so poor to
do him reverence, or General Winfield Scott strut like a colossus along
"the Avenue," and the sleepy negroes upon their backs would give him the
attention of only one eye. It was interesting, to notice how rapidly
provincial eminence lost caste here. Slipkins, who was "Honorable" at
home, and of whom his county newspaper said that "this distinguished
fellow citizen of ours will be heard from, among the greatest of the
free,"--Slipkins moved to and fro unnoticed, and voted with his party,
and drank much brandy and water, and left no other record at the Capital
than some unpaid bills, and perhaps an unacknowledged heir. A gaping
rustic and his new bride, or a strolling foreigner, marvelling and
making notes at every turn, might be observed in the Patent Office
examining General Washington's breeches, but these were at once called
"greenies," and people put out their tongues and winked at them. The
Secretaries' ladies gave parties now and then, attended by the folks who
sold them horses, or carpets, or wines; the President gave a "levee,"
whereat a wonderfully Democratic horde gathered to pinch his hands and
ogle his lady; the Marine band (in _red_ coats), played twice a week in
the Capital grounds, and Senators, Cyprians, Ethiops, and children
rallied to enjoy; a theatre or two played time-honored dramas with
Thespian companies; a couple of scholars lectured in the sombre
Smithsonian Institution; an intrigue and a duel filled some most doleful
hiatus; and a clerk absconded with half a million, or an Indian agent
robbed the red men and fell back to the protection of his "party." A
very dismal, a very dirty, and a very Democratic settlement was the
American Capital, till the war came.

Even the war lost half its interest in Washington. A regiment marching
down Broadway was something to see, but the same regiment in
Pennsylvania Avenue looked mean and matter-of-fact. A General in the
field, or riding uncovered through Boston or Baltimore, or even lounging
at the bar of the Continental or the Astor House or the Tremont, was
invested with an atmosphere half heroic, half poetic; but Generals
in Washington may be counted by pairs, and I used to sit at dinner
with eight or a dozen of them in my eye. There was the new
Commander-in-Chief, Halleck, a short, countryfied person, whose blue
coat was either threadbare or dusty, or lacked some buttons, and who
picked his teeth walking up and down the halls at Willard's, and a