Mysteries of Washington City, during Several Months of the Session of the 28th CongressAtwater, Caleb
History
Mysteries of Washington City, during Several Months of the Session of the 28th Congress
Atwater, Caleb
United States. Congress (28th, 1st session : 1843-1844); Washington (D.C.)
Early on the morning of January 10th, I left the Mansion house, crossed
the Delaware and passed through the State of New Jersey, in the
rail-road cars, and arrived at New York city about three o’clock in the
afternoon, in season for a dinner at a tavern on Broadway, At dinner
we had a printed bill of fare in French. For drink, I had a glass of
Croton water, with ice in it, and this, after a cold day’s ride, in
the depth of a cold, northern winter! Had I been a frozen turnip, such
water might have thawed my frozen stomach, but as it was, hot coffee
or hot tea would have suited me much better. I called for something to
eat, but the waiter in an insolent tone ordered me in German “to read
my bill of fare,” and he refused to give me any thing to eat. Finally,
after positively refusing to comply with my request a dozen times,
the ruffian gave me a thin slice of roasted beef, which I ate at a
mouthful, and called in vain for more. This mouthful of meat, with some
cold Croton water and some ice in it, was all I got for my dinner! Half
a dollar for such a dinner! kind reader. I had the _bill of fare_ lying
before me, but the _fare itself_ I did not and could not obtain. After
sitting at the table nearly an hour, faint, cold and hungry, I went
to my room, in which a small fire had been made at my request, at the
expense of another half dollar. The room being cold and damp, with so
bad a prospect before me, I locked my door, put the key in my pocket,
and went down Broadstreet, until I came to Thresher’s Broadstreet
hotel, and told the host my story. He agreed to furnish me the best
fare, unaccompanied by a bill of it, a good room to myself, warmed
constantly by a good coal fire, for one dollar a day. Upon these terms
we agreed, and I went back to the Broadway tavern. The Broadstreet
hotel is the same house, which was occupied by General Washington as
his head quarters, when he took possession of the city, after the
British army had left it, at the conclusion of the revolutionary
war. Standing in front of a large opened window in the second story,
his officers standing before him in the street, below him, General
Washington delivered to them his farewell address. From the house, his
officers accompanied him to the wharf, not very distant from this spot,
where he took his final leave of his companions in arms. Having crossed
the ferry into New Jersey, he hastened to appear before the continental
Congress, then sitting in Annapolis, the now seat of government in the
State of Maryland. A painting in the rotundo, represents Washington at
Annapolis delivering his farewell address to Congress.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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