Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 December 1899 — IN THE GALLERIES. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

IN THE GALLERIES.

CONGRESS CENTER OF ATTRACTION FOR MANY PEOPLE. Statesmen as Seen from Above—Proceedings Are Usually Not Lively Enough for the Spectator* What They Would Like to Bee.

OR a matter of thir|3* ty years,” said an old Washingtonian, mosurnfully, “I have dropped into one of the galleries of the House of Representatives from ten to SB fifteen times during fßr each session, always djg with the hope and expectation of being MBS on hand during the progress of a pyrotechnical scene. I’ve never had the luck 3” to strike one. Often I’ve waited until all j U ' the conditions seemed favorable for a

violent outbreak on the floor, and then I’ve gone up to the Capitol and sat through hours of roll-calling and monotonous droning by the reading clerk. Never was able to catch ’em shooting off their fireworks. Probably the very next day, when I couldn’t be on hand, there'd be a terrific scene in which thirty or forty of ’em ’ud be sawing the atmosphere at once —and I’d have to have my fun in reading. about it in the papes. There ought to be some scheme whereby they could give regular rough-house performances at stated times, so that we could all have a chance to see how they do when they’re right mad.” Probably nine-tenths of the folks who visit the galleries, not counting the “regulars”—of whom more later on—go up to the Capitol to see something lively, exciting, and out of the ordinary on one or the other of the floors of Congress, and the great bulk of them are disappointed when nothing out of the common happens for their delectation. Exciting scenes on the two floors of Congress become more rare from year to year. The routine is not often broken.

Men of ebullient temper are not so common in Congress as they used to be, and if they were the rules nowadays are such that they could be squelched or otherwi s e effectually taken care of in short order. Consequently the majority of the gallery visitors come away from the Capitol

with the grievance written on their faces that they haven’t got their money’s worth. The day has passed when every representative in Congress was his own Patrick Henry. When a gentleman on the floor who is known to be an ornate phraseologist and a man of “uncertain” —that is to say, certainly fiery—temper rises in his seat and catches the Speaker’s eye, the folks in the gallery lean forward, their countenances take on interested expressions, and they seem to be saying to themselves, “Ah, now we’re going to have something worth while!” When the gentleman wiht the fiery reputation launches into a mild, expostulating, almost pleading statement as to how his district has been overlooked in the formulation of the river and harbor bill the people in the gallery settle back in their seats, with sighs of disappointment, that seem to say in so many words, “Are we forever to be buncoed in this way?” A pair of gentlemen, who are known to be* person al as* well as political antagonists, take the floor at the same instant, both demanding recognition. “Ha! here’s a clash, right now*!” the gallery visitors whisper to each other, with nudges; and when one of the gentlemen, with a Chesterfieldian gesture, yields to the other, the spectators in the gallery look real hurt about it. Mostly Visitors to Town. A very small percentage of the visitors in the galleries of Congress are Washingtonians. Congress is an old story to the people of the capital. It is a tale often repeated. There is nothing awe-inspiring about a day’s doings at the Capitol to a man who has lived within sight of the dome of the Capital all, or nearly all, of his life. Men and women who come to Washington to live pay one or two visits to the galleries of Congress when first they arrive here, and let it go at that. It is the strangers, the casual visitors in the city, who flock to the galleries of Congress, and to many of these such visits are very igreat events, indeed, to be told about again and again when they get back to their homes. Not a few of the strangers in the galleries look as if they feel themselves to be participating in proceedings of a very solemn and uplifting character; and that they regard the gentlemen below them on the floor as the very cream of the land is perfectly evident from the awed manner with which they study the great men. It is with an eye to seeing how their

“own” representative in the lower house, or their “own” pair of Senators, look and act as set amid scenes of greatness that most of the strangers in the city repair to the galleries. It makes no difference how obscure and bashful the representative may be, he is the one great figure in

the whole scene in the eyes of his gallery visiting constituents. “If he would only get up and say some?, thing, like he used to at the barbecues on Fourth of July'” the representative's gallery visiting constituents say to each other impatiently, and they gaze at him with deep sorrow and reproach when, in the whole course of an afternoon’s session, the only manifestation that he makes that he is alive is to apologetically clap his hands in summoning a page. No matter how others of the great and wise colossi of the Senate may tower over the pair of gentlemen whose constituents are in force in the galleries, the constituents never see any other togas than those that mantle “their own” two Sen---f - - * ■ ■

