Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 180, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1912 — Cling to Ancient Gaslight [ARTICLE]

Cling to Ancient Gaslight

British Statesmen Conduct Deliberations Without the Aid of Modern Illumination. The system of lighting the British house of commons Is under review, and members may be asked before long whether they would prefer electric to the present use of gas. The actual fount of the Illumination is not visible In the house; there is no chandelier, and none of those bracketsagainst the wall which one sees in modern drawing-rooms against distempered walls. But the roof has a considerable space of thick ground glass panels set in a framework of brown beams, and each of the panels bears a rendering of the English red rose. Above this glass there is a kind at attic from which the lighting is done. The house is very often sparing of the gas bill On a quiet summer afternoon the debate win go on in the fading light of day till members can hardly see one another’s faces, and then the clerk of the house suddenly real|zes* that he cannot see the paper under his nose. He looks up and finds the house wrapped in shadows. He touches a bell; a servant comes In and receives the direction x for the lights. The light is turned on In the attic above the glass panels with the rendering of the red rose. It arrives id dte house like a shower of rain on a summer night. First a faint, ten-

tlve stirring, a softening, a sponge In the face, then after that the deluge, and the room below Is drenched in a mellow downpour. The dark spaces beneath the galleries drink it up like a thirsty land.- The whole scene Is refreshed. Strangers In the house look up into the roof, and then they sft up and begin a more intelligent reading of the men and things below.