bronze images collected there. The room is semicircular, with a domed66 ceiling, a great arch and supporting pillars on its flat side, and a colonnade67 lining the horseshoe. During the forty years that it was used for legislative68 purposes, a rostrum holding the Speaker’s table and chair filled the arch, and the desks of the Representatives were arranged in concentric curves to face{64} it. Overlooking the chamber, and following most of the rear wall, ran a narrow gallery for visitors who did not enjoy the privileges of the floor; it derived69 an air of comfort from curtains hung between the columns of the colonnade and looped back so as to produce the effect of a tier of opera-boxes. Stay in the room a while, and you will understand why, for many years, the complaint of its acoustic70 properties was so constant, and a demand for a better hall so strong: it is a wonderful whispering gallery. There are spots in the tiled pavement where you can stand and hear the slightest sound you make come back from some point before or behind you, over your head, or under your feet. Go to the place where the semicircle ends on one side of the room, and I will go to the corresponding place on the other side, and, by speaking into the vertical71 fissures72 between the wall and the pillars at the two extremities of the great arch, we can converse73 in the lowest tones with as much ease as if we were side by side instead of a hundred feet apart.
A vivid imagination can people this hall with ghosts. Here some of the fiercest forensic74 battles were fought in early days over protective tariffs75, internal improvements, and, above all, negro slavery. Here it was that Randolph’s piping voice denounced the Northern “dough-faces,” and here Wilmot launched his historic{65} proviso. Here Alexander H. Stephens made his last effort to resuscitate76 the moribund77 Whig party, while Abraham Lincoln listened to his argument from a seat on the same side of the chamber. Here John Quincy Adams drew upon himself the fire of an incensed78 opposition79 by championing the people’s right to petition Congress, and here he fell to the floor a dying paralytic80. Here John Marshall, the greatest of our Chief Justices, administered the oath of office to two early Presidents. And here it was that Henry Clay, as Speaker, delivered his address of welcome to Lafayette as the guest of the nation, and listened with becoming gravity to the Marquis’s response—which, as it afterward appeared, owed its excellent English to the fact that Clay had composed it for the most part himself.
The conversion81 of the hall from its former to its present uses was at the instance of the late Senator Morrill of Vermont, who procured82 legislation permitting every State in the union to contribute two statues of distinguished83 citizens to this temple of fame. No restriction84 having been placed on the sizes of the figures, one result of his well-meant effort is a grotesque85 array of pigmies and giants, some of the personages biggest in life being most diminutive86 in effigy87, while others of comparatively insignificant88 stature89 are here given massive proportions. Most of the notables{66} thus immortalized are persons with whose names we associate a story. Here stand, for example, Ethan Allen as he may have looked when demanding the surrender of Fort Ticonderoga “in the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental54 Congress”; Charles Carroll, who wrote Carrollton after his name so that the servants of the King, when sent to hang him for signing the Declaration, would know where to find him; sturdy John Stark90, who snapped his fingers at Congress and whipped the British at Bennington in his own fashion; Muhlenberg, the patriot parson, throwing back his gown at the close of his sermon and standing91 forth92 as a Continental soldier; and fiery93 Jim Shields, who once challenged Lincoln to a duel94, but was laughed out of it when, arriving on the field, he found his adversary95 already there, mowing96 the tall grass with a cutlass to make the fighting easier!
Another corridor brings us to the present Hall of Representatives, which has been in use since the latter part of 1857. It is a spacious97 rectangular room, with a high ceiling chiefly of glass, through which it is lighted in the daytime by the sun and after nightfall by the modified glow of electric lamps in the attic98. Its plan is that of an amphitheater, the platform occupied by the Speaker being at the lowest level in the middle of the long southern side. Facing this{67} are the concentric curved benches of the members. Formerly99 the body of the hall was filled with desks but, as the membership increased with the population of the country, these were found to take up too much room, not to mention the temptation they offered for letter-writing and other diversions. Back of the Speaker’s chair hang a full-length portrait of Washington by Vanderlyn and one of Lafayette by Ary Schaeffer. The Washington is the conventional portrait as far as the waist-line, but the legs were borrowed from a prominent citizen of Maryland, who had a better pair than the General, and who consented to pose them for the benefit of posterity100.
