"That is Mrs. Sickles, sitting by the President," says the man.
"What, that girl! you don"t say so. Why, he might be her father."
It was the truth--a young, black-eyed thing, rather pretty and childish, sat there by General Grant--I knew it was Grant by his features--talking to him as if he had been her brother. Her dress was high up in the neck, but most of the ladies there wore them so low that I felt like turning my eyes away; but Cousin D. says that low-necked dresses always rage as a chronic epidemic in Washington, so I mustn"t be surprised.
"That is General Sheridan," says the man.
"That little cast-iron image, General Sheridan!" says I, a-starting back. "The fellow that cured a whole tribe of Indian women of small-pox with bayonets and bullets! I don"t want to see anything more! Just let us go away, cousin; I haven"t been vaccinated, and he might break out again."
"Hush! hush! he isn"t dangerous," says Cousin D.
"Dangerous!" says I, "just ask the Governor of Illinois. Wasn"t it General Sheridan who dragged off the Grand Duke among the Indians and buffaloes? I tell you again I won"t stay another minute in the house with that man!"
Sisters, I kept my word. We departed at once.
x.x.xV.
GETTING INFORMATION.
My dear sisters:--I made what people here call a flying visit to Washington, which means, I suppose, that the railroad cars go about as swift as a bird flies, which they do, if one is allowed to choose the bird--a white bantam, for instance, with clipped wings. Well, I really don"t know much about the speed, only I was awful tired when we got out of the cars at Jersey City, and we had the lonesomest drive home just before daylight that two tired mortals ever undertook. The whole city was still as a graveyard, and put one in mind of those cities over the sea, dug out of the ashes in which they have been buried hundreds on hundreds of years.
To me, sisters, nothing is more dreary than a great city shut up and full of sleeping people. Only think of it! half a million of human beings all lying in darkness, unconscious of both happiness or misery, just as if sleeping in their tombs, only that the first glow of sunshine brings them to life again. Did you ever think of it?
Now, in the country the stillness is not so mournful--there is a sense of out-door freedom there. The leaves stir with life on the trees. The brooks murmur and gurgle and laugh by night as they do by day. The birds flutter now and then, and the winds whistle and whisper, filling the night with a stir of life. But here--here in a great city, a ghost-like policeman, or a poor straggling wretch who has no home but the street, is all that you see. Indeed, coming home before daybreak isn"t a thing I hanker to do over again.
Well, after pulling at the bell-k.n.o.b till I"m afraid Cousin Dempster swore internally, we got into the house, and had a good long sleep before breakfast.
"I"m so glad you"ve come," says Cousin E. E., "for the Liederkranz comes off to-night, and I was afraid we should lose it. Of course you"ll go, Cousin Frost?"
"Well," says I, "perhaps I can tell better when I know what the thing is. It"s a crabbled sort of a word, that might belong to an aligator or kangaroo; and I don"t care overmuch for wild-beast shows, any way."
Cousin E. E. laughed.
"Well," says she, "in some sense you are right. There will be a show of wild animals such as never roamed in field or forest, but none of them are dangerous; at any rate, in that form."
"Are they in a circus, and is there a clown with a chalky face and red patches?" says I.
"The circus!" says she, a-holding up both hands. "Why, it is to be in the Academy of Music, and the first people in the city are going."
"To see them feed?" says I.
"Well, that may be a part of it, but the princ.i.p.al thing is the parade."
"But where do they feed the animals--not in the boxes with red velvet cushions, I calculate?"
"Oh, how funny you are! Of course not; the supper is set out in Nilsson Hall, and is served _a la carte_."
"What!" says I; "do they bring in fodder by the cartload for the creatures? Now, really, Cousin E. E., there is nothing astonishing about that to a person born and bred in the country. You and I have ridden on a load of hay, piled up so high that we had to bend down our heads to keep from b.u.mping them against the top of the barn door, when the hay went in to be put on the mow; so we need not see the same thing meached over here in York."
"Dear me!" said my cousin; "you are just the brightest and stupidest woman----"
"Young lady, if you please," says I.
"Well, young lady--that I ever set eyes on--can"t you comprehend that it is a ball we are speaking of?"
"A ball?" says I; "then what did you call it a Liederkranz for?"
"The Liederkranz ball. It"s a German word."
"But I don"t speak Dutch. How should I, not being an old settler of York Island," says I.
"Well, never mind that. The Liederkranz is a masked ball."
"A masked ball! Now what do you mean? I"ve heard of masked batteries, but they went out with the war."
"There it is again; you won"t take time to understand," says Cousin E.
E., a-lifting both her hands in the air. "This is a ball where people go in character."
I arose at once, burning with indignation.
"Cousin E. E.," says I, "do you mean to insult me? What have you seen in my conduct to lead you into supposing that I would go to any ball that was out of character?"
"Do sit down," says she.
"Not in this house," says I. "It isn"t my own dignity alone that I have got to maintain, but the whole Society of Infinite Progress is represented in my humble person."
"But you are mistaken. Was ever anything so absurd! Do speak to her, Mr.
Dempster. You know how far it is from my mind to give offence to Cousin Phmie."
Cousin Dempster, who had been rubbing his hands and enjoying himself mightily, now smoothed down his face, and spoke.
"A masked ball, Cousin Phmie, is an entertainment, you understand."
"Just so," says I.
"In which each person takes some character not his own."
"All slanderers, are they?" says I.
"No, no; they a.s.sume a character."
"Oh!" says I, a-drawing out a long breath; "make believe have one?"
"They dress the character, and act it."
"Well?" says I, completely beat out.