i2 4 MY LIFE 



chair, and most of them write or read at their ease while the 



Iks are going on. Dozens of messenger-boys are always 



running about, taking letters, telegrams, or messages to friends. 



To call a hoy the member claps his hands. There is much 

 more energy and gesticulation in the speeches than with us. 

 The Capitol is a very fine building, standing on a small hill 

 in a fine park. It is in the classical style, with very broad 

 ilights of steps, great numbers of columns, and a beautiful 

 central dome, as graceful in form as that of St. Paul's, and 

 over three hundred feet high. The whole building is pure 

 white, part painted stone, the rest white marble. The general 

 effect is really magnificent. The inside is equally fine, the cen- 

 tral hall under the dome forming a kind of public lounge. 

 Owing, however, to its being situated in a city which is not 

 a great business centre, it is rarely crowded. 



The Corcoran Art Gallery occupied an afternoon. The 

 most remarkable pictures were Church's " Niagara," Bierstadt's 

 grand view in the Sierra Nevada, and Midler's " Charlotte 

 Corday." One morning I went by invitation to the Naval 

 Observatory to see the instruments and the wonderfully ingen- 

 ious electrical arrangement by which clocks all over the coun- 

 try are automatically set right at noon, both second and 

 minute hands being moved back or forward as required. I 

 also saw the great equatorial, with twenty-six-inch object 

 glass and of thirty feet focal length ; at that time the finest 

 telescope in the world. A week later, on a frosty night, I 

 went again, and was shown Saturn, with powers of four hun- 

 dred and six hundred. The division of the ring was very 

 sharp, but the dark ring was barely visible as a shadow on the 

 two ends. The white equatorial belt was, however, very 

 distinct. I was then shown the great nebula in Orion, the 

 double star Castor, and a fine cluster in Perseus, the most 

 beautiful object I saw. The telescope is not quite achromatic, 

 but it is wonderfully steady, and the clockwork motion very 

 perfect. The night, though very clear, was not one for what 

 is termed " good seeing " ; hence high powers could not be 

 used, and the result was somewhat disappointing. A really 

 good telescope of moderate size, say four-inch or six-inch 