Now let us go back to the north or Senate wing of the building. On our way we swing around a little open air-well, through which we look down into the corresponding corridor of the basement. The well is surrounded by a colonnade supporting the base of a circular skylight. The columns are worth noticing, because their capitals are of native design, using the leaf of the tobacco plant somewhat conventionalized. They date from the period when the clerk of the United States Supreme101 Court, whose office is near by, used to receive a part of his compensation in tobacco.
A few steps more bring us to the Court itself, sitting in a chamber considerably102 smaller than the Hall of{68} Statuary, but laid out on the same plan. This was the first legislative chamber ever occupied in the Capitol, having been till 1859 the Hall of the Senate. Here it was that Thomas Jefferson was twice inaugurated as President. Here Daniel Webster pronounced the famous “reply to Hayne” which every boy orator103 once learned to spout104 from the rostrum. Here Preston Brooks105 made his murderous assault upon Charles Sumner, and here Henry Clay delivered the farewell address which we used to find in all the school readers. On the walls of this chamber once hung the life-size oil portraits of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, which were presented by the Government of France to the Government of the United States just after our Revolution, and which disappeared when the British burned the Capitol in 1814. The room has always suffered from the same bad acoustic properties which caused the House of Representatives to exchange its old hall for its new one; and it has a similar whispering gallery, so that a court officer in one corner can communicate with a colleague in the other in a tone so low as to be inaudible to any one else.
Since it took possession here, the Court has rendered its legal tender and anti-trust decisions, and a number of others of historic importance. In this room sat, in 1877, the Electoral Commission which decided106 that{69} Mr. Hayes was entitled to take office as President. Here occurs, every day during a term, the one ancient and impressive ceremonial which can be witnessed at our seat of government. At the stroke of noon there appears at the right corner of the chamber the crier, who in a loud voice announces: “The Honorable the Supreme Court of the United States!” All present—attorneys, spectators, and minor107 functionaries—rise and remain standing while the members of the Court enter in single file, the Chief Justice leading. The lawyers bow to the Justices, who return the bow before sinking into their chairs. Thereupon the crier makes his second announcement: “Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! All persons having business with the Honorable the Supreme Court of the United States are admonished108 to draw near and give attention, as the Court is now sitting. God save the United States and this Honorable Court!”
All the Justices wear gowns of black silk. John Jay, the first Chief Justice, relieved the somber109 monotony of his by adding a collar bound with scarlet110, but the precedent111 was not followed. The Court has sometimes been styled the most dignified112 judicial113 tribunal in the world, and doubtless it deserves the compliment. Certainly no American need blush for its decorum. The whole atmosphere of its chamber is in keeping{70} with the fact, reverently114 voiced by one of its old colored servitors, that “dey ain’t no appeal f’m dis yere Co’t ’xcep’ to God Almighty115.” The arguments made before it are confined to calm, unemotional reasoning. The pleaders do not raise their voices, or forget their manners, or indulge in personalities116 or oratory117 while debating: and the opinions of the Court are recited with a quietness almost conversational118. These opinions are very carefully guarded up to the moment they are read from the bench; but now and then, after a decision has become history, there leaks out an entertaining story of how it came to be rendered.
One such instance was in the case of an imported delicacy119 which might have been classed either as a preparation of fish or as a flavoring sauce. The customs officers had levied120 duty on it as a sauce, and an importer had appealed. The Justices, when they came to compare notes, confessed themselves sorely puzzled, and one of them suggested that, since the technical arguments were so well balanced, it might be wise to fall back upon common sense. That evening he carried a sample of the disputed substance home to his wife, who was an expert in culinary matters.
“There, my dear,” said he, “is a sauce for you to try.”
With one look at the contents of the package,{71} which she evidently recognized, she exclaimed: “Pshaw! That’s no sauce; that’s fish—didn’t you know it?”
The next day the Court met again for consultation121, and on the following Monday handed down a decision overruling the customs officers and sustaining the importer’s appeal.
