The Daily Dispatch: January 3, 1862., [Electronic resource]

The members of the Federal Congress.

For a week past every available place has been filling up with members of Congress and their wives. At Willard's at the National, at Brown's, everywhere, there is the same eruption of men, of whom many are simply dingy, tobacco chewing demagogues. The men themselves are often shabby in dress, or clothed in the last effort of some country tailor; but the women of the party are a great deal worse. A man may pass without observation, or with only a general impression that his coat is of ancient style, and his linen by no means faultless; but a woman's costume must be unexceptionably lady-like or it is said to outrage one's taste. Such wonderful combinations of color, and such astonishing trimmings as have appeared of late hero, would afford a valuable study for the artists who get up ‘"Paris fashions Americanteed,"’