WASHINGTON, HOME CITY AND SHOW PLACE 



695 



playful child symbolizing the Infant Jesus. 



Besides the Old Lady Seated in an Arm- 

 chair, the list includes several other Rem- 

 brandts, among them the Death of Lucretia, 

 often described as the canvas "painted in 

 gold"; a splendid Selj Portrait, depicting 

 the Dutch master in 1659 when trouble had 

 put its lines upon his face; and a Portrait 

 of a Young Man, dated 1662. 



Frans Hals is represented by a number 

 of pictures, of which probably the best 

 known is the Portrait of an Old Lady with 

 a Prayer Book. This sympathetic inter- 

 pretation of serene old age is signed under 

 date of 1633. 



Mr. Mellon has expressed the wish to 

 have his art treasures displayed in a build- 

 ing so comfortably arranged and fitted that 

 visitors will not suffer "museum fatigue," 

 and with this idea in mind the architect, 

 John Russell Pope, has designed a per- 

 fectly lighted edifice of spacious halls, with 

 numerous seats where guests may rest while 

 looking at the displays. 



Any discussion of Washington art treas- 

 ures must include at least mention of the 

 Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Phillips Memo- 

 rial Gallery, the Freer Gallery of Art, and 

 the National Collection of Fine Arts, for- 

 merly the National Gallery of Art. All are 

 distinctive. In the Phillips Gallery the 

 pictures are hung as they would be in a 

 home. 



THE CITY OUTGROWS ITSELF 



Washington circles, parks, and plazas are 

 adorned with many memorials, some of out- 

 standing artistic merit. For those interested 

 in sculpture and other decorative arts, the 

 city offers a field for months of study. 



Washington finds itself changed since the 

 World War from a rather sleepy southern 

 town to a bustling metropolis. When 

 bureaus grow, as the Internal Revenue has, 

 from 2,000 people to 10,000 in ten years, 

 it becomes necessary to provide homes and 

 office space for them. 



For nearly a century and a half the dream 

 of L 'Enfant of a perfectly planned Federal 

 City has been progressing toward fulfill- 

 ment. It is still far from complete, may 

 never reach accomplishment in this genera- 

 tion; but as interpreted by the plan of 1901 

 it assures a Washington growing in beauty 

 as well as stature. 



Aside from the official part of Washing- 

 ton, which belongs of a right to the Nation, 

 there is a familiar part which endears the 

 city to its inhabitants. They are not pro- 



vincial folk so far as their present place of 

 residence is concerned. Perhaps the ma- 

 jority of them are "exiles in a foreign land," 

 reserving their provincialisms for "back 

 home." 



The population includes 112,000 Gov- 

 ernment employees, many of whom are 

 more or less transients here, though thou- 

 sands devote their lives to the Government 

 service. Only about 8,000 persons are em- 

 ployed in industry. In view of these facts, 

 it is easy to understand why there is so lit- 

 tle of vaunting local pride, so much of 

 nostalgia for the Pacific coast, the Middle 

 West, the South, the Northern and East- 

 ern States. 



Virtually every Commonwealth of the 

 Nation is represented by a State society 

 in Washington. These organizations con- 

 duct social affairs at which opportunity is 

 afforded for back-home folk to get together. 

 As the city is a show place of national ac- 

 tivities, its population is a cross section 

 of the people of the United States. Practi- 

 cally every civilized nation is represented 

 by a diplomatic delegation. 



For those of us who claim Washington 

 as our home, the city has a definite appeal 

 not in any way connected with the political 

 generations that come and go. 



Since we cannot vote, we have no active 

 part in political affairs. Administrations 

 change, but the changes affect us little 

 save by taking away friends and bringing 

 in strangers with whom we soon become 

 acquainted. 



WHAT A WASHINGTONIAN REMEMBERS 



If I should leave Washington, I suspect 

 that some of the less important bits of 

 experience here would linger in my memory 

 longer than important public events. 



These things should I remember always: 

 negroes dancing in the street on Hallow- 

 een; the glow of flowers on green lawns; 

 the easy drawl of a speech neither truly 

 southern nor yet of the north; the flash 

 of a cardinal in the trees of a park; the 

 song of a warbler beneath my office window ; 

 the lights of the city as I approached it 

 from Arlington over the Memorial Bridge; 

 fireworks in the Washington Monument 

 grounds; the worn old leather chairs 

 brought by Supreme Court Justices to their 

 new marble temple; the mauve of fading 

 light on the Japanese cherry blossoms, and, 

 most precious of all, the somber glory of the 

 Lincoln IMemorial darkling above its image 

 in the reflecting pool. 



