Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-10-22
A Call of the House.

Lon >. ,. COX, IN Harpere Tor November
1t will be impossible for me to for
my first experience Oh 4 call of the
house. 1t was in the merry month
of May, 1858. 1t occurred Oh n pri-
vatc bill. | had not then learned the
seer cts of the prison-house. Being
caught by the sergeant's officer on
my way to duty, ] was graciously al
lowed the freedom of the mail wagon.
How | chafed under my first arrest!
What would lynx-eyed constituents
and especially my opponents, IN Ohio
think! | trcmble as | recall these
apprehensions. Twas brought before
the bar with Zollicotfer and James B.
Clay. The then leviathan of the
House, Humphrey Marshall, was in
the chair. How he glowered on me
with ponderous savagery. He made
me feel that had personally a1ront-
ed him. | told him that | was sorry
to eeaist his precious time, and would
lean on his mercy; but there was no
mercy in him. What Il company
there was that night Minister
Washburn, General Quitman, Jones
Of Tennessee, Governor Houston of
Alabama, General Sickles, Grow,
Stevenson, Colfax, Bishop of Connec-
ticut, Bingham, Lamar, Groesbeck,
Pendleton, Governor Smith of Nir-
ginia, GiddingS, Farnsworth, John
Cochrane, and many others since
then ministers, Governors and Sena-
tors. some of them are in the cold,
cold ground. "Where be their gibes
now?" Another "call'' has summon
ed them to more serious session.
But it happened on that night as fre-
quent]y since, that the vigilant and
leading men were absent, whilesthe
dilatory wags were on their guard.
How they delighted to catch Mr., J.
CLANCY Jones, chairman of the Ways
and Means, at President Buchanan
dinner-tablc. What RANT row was
made over his white tie and rubicund
face and the Pennsylvania delegation,
with the 81 b." brand on their brows,
fresh from festivity. Few excuses
were received, though many were
rendered. A member from Niagara
had "paired off, with his wife; an
other felt so bad because his wife had
gone home, he could not participate
in deliberation; a member from Mary
land was remarked as showing dis
position to be in the hall, by being
III the gallery; one member found
the sergeant before the sergeant
found him, and asked to have that
officer fined; Il Kentucky member
had attended all day, expecting to
die in his tracks, in n favorite meas
ure; but the measure did not come
up, he could not die, so he left for
home
When John Cochrane was called,
we all knew he had been to the Pres
ident's dinner; and his exculpation
was not onlya fine piece of oratorical
humor, but he turned the tables on
the House, as he did on the "fell SER
geant'' who had shocked him by the
arrest. The man physiological was
astounded, the man psychological
was appalled,, his federal constitution
trembled, and nature gave signs Of
woe that all was lost, for had he not
been ludely grasped by the hand of
authority? He had been called high,
but he felt low; and then some one
suggested that the sergeant alarms
held "Jack" and the game. Upon
these occasions the native style of
the member thus comes out. A doz-
en- members explain that they had
gone out for bite, ect.; but General
CocErane disdained the ordinary Sax
on tonge, and sailed into the cmpy-
rean Of Epicurus.
The stately Groesbeck is brought
in. He asks for counsel. Counsel is
freely rendered. He makes n solemn
plea in extenuation, whcreupon
Hughes of Indiana likens it to the
sermon the old lady heard, the best
Sllc GtCI Utdlu. pIIt toulu Hot lS-
member the text, or the points, or the
sermon, but it had such godly tone!
General Curtis, of Iowa, comes in
voluntarily; and he is fined for com
ing in without compulsion. Then
arises the member from the wildcat
district of Pennsylvania, Mr.. Gillis.
He makes his excuse. Is it to be ex-
pected that be should know til rules
of such a disorderly body? He con-
fessed that he had been to dine with
the President. All he knows of cti-
quette is to 90 and dine when asked,
and he is willing to pay for it like
man. He had heard that he was to
be arrested, and flew, not to the horns
of the altar, but to the horns Of "Old
Buck" Harry Phillips Of Philadel-
phia, who had himself moved the
call, had abandoned the House
for the diner. He was caught. He
claimed to he the author Of all their
and threw himself on
their gratitude.
And so on through the long night
the imprisoned members indulged in
what seems the very puerility of
frivolity.