Indeed, Nothing Could Exceed
The Civility Of The Officials Within; But So Also Nothing Can Exceed
The Barbarity Of The Arrangements Without.
The purchase of stamps I
found to be utterly impracticable.
They were sold at a window in a
corner, at which newspapers were also delivered, to which there was
no regular ingress and from which there was no egress, it would
generally be deeply surrounded by a crowd of muddy soldiers, who
would wait there patiently till time should enable them to approach
the window. The delivery of letters was almost more tedious, though
in that there was a method. The aspirants stood in a long line, en
cue, as we are told by Carlyle that the bread-seekers used to
approach the bakers' shops at Paris during the Revolution. This
"cue" would sometimes project out into the street. The work inside
was done very slowly. The clerk had no facility, by use of a desk
or otherwise, for running through the letters under the initials
denominated, but turned letter by letter through his hand. To one
questioner out of ten would a letter be given. It no doubt may be
said in excuse for this that the presence of the army round
Washington caused, at that period, special inconvenience; and that
plea should of course be taken, were it not that a very trifling
alteration in the management within would have remedied all the
inconvenience. As a building, the Washington Post-office is very
good; as the center of a most complicated and difficult department,
I believe it to be well managed; but as regards the special
accommodation given by it to the city in which it stands, much
cannot, I think, be said in its favor.
Opposite to that which is, I presume, the back of the Post-office,
stands the Patent-office. This also is a grand building, with a
fine portico of Doric pillars at each of its three fronts. These
are approached by flights of steps, more gratifying to the eye than
to the legs. The whole structure is massive and grand, and, if the
streets round it were finished, would be imposing. The utilitarian
spirit of the nation has, however, done much toward marring the
appearance of the building, by piercing it with windows altogether
unsuited to it, both in number and size. The walls, even under the
porticoes, have been so pierced, in order that the whole space might
be utilized without loss of light; and the effect is very mean. The
windows are small, and without ornament - something like a London
window of the time of George III. The effect produced by a dozen
such at the back of a noble Doric porch, looking down among the
pillars, may be imagined.
In the interior of this building the Minister of the Interior holds
his court, and, of course, also the Commissioners of Patents. Here
is, in accordance with the name of the building, a museum of models
of all patents taken out.
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