7^ AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 



in the cellar, where the mutilated currency is 

 burned. It is in this building that the paper 

 money of the country is prepared, after which it 

 is sent to the banks for circulation. It is cus- 

 tomary for visitors to exchange a note for one 

 that has never been in circulation, to be kept as 

 a souvenir. 



The elegfant Smithsonian Institute, with its 

 numerous objects of interest, and the Agricul- 

 tural Buildings, with their beautiful grounds, offer 

 their attractions to the visitor, while the Patent 

 Office, with its multitude of models, showing the 

 inventive genius of our countrymen, is of equal 

 interest. Here, while admiring the ingenuity 

 displayed by the inventors, we learn by the num- 

 ber of rejected models how many have spent 

 perhaps the best years of their lives only to reap 

 disappointment at the last. 



While in Washington I was favored with sev- 

 eral gratifying testimonials. The first one was 

 at the ereat National Carnival, where I received 

 the prize for the best four-in-hand turn-out, a 

 aold-mounted whip. The second testimonial was 