Leaving the court-room and continuing northward122, we come to the present Hall of the Senate. It is smaller than the present Hall of Representatives and also cleaner looking and more comfortable. When Congress is in full session, the contrast may be extended further so as to include what we hear as well as what we see, for there is little likeness63 between the two houses in the matter of orderliness of procedure. But that’s another story, which will keep. It was from this chamber that the Senators from the seceding123 States took their departure in 1860 and 1861. For years afterward the first request of every visiting stranger was to be shown the seats formerly occupied by these men. As long as the old doorkeeper of the Senate, Captain Bassett, lived, he was reputed to be the only person who knew the history of every desk on the floor. Whether he transmitted this knowledge to any of his assistants before his death, I cannot say; but more than once he saved some of the furniture{72} from injury at the hands of wanton vandals or curio collectors.
During the early days of the Civil War, a party of Northern zouaves, passing through the city on their way to the front, entered the Senate Hall during a recess124 and tried to identify Davis’s desk. They frankly125 avowed126 their purpose of destroying, if possible, the last trace of the Confederate President’s connection with the United States Government; but Bassett refused to be coaxed127, bribed128, or bullied129 into revealing the information they wished. Their persistency130 presently aroused his fears lest they might come back later and renew their attempt in his absence; so he resorted to diplomacy131 and made them a little speech, reminding them that, no matter what Mr. Davis might have done to provoke their indignation, the desk at which he had sat was not his property, but that of the Government which they had come South to defend. His reasoning had its effect, and, admitting that he was right, they went away peaceably.
Back of the Senate chamber are two rooms set apart for the President and Vice-president respectively. Till lately, the President’s room as a rule has been occupied only during a few closing hours of a session, when the President wishes to be readily accessible for the signing of such acts as he approves. Sometimes he{73} has spent the entire last night of a Congress here, returning to the White House for breakfast and coming to the Capitol again for an hour or two before noon. President Wilson has used the room more than any of his recent predecessors132, going there to consult the leading members of his party in Congress while legislation is in course of preparation or passage.
The Vice-president’s room has been more constantly in use as a retiring room for its occupant during the intervals when he is not presiding over the sessions of the Senate. On its wall has hung for many years a little gilt-framed mirror for which John Adams, while Vice-president, paid forty dollars, and which was brought with the other appurtenances of the Senate from Philadelphia when the Government removed its headquarters to Washington. Many of the frugal133 founders134 of the republic were scandalized at the extravagance of the purchase, and one gravely introduced in the Senate a resolution censuring135 Adams for having drawn136 thus heavily upon the public funds “to gratify his personal vanity.” What these good men would say if they were to revisit the Capitol now and see in the same room with the forty-dollar mirror a silver inkstand that cost two hundred dollars and a clock that cost a thousand, we can only imagine. It was in this room, by the way, that Vice-president{74} Wilson died in November, 1875, after an attack of illness which suddenly overcame him at the Capitol and was too severe to justify137 his being carried to his home.
On the floor below are two other points of interest. We shall do well to descend, not by the broad marble staircases in the north wing, but by an old iron-railed and curved flight of stone steps a little south of the Supreme Court. Note, in passing, its columns, as truly American in design as those above-stairs to which attention has already been directed; for they conventionalize our Indian corn, the stalks making the body of a pillar and the leaves and ears the capital. The first point we shall visit is the crypt, which is directly under the rotunda. It is a vaulted138 chamber originally intended as a resting-place for the body of George Washington. There was to have been a circular opening in the ceiling, so that visitors in the rotunda could look down upon the sarcophagus, above which a suspended taper139 was to be kept continually burning. The light was duly hung there, and not extinguished for many years; but as Washington’s heirs were unwilling140 to allow his remains141 to leave Mount Vernon, the rest of the plan was abandoned.
A little way north of the crypt we come to the room that the Supreme Court occupied for about forty{75}
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Rock Creek142
years after the restoration of the Capitol. Out of it was sent the first message with which Samuel F. B. Morse announced to the world the success of his invention, the magnetic telegraph. Morse was perfectly143 convinced that his device was workable, but he had exhausted144 his means before being able to make a satisfactory experiment. He therefore asked Congress for an appropriation145 to equip a trial line between Washington and Baltimore. Some of the members scoffed146 at his appeal as visionary; others intimated that he was trying to impose upon the Government; only a handful seemed to feel enough confidence in him and his project to vote for the appropriation. After a discouraging struggle lasting147 till the third of March, 1843, Morse was at the Capitol watching the dying hours of the Congress, when his friends advised him that his cause was hopeless, and he returned to his hotel and went to bed.
