the roads; plant a great deal of coarse turf in every place where it ought not to be; erect three handsome buildings in stone and marble, anywhere, but the more entirely out of everybody's way the better; call one the Post Office, one the Patent Office, and one the Treasury; make it scorching hot in the morning and freezing cold in the afternoon, with an occasional tornado of wind and dust; leave a brick-field without the bricks in all central places where a street may naturally be expected; and that's Washington."
As there were few attractions to tempt the
wealthy, plain and inexpensive dwellings were
mostly in evidence. During the sessions the
members of Congress could hardly find suitable
quarters, since the inns and hotels, with
few exceptions, were of such a character that
they brought forth vilification from those who
were compelled to live in them. Boarding-*houses
were somewhat better. An old directory
shows that in 1834 Senators Daniel
Webster, John Tyler, John C. Calhoun, Henry
Clay; Representatives John Ouincy Adams,
Franklin Pierce, James K. Polk and many
other well-known men of the time sought
homes with private families or in semi-public
boarding-houses. The modern method of numbering
houses was not then used, and we find
addresses given as follows: Henry Clay, "at
