The bottom part of Washington Monument is square, and on one side is a
doorway. Above the base the shaft itself stretches up over five hundred
feet in height, and the top part is pointed, like the pyramids of the
desert. The monument shaft is hollow, and there is a stairway inside,
winding around the elevator shaft. Some people walk up the stairs to get
to the top of the monument, where they can look out of small windows
over the city of Washington and the Potomac River. But most persons
prefer to go up and down in the elevator, though it is slow and, if
there are many visitors they have to await their turns.
If the Bobbseys had walked up inside the monument they would have seen
the stones contributed by the different states and territories. Each
state sent on a certain kind of stone when the monument was being built,
and these stones are built into the great shaft.
As it happened, there was not a very large crowd visiting the monument
the day the Bobbseys were there, so they did not have long to wait for
their turn in the elevator.
"This isn't fast like the Woolworth Building elevators were," remarked
Bert as they felt themselves being hoisted up.
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