Before breakfast the next morning he received a call from Miss Annie Ellsworth, daughter of the Commissioner148 of Patents, who brought him the news that after he had left the Capitol his appropriation had gone through, and the President had signed the bill just before midnight. To reward her as the bearer of glad tidings, Morse invited her to frame the first message to be sent to Baltimore. It took more than a year to{76} build the line and insure its successful operation; but on May 24, 1844, in the presence of a gathering149 which filled the court chamber, the inventor seated himself at the instrument, and Miss Ellsworth placed in his hand a phrase she had selected from the twenty-third verse of the twenty-third chapter of the Book of Numbers: “What hath God wrought150!” In less time than it takes to tell the facts, the operator in Baltimore had received the message and ticked it back without an error. In that hour of his triumph over skepticism and abuse, Morse could have asked almost anything of Congress without fear of repulse151.
Not all the associations which cling about the Capitol are confined to politics or legislation, science or business. The old Hall of Representatives was, in the early days of the last century, long used for religious meetings on Sundays, the Speaker’s desk being converted temporarily into a pulpit. One of the first preachers who held stated services there was a Swedenborgian. When the custom had become well established, most of the clergymen of the city consented to take the Sundays in a certain order of succession. Sir Augustus Foster, a secretary of the British Legation during Jefferson’s administration, has left us his impressions of the meetings:
“A church service can certainly never be called an{77} amusement; but, from the variety of persons who were allowed to preach in the House of Representatives, there doubtless was some alloy152 of curiosity in the motives153 which led one to go there. Though the regular Chaplain was a Presbyterian, sometimes a Methodist, a minister of the Church of England, or a Quaker, sometimes even a woman, took the Speaker’s chair, and I do not think there was much devotion among the majority. The New Englanders, generally speaking, are very religious; but though there are many exceptions, I cannot say so much for the Marylanders, and still less for the Virginians.”
Probably this comment on the worldly element entering into the meetings was called forth by their gradual degeneration into a social function. The hall came to be regarded as a pleasant Sunday gathering-place for friends who were able to see little of one another during the secular154 week. They clustered in knots around the open fireplaces, apparently155 quite as interested in the intervals afforded for a bit of gossip as in the sermon. The President was accustomed to attend from time to time; and possibly it was by his order that the Marine156 Band, nearly one hundred strong and attired157 in their brilliant red uniforms, were present in the gallery and played the hymn158 tunes159, as well as some stirring march music. Their attendance was discontinued later, as{78} their performances attracted many common idlers to a hall already crowded almost to suffocation160 with ladies and gentlemen of fashion, and thus increased the confusion.
Partly as a result of this use of the hall, the habit of treating Sunday as a day for social festivities of all sorts reached a point where the strict Sabbatarians felt called to remonstrate161. One, a clergyman named Breckenridge, preached a sermon denouncing the irreligious frivolities of the time, which created a great sensation. He addressed his remarks directly to Congress. “It is not the people,” said he, “who will suffer for these enormities. It is the Government. As with Nineveh of old, your temples and your palaces will be burned to the ground, for it is by fire that this sin has usually been punished!” And he cited instance after instance from Bible history, showing how cities, dwellings162, and persons had been burned for disrespect of divine law.
One day in the fall of 1814, after the British had left the city scarred with blackened ruins, Mr. Breckenridge was passing the Octagon house, when he was hailed by Dolly Madison from the doorway163.
“When I listened to that threatening sermon of yours,” she exclaimed, “I little thought that its warnings would be realized so soon.”{79}
“Oh, Madam,” he answered, “I trust that the chastening of the Lord may not have been in vain!”
It was, however, as far as any permanent change in the habits of the people was concerned. There was a brief interval of greater sobriety due to the sad plight164 of the community; then Sunday amusements resumed their sway with as much vigor165 as of old.
