The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-06-20
A Clear Case Of Trousers-leg.

The Character Of the poor but honest
gentleman who was discovered retiring In
an absent-minded way from nelghpor
hen.coop with the tail OF O male fowl
floating In n feathery, unconscious way
through an imperfection in his hat crown,
and who. upon having attention directed to
the circumstance, was unable to account
for the nhenomenon except upon the theo-
rv that 1.-THE rooster must have crawled up
'his trousers-leg," has always attracted
tbe admiration of the good and awakened
the sympathies OF the benevolent. 1t is
not to be denied that the historic nara
tive has been sometimes doubted by the
skeptical, and that the narrow minded and
uncharitable have scoffed at the simplicity
of the poor but honest gentleman, and
openly derided his theory of the trousers
leg, but this was before the Credit Mobilier
Investigation had demonstrated the per-
feet practicability of the performance up
on the trousers-legs of some of our purest
and best Christian statesmen. When
those gentlemen stood up before a COM
mittee Of Congress, white, innocent and
beautiful, with their hands in their pockets
and their eyes rolled up and the plumage
of surreptitious ROSTERS waving in the
breeze through their devastated hat
crowns, an admiring Congress and aston
ished people comprehended possibilities in
the poultry line that before had not been
dreamed of.
The Sanborn contracts are another as
plain q case of trousers-legs as ever fur
nished forth the breakfast table of honest
poverty with the tender and succulent
breast of the beautiful bird of the barn
yard. Like the white plume Of Navarro,
before which men had to come down and
to bleed" and other such things in the
way of poetry-or, like the tossing feathers
of the lost rooster from the arms of the
wayfarer, the Sauborn contracts wave and
dip and hutter from the helms of that fine
platoon OF statesmen whose fiery charges
upon horse railroads, grave yards, and pro
bate courts have come to be the wonder of
the age. There are the contracts, but no.
body knows how they came there or who
signed them. Mr.. Richardson, the Great
Minister of Finance, called off for q mo
ment from his Great Undertaking, the re
sumption Of specie payment in silver il
sums of five dollars or less, is as innocent
as babe of the whole business. Possibly
he signed them in the ordinary course O
business" If he did, he did not know
what they were, and certainly did no
know Sanborn. To his mind the whole
thing is quite phenomenal in character
He does not understand it at al
but is inclined to think Congress
ought to repeal statute or pass a reso
luton o. ~7mcth;rr he i MT c-rt7ir
what. AS the ureat Minister OF rInanc,
retires hastily from the Committee room
the tip, just the bare tip of tail feathe
seems to the Committee to be lying owe
the Great Minister'S ear. 1t may be
quill
The MISUNDERSTANDING of the Treas
ury, Mr.. Sawyer, folds his hands in from
Of the Committee and imparts an amour
or information as to the extent of his ig
norance of the department of which he i
second in command which is fairly start
ling. 1t is a distinct, positive and vel
defined tail feather which futters through
n crevice in MIR. Sawyer's hat, but tn,
artless manner in which he discovers
the fowl and suggests the trousers-leg dis
arms criticism and carries conviction
That is an unmistakable case of trousers
leg. The man who doubts it must have
bad heart. MIR. Ban6eld. the Solicitor o
the Treasury who is one of the finest il
lustrations, developed a degree of unfamil
iarity with the business Of the department
which was truly delightful. If we ma,
pursue the figure to that extent, duriny
his examination the able bodied fowl which
had crawled up his trousers-leg forced
his way through the top of his hat, stoot
on the crown, tapped his wing and crow
ed. Mr.. Ban6eld obviously has larg
trousers-legs.
And now the Committee and Congress
and the people wait for Sanborn. A fey
days ago he was in Newly York. Being anx
iOus to make an explanation of the who'll
matter to the Committee he started 70
Washington--by way of Boston. He is i
great hurry to see the Committee, but
absent minded. People who go arOun,
poultry yards with large trousers-legs ar
apt to be. Wherever he goes the cackl
of lost poultry follows him. 1t drizzle
along after him like music from an :ban
doned fife with the cork out. The Com
mittee has sent for him. The Commute
is confident that his also is a case of trou
sers-legs. but there is good deal of cur
osity to know the size of his trousers-le legs
and how many ROSTERS there are in hi
hat.-N, Y. Tribune.