登陆注册
15709400000157

第157章

The President's house--or the White House as it is now called all the world over--is a handsome mansion fitted for the chief officer of a great republic, and nothing more. I think I may say that we have private houses in London considerably larger. It is neat and pretty, and with all its immediate outside belongings calls down no adverse criticism. It faces on to a small garden, which seems to be always accessible to the public, and opens out upon that everlasting Pennsylvania Avenue, which has now made another turn. Here in front of the White House is President's Square, as it is generally called.

The technical name is, I believe, La Fayette Square. The houses round it are few in number--not exceeding three or four on each side, but they are among the best in Washington, and the whole place is neat and well kept. President's Square is certainly the most attractive part of the city. The garden of the square is always open, and does not seem to suffer from any public ill usage; by which circumstance I am again led to suggest that the gardens of our London squares might be thrown open in the same way. In the center of this one at Washington, immediately facing the President's house, is an equestrian statue of General Jackson. It is very bad; but that it is not nearly as bad as it might be is proved by another equestrian statue--of General Washington--erected in the center of a small garden plat at the end of Pennsylvania Avenue, near the bridge leading to Georgetown. Of all the statues on horseback which I ever saw, either in marble or bronze, this is by far the worst and most ridiculous. The horse is most absurd, but the man sitting on the horse is manifestly drunk. I should think the time must come when this figure at any rate will be removed.

I did not go inside the President's house, not having had while at Washington an opportunity of paying my personal respects to Mr.

Lincoln. I had been told that this was to be done without trouble, but when I inquired on the subject I found that this was not exactly the case. I believe there are times when anybody may walk into the President's house without an introduction; but that, I take it, is not considered to be the proper way of doing the work. I found that something like a favor would be incurred, or that some disagreeable trouble would be given, if I made a request to be presented, and therefore I left Washington without seeing the great man.

The President's house is nice to look at, but it is built on marshy ground, not much above the level of the Potomac, and is very unhealthy. I was told that all who live there become subject to fever and ague, and that few who now live there have escaped it altogether. This comes of choosing the site of a new city, and decreeing that it shall be built on this or on that spot. Large cities, especially in these latter days, do not collect themselves in unhealthy places. Men desert such localities--or at least do not congregate at them when their character is once known. But the poor President cannot desert the White House. He must make the most of the residence which the nation has prepared for him.

Of the other considerable public building of Washington, called the Smithsonian Institution, I have said that its style was bastard Gothic; by this I mean that its main attributes are Gothic, but that liberties have been taken with it, which, whether they may injure its beauty or no, certainly are subversive of architectural purity.

It is built of red stone, and is not ugly in itself. There is a very nice Norman porch to it, and little bits of Lombard Gothic have been well copied from Cologne. But windows have been fitted in with stilted arches, of which the stilts seem to crack and bend, so narrow are they and so high. And then the towers with high pinnacled roofs are a mistake--unless indeed they be needed to give to the whole structure that name of Romanesque which it has assumed.

The building is used for museums and lectures, and was given to the city by one James Smithsonian, an Englishman. I cannot say that the City of Washington seems to be grateful, for all to whom I spoke on the subject hinted that the Institution was a failure. It is to be remarked that nobody in Washington is proud of Washington, or of anything in it. If the Smithsonian Institution were at New York or at Boston, one would have a different story to tell.

There has been an attempt made to raise at Washington a vast obelisk to the memory of Washington--the first in war and first in peace, as the country is proud to call him. This obelisk is a fair type of the city. It is unfinished--not a third of it having as yet been erected--and in all human probability ever will remain so. If finished, it would be the highest monument of its kind standing on the face of the globe; and yet, after all, what would it be even then as compared with one of the great pyramids? Modern attempts cannot bear comparison with those of the old world in simple vastness. But in lieu of simple vastness, the modern world aims to achieve either beauty or utility. By the Washington monument, if completed, neither would be achieved. An obelisk with the proportions of a needle may be very graceful; but an obelisk which requires an expanse of flat-roofed, sprawling buildings for its base, and of which the shaft shall be as big as a cathedral tower, cannot be graceful. At present some third portion of the shaft has been built, and there it stands. No one has a word to say for it.

