That The Navy Office Should Be Buried In Mud, And Quite
Debarred From Approach, Was To Be Expected.
The space immediately
in front of Mr. Lincoln's own residence was still kept fairly clean,
and I am happy to be able to give testimony to this effect.
Long
may it remain so. I could not, however, but think that an energetic
and careful President would have seen to the removal of the dirt
from his own immediate neighborhood. It was something that his own
shoes should remain unpolluted; but the foul mud always clinging to
the boots and leggings of those by whom he was daily surrounded
must, I should think, have been offensive to him. The entrance to
the Treasury was difficult to achieve by those who had not learned
by practice the ways of the place; but I must confess that a
tolerably clear passage was maintained on that side which led
immediately down to the halls of Congress. Up at the Capitol the
mud was again triumphant in the front of the building; this however
was not of great importance, as the legislative chambers of the
States are always reached by the back doors. I, on this occasion,
attempted to leave the building by the grand entrance, but I soon
became entangled among rivers of mud and mazes of shifting sand.
With difficulty I recovered my steps, and finding my way back to the
building was forced to content myself by an exit among the crowd of
Senators and Representatives who were thronging down the back
stairs.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 264 of 531
Words from 70731 to 70989
of 142339
