Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 93, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1898 — WHEN MR. LEWIS ENTERS. [ARTICLE]

WHEN MR. LEWIS ENTERS.

Two Door* Admit tbe Visitor, and the I Senate Chamber Is Impressed. ! The character of the present congress l is J. Hamilton Lewis. He Is a character not to be comprehended all at once. He grows upon you. It takes some time to realize how strange he is. His extravagance of dress and his attitude first attract attention. When he enters the house, no matter what is doing, every eye instinctively turns toward him, like the eyes of the audience in a theater turn to tbe leading man when he breaks through the throng of minor actors. Mr. Lewis visits the senate frequently. There is nothing more dramatic than his entrance into the presence of that august body. He never by any chance enters through one of the side doors. The senate may be engaged in a heated debate or deeply’ absorbed in a bewildering schedule of the tariff bill. Suddenly a sense of soniething happening comes upon everyone. People in jthe galleries look dow«i and the interest of the senate is arrested. Both the swinging doors of the main entrance at the head of the center aisle, facing the vice president, swing open and Mr. Lewis appears. The doors close behind him and he stands for a moment under the archway, his hat and gloves in one haind in front of him, and looks toward the vice president with a slight inclination of the head, as much as to say: Do not let me interrupt you. Then he looks with a sweeping glance to the right and to the left, slightly inclining his body. He then straightens himself up and sweeps the galleries with a glance. By this time every eye is upon him, and, with the graceful, daintysteps of a dancing master, he walks over to the democratic side of the chamber, greeting in the most graceful manner imaginable each senator who happens to be in his path to the vacant seat he is making for. His manner of greeting is to shift his hat and gloves from his right hand to his left with a flourish, taking two steps forward, as if about to extend his right hand, at the same time inclining his body’ gracefully’ and giving his hat a great sw’eep by’ his side, as the ideal cavalier trails his plume to the ground in bow’ing to “my lady.” It would be impossible for him to enter into any presence w-ithout attracting attention, and apparently he has no intention of trying to do so. With his fluffy’ hair and whiskers, both parted in the middle, he looks like some of the portraits of Capt. John Smith of about the time when he is supposed to have excited the imagination of the impressionable Indian maiden. Instead of the’glittering trappings of a knight. his dress is a display of the highest skill of the tailor, setting off his slender form in all its graceful lines and clinging to him with an affectionate softness. His every movement ends in a posture, and, with a gentle undulation, he passes from one posture to another. His voice is music and his w’ords flow like poetry being reeled off 220 words to the minute.— Philadelphia Telegram.