races, whom we are told can never be got to live in harmony
together, have, to say the least, gone very extensively into a
system which gives strength to the belief that it could be done. The
French call this the commingling system, and their philosophers
argue from it, and with much force, that it is impossible to
establish the question as to what kind of blood the best society is
based upon. For myself, I feel that we can with safety accept these
French philosophers as good authority in such matters. You will also
find among the population of Washington natives of nearly every
country on the face of the globe. These speak no end of tongues,
follow all manner of professions and occupations, and what is most
valuable, preserve that delightful diversity for which what is
called the "old society" has always been famous. Picturesque hills
encircle the city at a distance, and a beautiful river flows past on
its way to the sea. The city has many fathers and few friends. These
fathers, while in an ornamental mood, built a grand canal into the
very bowels of the city, after the manner of Venice, that commerce
might be encouraged, and such persons as had a passion for moonlight
and gondolas could gratify it. But the people were not given to
sailing in gondolas, so this famous canal was diverted from the
object for which it was originally intended. It is now used as a
tomb where deceased animals of a domestic nature are carefully
deposited. The old inhabitants regard this tomb with a reverence I
never could understand clearly, even though I had sought for a cause
in their instinctive opposition to all and every manner of reform.
Indeed, the fathers of the city regard this grand canal as
performing a very humane part, inasmuch as it supplies an excellent
and very convenient burial-place for their domestic animals, and
increases the practice of a large number of doctors. The city
fathers, I am informed, find some consolation in the fact that other