two adornments are united on a single brow. But even supposing this not to be the case, yet must high official position presuppose sufficient qualities of brain and heart to entitle it to be treated as the congener of birth and breeding. It must be so, or our democracy is a failure.

There are houses in Washington which are, I believe, the most interesting in this country, where the habit is great refinement, the sesame to which is intellect (either official or other, native or foreign), and where the peculiar charm is the dignified patriotism of the American women who preside over them. A sort of public element pertains even to these interiors (which are comparatively exclusive), although they may be wholly unconcerned with official life otherwise than from choice. It does not take long to feel there is the quality of character about such an interior as this. Somehow, other houses miss it. Beside this character there is an insignificance and a triviality in the seclusiveness of mere refinement, particularly when-as often seen elsewhere in America-it is unconscious of civic duty and aimless in its existence beyond the feeding of itself upon its own refinement. In Washington the atmosphere is too robust for such desiccated growths. And yet a true American cannot fail to be disappointed to observe how few are the refined interiors that I have spoken of in the capital of his country. They are even fewer today than they were twenty years ago. This may or may not be connected with the recent appearance in Washington of wealth unattended by other advantages. The chances are that this is only one of the causes for the fact that the general atmosphere of society there is infected with-let us not be afraid of words—a spirit of commonness and vulgarity.

It will hardly be said that this disturbance of an old-time gentility is peculiar to Washington. Rather is it but a ripple of a large wave that has been sweeping over most of our old cities, and that wave in turn may be but a part of a tide that maintains its flood somewhere in the vicinity of our centre of population. Nevertheless, its appearance, even in diminished form, in the capital is more to be deplored than elsewhere, for the reason that refinement is more necessary there, and also because, when found, it is more enjoyable on account of the added charms peculiar to the place. It may be an unusual criticism, and it may show an ignorance of the standards of the hour to lament the scarcity of the quality of gentility in those whom we have raised to the class of rulers over us. One rarely thinks of such requisites nowadays, and it certainly is American as well as noble to believe that the accidents of birth and breeding should be despised in the larger question of obtaining the character and ability that are necessary for governing us. But where this compensation is invisible, where the modest robe of humbleness of

birth is used to strut and parade in, and what should be a gentle pride is flaunted as a vanity,—is it not equally American and noble to resent this parade of plebeianism under the guise of democracy? It is a pleasure to discover that-like many a disagreeable personal trait-this one is more obvious to the sensibilities than it really deserves to be. A better insight discloses an element of simplicity beneath the general vulgarity. In this light what was an ugly trait often dwindles into a mere blemish of personality which we should be careful not to magnify in our appraisal of character beneath. And here let me say that it is in Washington society, above all other societies, that we find this humanity of judgment, and that it is there valued as a blessing. For it is one of the peculiar advantages of life in that city that people of different classes are brought together who might elsewhere have remained unknown to each other. The narrow eye of class is opened to a larger view of humanity, and to an acknowledgment of the primacy of the heart in determining the companionships of men. The appeal that one human face should always make to another-the appeal of man to man-is more frequent in this society, and it is here that one may see partly realized the humanity of republicanism. General Washington, were he alive to-day, would see this, and no one ever cherished this feeling more deeply than he. But at the same time there is little doubt that he would be shocked by the general absence of distinction and of fine manners in a society where the presence of these graces would do most good. They are gone, however, except in a few places; and it is probable that their culture at these infrequent shrines is regarded by the multitude as a sort of superstition. It is interesting to try to trace their loss, not only in Washington but elsewhere. It may be an outbreak in the body politic due to its taking the tonic which is included in the belief that the state is for man, and not man for the state. The former subordination of self-interest to the interest of the state must necessarily have proved a great factor in individual character, and as character finds its expression in personality, the presences of men to-day are not what they were in the time of Henry the Eighth. And yet our democracy embraces a larger passion than any merely institutional devotion to a State. It is "hitched to a star." It is an exhortation to love your neighbor as yourself. As a political creed, is this too illusory to exert a visible, daily influence on men and their manners? At any rate, it is worth while believing that it is not. It is certain that to be a true republican in heart and soul is to have the basis of a true American gentleman. Perhaps it may be because this noblest offspring of time is also the last that it is more difficult to find than the corresponding type in other societies which are older and more winnowed. Yet let not any one suppose that it cannot be found among the company of men that gather from the North, South, East, and West, to form the

society that I am discussing. It is only that one cannot fail to be impressed by its scarcity and to long to see more of it. It would, however, be a great mistake to fall into the error of despair, as great as that other mistake, which is so often made, of believing that corruption in our public morals is either deep-rooted or widespread. With love of country to work on, there is always hope, and in the society of the capital one notices that there is not only a great interest in the national government, but also a universal sentiment of generous patriotism. Nationalism, ungrasped by the smaller prides of other communities,-indeed, permitting none but a large embrace to grasp it at all,—is here one of the most stimulating and delightful of forces.

