The Soldiers' Temptation

The store-k e. -pers, ïuercuauts, ana sutlérs of Washington reupod a harvest I Every person vho oame hure was ] josed to have inonay or expect t froni ,ho Govcrurnont. Iu the long gfltffeon i leriod, the city filled up with a ind artificers of the anny. The tailor j )roduoed uuiiorms of grandest, uu-st :ostly fabrics ; the liquor dealears concoctod their most entieing beverages ; ' the dry goods men displayed their most extravagant finarías; Coloncls spent i three months' pny for a week's diwsipation ; privates parted with their hard earuing in a night's spreo. The thentres, i meritricions as they seem, blazed with jaint, jowela, and silks ; nowkere oould iherü bo eeeu moro attractive or i ate costumea, both male and female. To i uee the language of a tradesman- 1 Money was just throwing about looso." There were gny tinicg at the Capital. Tra&e flourishod. The painted gigns ïeld the worda of promise to the eye, Dut broke them to tha tasto. Of the aundreds of so-oalled restaurants, at not one could a clean meal be had. The prices were so enormous that it is reported that at one of the noted places n the avenue it costs $2 50 to speak to a waiter and $25 for a plain dinner, The liquor saloons doled out the old Otard for fifty cents a drink, which was ;he cost of a half gallon at tho manufac;ory in New York. Champagne was wout to flow freely, and many a soldier, thirety and travel-stained, has paid hia luttering greecbacks for a bottle of 'green seal" New Jersey. It was a fast ife. The city was deluged with strangera. Flocking bither to the camp came swarms pi fumales ; wives, relative3, aud thoso who should have been wives f they were not, came to Bh are the soldier's cheer. Evory house was aacked; the hotels were overflowing, iho naiaeless places thronged, the streets ined with gay costumes. TUR WOMEN 03? WASHINGTON. ' Truly, Washington can boast of a marvüllous proportion of beautifal woraen. It would appoar as if comeliness were in great demand, and that the supply were keeping paoe with it. Even the old and the young array them.se! ves as if they bad a special eye to their personal attractions. The amount of physical beauty that can bo dcveloped by proper attontion to its culture, is astonishing. The gravitation of nature has brought the finest Women and the finest men in the world together here. Like the men, the women are tho croatures of opulenoe and indolence. They live to be ndmired and loved. Life bas no more serious business than the searuh of new plcasures and new triumpbs. The men flatter and the women smüe. Love and war go side by side. Mars becomes tuddled and fond in Venua's presence. Alas' how often she has unbuck'ed bis sword and doffed his heimet to bid kim play the wanton, while his rudti and more entefprising foe was astir in the field ! Good and careful mothers aud conservators of household modesty there are, bul of the great majority what shall be eaid ? A great scandal, a great misery, aud a great pity ! AT THE CLOSE 01' THE WAK. The days of campa and garrisons are nearly at an end. They may be expected to linker in Washington to the last moment, oul the era ofmamraoth armies, and vast armies of clerks in the various offices under the War Department draws near its close. The work of mustering out has commonced. The trouble of settling accounts may probably last for a year longer, but the sight of guarcls with bayonets and military escorts, is about closed. Washington is replete with ins'gnia of the great war now endod. lts uuiforms and equipment hang idle in the suu. Badges and swords are unsold. Horses and mules are selling at a quarter of tbeir value. Tho mercliatsts are looking to a different stato of thiogs. The heat of Bummer will drive off most of " the nobility," and there will be but poor picking for the rest. And yet Washington bas undergono a marked revolution. Since the war it bas changed its appearance and character also. It is no louger a Southern city, with its long rows of giïnning black nlaves. The old uuctuous and pursy dignitaries, who were wont to occupy the largo armebairs on tho piazzas and in the parlors at hotels, are gone. A crowd of bristling, short-haired Puritans has pushed them from their stools Every nation, every section, every shade is represented now, in ono heterogeneous cosmopolitan hive. The negro element is larger than ever, and will, doubtless, continue so. The churche3 and schools are more numerous, though still retaining all their original dullnesa. The soldiers who passcd through it will reremorober it with vexation. Washington, has never been other than a maddening disappointment, or a feurfa scone of debnuch. A soldier has beea regarded as fair game for traders anc swindlors, Many of them shake its dust from their feet, with tho hopo thai they may neyer return. The capital ought to be a source o: prido to the nation, aud of pleEsure to those who sojourn there. It is neither The only way to remedy it now, ;i to includo Wf ïhiugton within the área o oivili tion. Virginia rel -jbilitatcc may contribute to mako Was! ' gton en durable. But not until a raoo of more scrupulous traders, more hpnest hotel keepors, and more upriiit'tíiíos'ra'in'fHe Government will it beejtfier peaeoablo orderly, or well igulate,; ,At proseat it is under thesljadpw pf. o War üffic.o, but the day is near wTiêTri "the,eiyil governmont will bo roatorod, and tlo white marble of hor public building will bettor typify the purity of the live of its iuhubitaDts.-CVr. ff. YAor iaiii ,