Although to the eye of the casual visitor the Capitol seems so quiet and well-ordered a place that it practically takes care of itself, the truth is that it is continually under pretty rigid166 surveillance. It has a uniformed corps167 of special police, whose jurisdiction168 covers everything within the limits of Capitol Park; besides this, the Superintendent of the Capitol has general oversight169 of the building, and the officers of the House and Senate look after their respective wings. When Thomas B. Reed of Maine became Speaker, he found the House wing a squatting170 ground for a small army of petty merchants who had crept in one by one and established booths for the sale of sandwiches and pies, cigars, periodicals, picture cards, and souvenirs, obstructing171 the highways of communication between one part of the building and another. He proceeded to sweep them all out. There was loud wailing172 among the ousted173, and some who could command a little political influence brought it to bear on him, but in{80} vain; and for more than twenty years thereafter the corridors remained free from these intruders. With the incoming of the Sixty-third Congress, however, discipline began to relax, and, unless the House acquires another Speaker with Mr. Reed’s notions of propriety174 and the force of will to compel obedience175, we shall probably see the hucksters camping once more on the old trail.
Outside of the building the rules are as well enforced as inside. When Coxey’s Army of the Commonweal marched upon Washington in 1894, its leader advertised his intention to make a speech from the Capitol steps, calling upon Congress to provide work and wages for all the idle laborers176 in the country. Under the law, no harangue177 or oration14 may be delivered anywhere on the Capitol grounds without the express consent of the presiding officers of the two chambers of Congress. Remembering the way the lawmakers had been intimidated178 by a mob at Philadelphia in the early days of the republic, neither the Speaker nor the President of the Senate was willing that Coxey should carry out his plan; and the Capitol police, without violence or display of temper, made short work of the proposed mass meeting. On another occasion, the performers for a moving-picture show attempted to use the steps of the Capitol as a background for a scene in which a{81} man made up to resemble the President of the United States was to play an undignified part; the police pounced179 down upon the company, confiscating180 the apparatus181 and escorting the actors to the nearest station-house. A like fate befel an automobilist who, on a wager182, tried to drive his machine up the steps of the main portico. Occasionally a bicycler, ambitious to descend this staircase at full speed, has proved too quick-witted for the officers, but as a rule they are at hand when needed.
Now that we are outside, let us look around. To the eastward183 lies the part of the city broadly designated as Capitol Hill. As far as the eye can reach, it is a beautiful, evenly graded plateau—an ideal residence region as far as natural topography, verdure, sunshine, and pure air are concerned. It is the part which George Washington and other promoters of the federal city picked out for its residential184 end, and the Capitol was built so as to face it. These circumstances made it a favorite locality for speculative185 investment, and the prices at which early purchasers of land held out against later comers sealed its fate: the tide of favor turned toward the opposite end of the city, and the development of the northwest quarter took a start which has never since halted. The first plans of Capitol Park included on its eastern side a pretty{82} little fish-pond, circular in shape, which must have been about where the two raised flower-beds with mottled marble copings now flank the driveway to First Street.
The west front of the Capitol overlooks a gentle slope pleasantly turfed and shaded. The building itself descends186 the slope a little way by an esplanade and a series of marble terraces, from which broad flights of steps lead down nearly to the main street level. The perspective view of the Capitol is much more impressive from this side than from the other, thanks to an admirable piece of landscape gardening. In old times, the lawns on the west side were used by the residents of the neighborhood for croquet grounds, and the whole park was enclosed in an iron fence, with gates that were shut by the watchmen at nine every evening against pedestrians187, and at a somewhat later hour against carriages. With characteristic impatience188 of such restraints, sometimes a Congressman189 who had stayed at the Capitol past the closing hour would save himself the trouble of calling a guard to open the gate, by smashing the lock with a stone. The increasing frequency of such incidents undoubtedly had much to do with causing the removal of the fence.
No point in the city affords so fine facilities for fixing L’Enfant’s plan in the mind of the visitor and{83} enabling him to find his way about the older parts of Washington, as the Capitol dome. A spiral staircase, the doors to which open from obscure parts of two corridors, leads first to the inside circular balcony crowning the rotunda. This is worth a few minutes’ delay to test its quality as a whispering gallery. The attendant in charge will show you how, and, if you can lure31 him into telling you some of the funny things he has seen and heard in his eyrie, you will be well repaid.