And there is still another quality conspicuous in Washington society, or, perhaps, I ought to say in that portion of it which consists of high official life and of those that are drawn about it, and that is the very high average of ability that distinguishes it. Even if an observer believe that these men and women do not compare favorably in their scholarship and light accomplishments with some other societies in other countries, yet must he acknowledge that there is a weight and an impress in their sayings that he misses in such frequency in any other society of this country. It is the custom of some Americans to be much impressed by high officials in foreign lands, to overlook the person in the personage, to measure true calibre by mere accomplishments. They take for granted the genius of the leader of a parliament whom they may meet. To such I would suggest a pilgrimage to Washington, where they will be surprised by the frequency of their contact with quiet men who are also leaders, and whose abilities are also great. But there will be an absence of fine trappings and of retinues about them, and probably, also, a lack of distinction, and a bald simplicity of manner which may approach even to a lack of polish.

In claiming that Washington society is characterized by such qualities as democracy, cosmopolitanism, patriotism, we are praising it sufficiently to do it no great harm by calling attention to its deficiencies. Besides those that I have already spoken of, it should be said that there is less of elegance and of good appearance in it than in the societies of our larger cities. A more important defect than this is that there is not the same attention paid to the arts, to learning, to poetry that there is in the latter. The quiet life is rarer here than elsewhere. The devotion to society is absorbing, and those who engage in it (and there seem to be few who do not) seem to forget that there may be a higher life than that which they are leading. And the hurry which many people are in, at the change of an administration, to intrench themselves in the favor of the new one, is not a dignified sight. Also, there is too often a sinister motive in the smiling speech of

Washington. Political preferment has arts that do not scorn the aids of society. They may even invade a ball-room; and in that arena of soft vanities and graces one may see a fan or a flower turned aside from its proper use as an instrument of grace to become a petty engine of intrigue and promotion.

Washington society has its faults; it is not, as a whole, as cultured and refined as some of our societies, but it is the most varied, the most liberal, the most American, and the most interesting of any of them.

LIVINGSTON HUNT.

BALL'S BLUFF.

FROM THE DIARY OF THE LATE MAJOR L. H. D. CRANE, THIRD WISCONSIN VOLUNTEERS.

1

OCTOBER 28, 1861.-An eventful week has passed since I have seen the inside of my journal; one that I shall always remember as my first sight of the horrors of battle. Let me begin with the beginning.

On Monday morning, the 21st, it was tolerably clear, though somewhat hazy where the distant mountains were observed. About 9.30 o'clock, the general, who is always thoughtful, kind, and considerate, said to me, "It would be a fine day for you to go to Sugar Loaf." "Since you say so," said I, "I will," and I forthwith saddled "Frank" and galloped over to the Twenty-seventh Indiana to find LieutenantColonel Harrison. He was not very well, but the idea of a ride roused him, and he speedily got up his horse and we started. Taking the Poolsville road to Dawsonville, we there turned to the right in order to strike Monocacy Chapel. The road was well picketed by detachments from Abercrombie's brigade, which for several days had been encamped on Seneca Creek, just east of Dawsonville. We found the church without difficulty and there turned to the right on the road to Barnesville, which we passed over on the 28th of August. At Barnesville we took a road to the mountain, being directed to inquire for a Mr. Howard. We reached Howard's about half-past one. There an old "aunty" helped Mrs. Howard to get us a dinner of ham, eggs, tea, and bread and butter. It was my first meal in a house for a long time, and it was a very agreeable change from the fare which our "Joel" of the camp gets up for us, although it was plain country fare. After resting and feeding ourselves and horses (during which we discovered, in a wild nook, a regular Maryland "poor white" with seven frouzy,

1 The Third Wisconsin Volunteers was enlisted in May, 1861, and was sent in July, of the same year, to Maryland, and in August to camp on the Potomac. Its adjutant on organization was Louis H. D. Crane, of Ripon, Wisconsin, and from the day of his reporting for duty in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where the regiment was organized, till his death, he kept a daily record of events of the war coming under his personal observation. The colonel of the Third Wisconsin was Chas. H. Hamilton, but on reaching the Potomac he was commissioned a brigadier by President Lincoln. He at once appointed Adjutant Crane an aide on his staff, and these events relating to Ball's Bluff transpired while he (Crane) was acting in that capacity.-W. R. H.