No one thinks that money will ever again be subscribed for its completion. I saw somewhere a box of plate-glass kept for contributions for this purpose, and looking in perceived that two half-dollar pieces had been given--but both of them were bad. I was told also that the absolute foundation of the edifice is bad--that the ground, which is near the river and swampy, would not bear the weight intended to be imposed on it.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 宇宙首领苏醒

    宇宙首领苏醒

    科技帝国登场,本小说一切虚构,如果有侵犯问题,请留书评,我会修改,最后求收藏
  • 重生小萝莉:皇帝我来做

    重生小萝莉:皇帝我来做

    前生,因为不明的原因,被整个正邪双道狂追杀;今世,因为双丹的逆天,为整个江湖帝国所不容。她迷茫,她无奈,她内心呼喊:“天不容,我弑天;地不容,我戮地;人不容,我屠人!”为了前世的仇,为了今世的生,她心狠,她手辣。但是,她依旧是个有情之人;并且,她依旧是个有爱之人;同时,她依旧摆脱不了世间的七情六欲。她默默的想着:“或许,为了我的命运,就让所有的一切,按照我的意愿前进吧!”(路过的勿忘收藏!收藏后随手推荐!推荐后多多回访!)
  • 我们终究变成回忆

    我们终究变成回忆

    纯黑的天幕,银白的月光,血红的蔷薇,连黏稠的血液里都要绽放出花朵来。只有片片轻盈洁白的雪花在飘散……伤感的,没有尽头。当一切爱恨情仇化作一片虚无,当漫天的血泪化作一地尘埃,这场情战里到底谁是谁非呢?大明星风光无限的背后何曾不是满目疮痍、无尽唏嘘。洗淨鉛華,繁華落盡,嘗盡生活中所有酸甜苦辣。錯過了的缘分,能否在生命中再次出現?风月无情人暗换,旧游如梦空肠断……
  • 银河反重力同盟

    银河反重力同盟

    这是一本纯粹的科幻小说,没有修仙,也没有魔法,更加没有炼丹召唤。只有钢铁相互激情碰撞的重金属快感。有外星人,略带异能。作者是理科生,没有华丽的辞藻,只有对于未来世界的YY,欢迎大家讨论。
  • 谢谢你让我记得我爱你

    谢谢你让我记得我爱你

    总:那一年,她12岁,他13岁;他们相遇在这个喧嚣城市的优等学府,从此他们逃过了三年之痛七年之痒,却终是逃不过命运的折磨;一个个迷雾接踵而来,他们是否还能共度风雨后期:“什么?!死了的爱人竟然成了我的小叔,还是万民之上的总统,开什么玩笑”安沁洛说什么都不会信这种鬼话的直到亲眼所见当安沁洛亲眼看到墨胤黎的时候,她没有哭,第一个反应就是“打”!谁叫他骗我那么长时间!跟我玩失忆是吧,那姑奶奶就陪你玩到底!包含耽美、校园、总裁、近亲、超能力,伪虐文,绝对宠文!一次满足所有要求!1v1,女主非傻非甜非包子!
  • Peg Woffington

    Peg Woffington

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 通灵重生,我成了国民男神!

    通灵重生,我成了国民男神!

    她表面上是新晋人气艺人,当红小生,刚一出道就风靡全国,一曲情歌打动世人,演技爆表,赢无数掌声。她是时尚界的宠儿,各家杂志争先恐后邀请她拍摄封面,代言不断任‘他’挑选。她是同学们眼里羡慕的顶级通灵大师,天生灵眼能辨妖魔,识翠断玉,无所不能。她是三届女性最想亲吻的男神组的冠军得主。虐渣男,惩贱女,上辈子那些曾经欺她的,辱她的,背叛她的,她都要一一讨回来,一个都不会放过!她是当之无愧的国民男神。可是有一天,他们的男神为了另一个男人公开承认自己女性身份的时候,所有人都轰动了!从此,她只和他搭戏,只唱他写的歌,只走秀他设计的衣服,而他则成了唯一如愿亲吻了‘国民男神’的人。(宠文,1v1,强强,微慢热)
  • 逆天狂凤:纨绔公子逍遥游

    逆天狂凤:纨绔公子逍遥游

    一朝穿越,她变成了墨府人人欺辱的废物嫡女,涅磐重生之后,欺她辱她之人必百倍奉还,草包?废材?你见过天生就能操纵元素的废材么?穷人?弱者?你见过穷得只剩钱的穷人?见过越级挑战的弱者?炼丹炼器她信手拈来,驯兽敛财她样样精通,有人找茬?揍回去,让你竖着进横着出;有人挑衅?兽兽的体重压都得压死你;玩阴的?我比你更阴更损,坑的你底裤都不剩。什么?有人要来抱大腿?长的还行,就收下暖床吧。某妖孽委屈的看着某女,道:“娘子,为夫的作用可不止暖床……”
  • 御剑弑天

    御剑弑天

    王朝数百年,政治腐败,官逼民反,科举神童辰铭,科举身份被人操纵,无缘官场,毅然踏上修仙路,一人一剑,问道弑天。
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)