ators. It is quite within the possibility that there may be more M places than the Senate chamber of United States as that chamber is ordinary circumstances, but this never seems to pall on tbe gallery ors who take an interest in their BcIImMH tors. They watch every movement < that great duo with rapt and if they can summon the nerve to in their cards to the toga wearers, and be shown points of interest around^: c|jMg Capitol by one or other of the CTa *|MlMI men, a joy that is almost pathetic ates them. It is a peculiarity of the ladies in tnHBM galleries that they are quite unable tMH give any gentleman on the floor credilMyMMl greatness who does not “look great”— distinction who does not took cd. Now. it is a singular fact, but oteMM none the less capable of proof and ■ dental onstration, that a majority of the eminent men who have graced the floors of Congress during the past MH cade or so have at the same time the most insignificant looking. The Ifrßn dies in the galleries do not appear to prehend that such a thing can be. .wM MB The men's galleries are chiefly interest-MM ing for the number of men, black CflpKM white, they contain, who appear to -tyrRMH nothing but time. The •‘regulars" inhabit the men’s gullerieoNHM force, particularly in the lower hoUfIMK

They are about equally blacks and whites, and prosperity doiflM not seem to be hovering over any , eflE them. The fact is, the regulars pretty seedy lot. But this is a free afl|H tion, and they have the right to warm in the galleries of Congress if theiEE so elect. They nod and doze, and proceedings on the floor seem to be to last degree uninteresting to them. | HE 'Die press galleries are generally so dHEw sorted as to induce visitors to wondeESE how -on earth the newspaper men cotoMß trive to get the news, not hearing wiMBE is going on. The gallery visitors caflaHHS know, in this wondering, that what traj|flßE pires on the floors isn’t the heavy end dwBE Congress—not by the hugest of possifi|dM| jugfuls. In general, the galleries of Cabl|E gross are about as interesting as tIaHE floors thereof. 'jMjjg

Yukon has one woman Duse, the actress, was born on a way train. Miss Floretta Vining of HuU, MaMW»| owns nine newspapers. JHE The Princess of Wales is an ous reader of serious literature. HE Mrs. Mary P. Slosson is chaplarireilM the Wyoming State penitentiary. H| Miss Grace Howe McKinley, nieceiH|§| the President, is writing a novel. | -.HE Mrs. Richard Croker declares that 'EMg||| will never permit her sons to enter pdHH| tics. Miss Helen Gould says she gained mHE first anti-Mormon sentiments from Ks|EH Field. »H| Miss Braddon, the novelist, has refudH|||| for twenty-five years to have her pictuMß||| taken. President Kruger's wife descends fwEHj the same family as that to which CmEImE nal Richelieu belonged. Miss Clara Butt, who is 6 feet inches in height, is the tallest woman the English operatic stage. Mrs. Leland Stanford says the blessing millions can bring is the to make other people happy. 'HE Mrs. Maria Allen of Elyria, Ohio, is 98 years of age, is the oldest membinH of the Woman’s Relief Corps. Miss Braddon draws inspiration vkHE writing novels from a gold-mounted petiE||ffi which she has used many years. 3 .HE The widow of former Gov. Atkinson Georgia has become State agent for eral fire and life insurance The Princess of Naples is skillful qMjH|| the rifle, and in a recent hunting JMaEE she killed fourteen chamois in one dajrjl I Miss Eva Johnston is the first woiaHwE in twenty years to be elected to a iMSsE iessorship in the University of Missouri Miss Florence Fensham of ConmHfl||| nople is the first woman to be adadEBSH as a student to an American theo!<^ifl : <H| seminary. JfIHE Miss Ora A. Root of Cincinnati sm|HJ||!| her spare time collecting books and mEH ing matter to send to the soldiers in Philippines. Miss Rachel Denn Griscom, who iajMM brated her 91st birthday at ReadiMMaEM cently. is the oldest active school uEKMH in Pennsylvania. -jggaSS Mrs. Susana B. Emory of Salt LMEmEI City is said to be the largest WommuMH mine owner and the richest woman >C||||| the Rocky Mountain region. Miss Helen Long. who preskH ' over the home of the Secretary $$ Navy for two years, has the dWMjEE| M. D. from Johns Hopkins. Miss Edith Root, daughter of the 9 ’ rotary of War. makes the tenth vottyOll unmarried woman in the cabinet I>m|k||||||| Washington, an unprecedented numix; - Miss Susan de Forest Day, a Southern woman, has converted a'tnKraH| steamer into a yacht, and has joined New York Yacht Club. She is the fi woman granted a commission as miE of a ship. Miss Alice Serber has been admifl by to the bar of the Federal Court in E - ' i York. She is the first woman thht privilege and was the first Rna«

IDEAL STATESMAN.

THE REAL THING.

YOU ALWAYS MISS IT.