The Olivia Letters: Being Some History of Washington City for Forty Years as Told by the Letters of a Newspaper Correspondent — John Shaqi
The Olivia Letters: Being Some History of Washington City for Forty Years as Told by the Letters of a Newspaper CorrespondentBriggs, Emily Edson
History
The Olivia Letters: Being Some History of Washington City for Forty Years as Told by the Letters of a Newspaper Correspondent
Briggs, Emily Edson
United States -- Politics and government -- 1865-1933; Washington (D.C.) -- History
No more time to notice those chosen amongst the women. The Senate has
assembled, and General Butler has the floor. He takes the largest,
most comprehensive view of the case. He is going to make his mark
upon the age, if he has not already. He seems the very incarnation of
force and will. He is followed by Judge Nelson of Tennessee, one of
the President’s counsel. Originally a preacher, I am told, he brings
the same kind of persuasion to bear upon the Senate that he would
upon rebellious sinners. As the Senate do not look upon themselves
in that light, it follows that something more substantial will have
to be used; but, as the President has chosen each of his counsel for
certain personal qualifications, it is very probable that he expects
nothing but flowery sentiment from him--the ornamental, instead of
the useful. Judge Curtis, the ablest of the President’s counsel,
said but very little, seeming well content with Judge Nelson’s waste
of words. Wilson, of Iowa, one of the ablest judicial minds in the
country, made a few remarks, of which law was the cubic measure; and,
after some amendments and voting, the day and the people vanished;
and thus ended one of the great historical days of the age.
OLIVIA.
MRS. SENATOR WADE.
THE MAKER OF AND SHARER IN HER HUSBAND’S TRIUMPHS.
WASHINGTON, _March 17, 1868_.
A calm steals over the restless political waters, and whilst we are
waiting for the next act in the great drama let us draw near those
who, by the sudden turn of the wheel of fate, are lifted high above
the multitude. Never, even in the days of the French Revolution, have
the women performed more conspicuous parts in the national play of
politics than at the present time in Washington. It can truthfully
be said that there is nothing so malignant and heart-rending in its
effects upon a good man as the burning desire to be President. God
help the man when this iron has entered his soul, for this fiery
ambition drinks up every other sweet virtue, just as the July sun
licks up the purling brook and precious dew drop. It is not man alone
who is consumed by ambition; it is woman also, who, in this as well
as in everything else, often takes the lion’s share. It was Eve who
first ate of the fruit, and gave it unto Adam, and he did partake of
it also. It is a woman who apparently has everything that the visible
or invisible world has to bestow, and yet, like the princess in the
fairy tale, deems her place incomplete unless a roc’s egg is hung in
the centre of the jeweled chamber. There is only one position at the
“republican court” that this most elegant woman has not attained.
She has never “reigned” at the White House. Every other triumph has
palled upon her taste, and if the nation would like the finest and
amongst the largest of diamonds in the country to glisten in the
Executive Mansion, and the most graceful and queenly woman of the
day to eat bread and honey in the national pantry, they will hasten
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