The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1875-02-17
EtchlngS in the United States
Senate.

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phens is to the House. Attendants
carry him twice a day to and fro
from his chair at the extreme left of
the Presidents desk, close to the
door. There he sits, pale, attenua-
ted, ghostly, never speaking, never
smiling, voting by signs and appa-
rently lifeless, save for the perpetual
culver and twitch of a terrible palsy.
Such is "Parson Brownlow, Of Ten
nessee."
In fact there are so many disabled
Senators that the Government has
had t" put an elevator in their wing
to carry up and down stairs. Morton
is partially paralyzed; Wright, o
Iowa, is lame; Clayton, a handsome
young man, has lost an arm, and
Ferry, of Connecticut, is a victim to
some spinal difficulty. He has Sum-
ner's seat, which being on the outer
row, is very easy Of access. Ferry,
of Michigan, has Summers desk.
Sumner was a very unpopular man
among the employees ofthe Senate
the doorkeepers and pages aver that
he never vouchsafed them "good
morning" Even his dear Africans
he loved better in the spirit than in
the flesh, and they knew it. Person
ally he was self-satisfied and pomp-
Gus; association with him was diff.
cult, unless every superiority was
conceded to be his. Julia Ward
Howe went to him once for some
charitable subscription. MADAM -
said the great Charles, edo you think
[ have time for individual charities
My purpose is to reform the world"
"Forgive me, Mr.. Sumner" she re-
piled, ''for asking you; but perhaps
you forget the Saviour of the world
found time to bless little children -
Upton, Schurz and Fenton you
can distinguish directly from Nast's
caricatures. Upton is sunny little
fellow, Schurz an admirable speaker,
but Fenton has the most courtly
manners in the Senate. Hamlin, of
Maine, always wears a dress-coat,
never an overcoat. His colleague,
Mr.. Morrill,, is the signer of the
Maine Liquor Law. He and Mr..
Lane, Of Indiana, met on their way
to the Chicago Convention of 1860.
81 am very much interested in the
agriculture of your country" said
Senator Morrill,; "what do you do
with all this corn?" "Well, SIR" re-
piled Lane, whose constituents had
probably never heard of a prohibition
law, "we spoil little of it for bread
and put the rest into whisky" Elan
agan of Flanagan's Mills, Texas, is a
jolly old fellow, who says "whar''
and "thar," and rouses the echoes
generally when he speaks. Robert
son wears jewelry of fabulous value
emerald sleeve buttons worth a for
tune, and diamond studs that would
make the idols of India jealous.
1t must not he inferred from Ham
lin and Robertson that full dress and
byouterie are common in the Senate.
Far from it. One distinguished gen.
tleman sticks to old clothes from pol
icy. He owes an election to them,
he says. One of his friends stumped
a district for him in which he was
unpopular because they said he was
an aristocrat. "Aristocrat" indeed,
said the speaker with great enthusi-
asm, 'you ought to see him. Why
every rag Of clothes he has in the
world isn't worth $10." Gordon, the
Confederate General, is fine-look-
ing, soldiery fellow. There are flags
captured from his men in the Ord
dance Museum here. Bayard, Of
Delaware, is the third generation OF
Senators in his family. Frelinghuy-
sen is something Of swell. Ed
munds, his neighbor, is the most
quarrelsome of Senators. Thurman
looks and moves like Beecher. Dor.
sey is only thirty-seven years DID,
the "baby'' of the Senate. Cameron
is the oldest Senator. Dorsey, Ali.
son and Oglesby have young and
pretty wives. Mrs. Senator Sprague
was a famous beauty, and is now
though her loneliness shine not on
us. Sprague came to the Senate with
great prestige, but never lived up to
his reputation. However much he
may have disappointed some expec.
tations, he has won universal respect
by the promptness with which he
faced his financial ruin. His luxuri.
GUS home here is dismantled, all ap.