More climbing will bring you to an outside perch190, which forms a sort of collar for the lantern surmounting191 the dome. Now open a plainly printed map of Washington and hold it so that the points of the compass on the map correspond with those of the city below you. With a five minutes’ walk around the base of the lantern, to give you the view from every side, you will have mastered the whole scheme designed by L’Enfant. Here are the four quarters—northeast, southeast, southwest, northwest—as clearly spread before you on the surface of the earth as on the paper in your hand. Here is the Mall, with its grass and trees, leading up to the Washington Monument and abutting192 on the executive reservation where stand the White House, the Treasury193, and the State, War and Navy Department buildings. Well out to the{84} northward you can descry194 a tower which fixes the site of the Soldiers’ Home, and to the southward the Potomac, flowing past the War College and the Navy Yard. East of you loom195 up the hills of Anacostia. On all sides you see the lettered streets running east and west, intersected by the numbered streets running north and south, while, cutting both diagonally at various angles, but in pursuance of a systematic196 and easily grasped plan, are the avenues named in honor of the various States of the union. Once let this chart fasten itself in your mind, and there is no reason why, total stranger though you may be, you should have any difficulty in finding your way about Washington.{85}
[Image unavailable.]
Capitol, from New Jersey Avenue
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1
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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sketches
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| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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10
quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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12
masonry
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| n.砖土建筑；砖石 | |
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patchwork
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| n.混杂物；拼缝物 | |
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14
oration
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| n.演说，致辞，叙述法 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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outgrown
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| 长[发展] 得超过（某物）的范围( outgrow的过去分词 )； 长[发展]得不能再要（某物）； 长得比…快； 生长速度超过 | |
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17
extremities
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| n.端点( extremity的名词复数 )；尽头；手和足；极窘迫的境地 | |
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18
imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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tint
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| n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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21
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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sculptor
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| n.雕刻家，雕刻家 | |
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portico
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| n.柱廊，门廊 | |
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blindfold
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| vt.蒙住…的眼睛；adj.盲目的；adv.盲目地；n.蒙眼的绷带[布等]； 障眼物，蒙蔽人的事物 | |
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27
crouches
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| n.蹲着的姿势( crouch的名词复数 )v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的第三人称单数 ) | |
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28
besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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29
rotunda
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| n.圆形建筑物；圆厅 | |
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30
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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31
lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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32
conspirators
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| n.共谋者，阴谋家( conspirator的名词复数 ) | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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34
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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35
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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commentator
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| n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员 | |
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38
weir
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| n.堰堤，拦河坝 | |
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39
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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40
pertinacity
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| n.执拗，顽固 | |
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41
milestones
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| n.重要事件( milestone的名词复数 )；重要阶段；转折点；里程碑 | |
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42
esthetic
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| adj.美学的，审美的；悦目的，雅致的 | |
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43
sculptors
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| 雕刻家，雕塑家( sculptor的名词复数 )； [天]玉夫座 | |
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44
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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45
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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46
aboriginal
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| adj.（指动植物）土生的，原产地的，土著的 | |
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47
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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48
exterminating
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| v.消灭，根绝( exterminate的现在分词 ) | |
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49
frieze
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| n.(墙上的)横饰带，雕带 | |
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50
tints
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| 色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹 | |
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51
depicting
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| 描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述 | |
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52
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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53
emancipation
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| n.（从束缚、支配下）解放 | |
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54
continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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55
symbolic
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| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
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56
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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57
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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58
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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59
canopy
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| n.天篷，遮篷 | |
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60
lining
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| n.衬里，衬料 | |
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61
inverted
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| adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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62
fresco
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| n.壁画；vt.作壁画于 | |
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63
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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64
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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65
assortment
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| n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集 | |
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66
domed
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| adj. 圆屋顶的, 半球形的, 拱曲的 动词dome的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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67
colonnade
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| n.柱廊 | |
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68
legislative
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| n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的 | |
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69
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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70
acoustic
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| adj.听觉的，声音的；(乐器)原声的 | |
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71
vertical
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| adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置 | |
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72
fissures
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| n.狭长裂缝或裂隙( fissure的名词复数 )；裂伤；分歧；分裂v.裂开( fissure的第三人称单数 ) | |
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73
converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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74
forensic
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| adj.法庭的，雄辩的 | |
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75
tariffs
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| 关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准 | |
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76
resuscitate
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| v.使复活，使苏醒 | |
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77
moribund
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| adj.即将结束的，垂死的 | |
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78
incensed
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| 盛怒的 | |
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79
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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80
paralytic
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| adj. 瘫痪的 n. 瘫痪病人 | |
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81
conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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82
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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83
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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84
restriction
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| n.限制，约束 | |
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85
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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86
diminutive
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| adj.小巧可爱的，小的 | |
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87
effigy
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| n.肖像 | |
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88
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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89
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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90
stark
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| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
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91
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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92
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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93
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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94
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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95
adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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96
mowing
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| n.割草，一次收割量，牧草地v.刈，割( mow的现在分词 ) | |
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97
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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98
attic
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| n.顶楼，屋顶室 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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100
posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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101
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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102
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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103
orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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104
spout
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| v.喷出，涌出；滔滔不绝地讲；n.喷管；水柱 | |
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105
brooks
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| n.小溪( brook的名词复数 ) | |
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106
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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107
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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108
admonished
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| v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责 | |
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109
somber
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| adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的 | |
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110
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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111
precedent
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| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
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112
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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113
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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114
reverently
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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115
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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116
personalities
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| n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 ) | |
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117
oratory
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| n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞 | |
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118
conversational
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| adj.对话的，会话的 | |
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119
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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120
levied
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| 征（兵）( levy的过去式和过去分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税 | |
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121
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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122
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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123
seceding
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| v.脱离，退出( secede的现在分词 ) | |
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124
recess
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| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
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125
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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126
avowed
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| adj.公开声明的，承认的v.公开声明，承认( avow的过去式和过去分词) | |
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127
coaxed
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱 | |
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128
bribed
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| v.贿赂( bribe的过去式和过去分词 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂 | |
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129
bullied
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| adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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130
persistency
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| n. 坚持(余辉, 时间常数) | |
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131
diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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132
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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133
frugal
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| adj.节俭的，节约的，少量的，微量的 | |
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134
founders
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| n.创始人( founder的名词复数 ) | |
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135
censuring
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| v.指责，非难，谴责( censure的现在分词 ) | |
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136
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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137
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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138
vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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139
taper
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| n.小蜡烛，尖细，渐弱；adj.尖细的；v.逐渐变小 | |
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140
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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141
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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142
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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143
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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144
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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145
appropriation
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| n.拨款，批准支出 | |
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146
scoffed
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| 嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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147
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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148
commissioner
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| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
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149
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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150
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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151
repulse
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| n.击退，拒绝；vt.逐退，击退，拒绝 | |
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152
alloy
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| n.合金，(金属的)成色 | |
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153
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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154
secular
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| n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的 | |
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155
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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156
marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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157
attired
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| adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服，使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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158
hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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159
tunes
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| n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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160
suffocation
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| n.窒息 | |
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161
remonstrate
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| v.抗议，规劝 | |
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162
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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163
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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164
plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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165
vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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166
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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167
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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168
jurisdiction
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| n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权 | |
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169
oversight
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| n.勘漏，失察，疏忽 | |
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170
squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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171
obstructing
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| 阻塞( obstruct的现在分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止 | |
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172
wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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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
propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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175
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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176
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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177
harangue
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| n.慷慨冗长的训话，言辞激烈的讲话 | |
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178
intimidated
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| v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的 | |
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179
pounced
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| v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击） | |
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180
confiscating
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| 没收（confiscate的现在分词形式） | |
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181
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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182
wager
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| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
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183
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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184
residential
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| adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的 | |
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185
speculative
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| adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的 | |
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186
descends
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| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
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187
pedestrians
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| n.步行者( pedestrian的名词复数 ) | |
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188
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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189
Congressman
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| n.（美）国会议员 | |
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190
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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191
surmounting
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| 战胜( surmount的现在分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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192
abutting
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| adj.邻接的v.（与…）邻接( abut的现在分词 )；（与…）毗连；接触；倚靠 | |
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193
treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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194
descry
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| v.远远看到；发现；责备 | |
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195
loom
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| n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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196
systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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