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Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott
page 24 of 100 (24%)
on the fences; pots were steaming in the open air; all sorts of
tableaux seen through the openings of tents, and everywhere the
boys threw up their caps and cut capers as we passed.

Washington.--It was dark when we arrived; and, but for the
presence of another friendly gentleman, I should have yielded
myself a helpless prey to the first overpowering hackman, who
insisted that I wanted to go just where I didn't. Putting me into
the conveyance I belonged in, my escort added to the obligation
by pointing out the objects of interest which we passed in our
long drive. Though I'd often been told that Washington was a
spacious place, its visible magnitude quite took my breath away,
and of course I quoted Randolph's expression, "a city of
magnificent distances," as I suppose every one does when they see
it. The Capitol was so like the pictures that hang opposite the
staring Father of his Country, in boarding-houses and hotels,
that it did not impress me, except to recall the time when I was
sure that Cinderella went to housekeeping in just such a place,
after she had married the inflammable Prince; though, even at
that early period, I had my doubts as to the wisdom of a match
whose foundation was of glass.

The White House was lighted up, and carriages were rolling in and
out of the great gate. I stared hard at the famous East Room, and
would have liked a peep through the crack of the door. My old
gentleman was indefatigable in his attentions, and I said,
"Splendid!" to everything he pointed out, though I suspect I
often admired the wrong place, and missed the right.
Pennsylvania Avenue, with its bustle, lights, music, and
military, made me feel as if I'd crossed the water and landed
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