DC By the Book

Excerpt: While she sat waiting, Dorsy looked down the wide Avenue to the hill where the twin buildings of the Capitol gleamed in the sun. For three years - ever since her mother died of the long white-sickness - she and her father had lived on Capitol Hill in Mrs. Pringle's Boarding House for Congressmen - on B Street behind the Capitol grounds.

Excerpt: Dorsy put up her hand to shade her eyes and peered down the stream toward the river. All she could see were several small sailboats and two large barges full of lumber. Behind them came a farmer's boat piled high with watermelons. Two men poled it upstream on their way to Center Market.

Excerpt: Down at the corner of 9th Street, Dorsy could hear a great hubbub as the new militia came marching along Pennsylvania Avenue. She picked up her skirt and raced down the block to watch them go by.

Excerpt: "You could go to Pierce's Mill - on Rock Creek. It's about five miles, and you might have to walk all the way. I'm sure there won't be any horses left in Washington. It will be a long walk for your mother. She's a city woman and she isn't used to walking in the country. You and Tyler might have to carry Brandy partway."

Excerpt: Dorsy picked up the whimpering Toby Pepperdine and made him watch the old man leading the two plodding oxen. She had to brace her legs to keep standing on her feet as they went up Pennsylvania Avenue and around the corner past the Treasury Building.

Excerpt: Over at the White House, Admiral Cockburn saw those thunderheads piling up in the sky and hurried to finish the task he had started. Suddenly, as flames leaped up and were reflected against the clouds, there was the roar and crackling of another great fire. President Madison's White House was burning.

Excerpt: "It's the Capitol buildings! Oh, Tyler, they're burning the Capitol!" Dorsy stood at the window and pounded her fists on the sill. Angry tears streamed down her face. "You can't do that!" she shouted into the night. "It took so long to build! And it isn't even finished!"