Carson daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1873-1877, 1877-01-26
NEVADA LEGISI.ATURE.
Thursday. January 25. 1877.

Iedu buu uppIOVCus
PRESENTATION OF PETITIONS.
The following Memorial to Speaker
Mig was read by the Clerk:
MIR. Speaker Mighels: Your friends,
who have. with anxiety. watched your
downward career, aud still remember
you IN the days when you were an honest
man-iti is not necessary to state how
many Gears ago that was-an honest
man aud miner on the middle fork of
Feather river; when the roses of youth
we're upon your cheeks and flour sack
patches were on your pants. when your
euileless feet. not yet having been led
into the paths of temptation or evil.
we're hid in stogies which were the envy
and admiration Of every Chinaman on
Bidwell's Bar; remembering those
halcyon days. before your lips had learn
ed profanity. and before you forgot to
blush at the rehearsal of a smutty story.
these friends OF that far off time. when
men called your life exemplary and
sometimes expressed the rash belief that
YOU might eventually become useful
and respected member of society; these
friends, still keeping in mind the hopes
which at that early period in your life
awakened, would extend token OF the
appreciation which they at that time en-
tertained for you. 1t would be sorro
full task to recall your career since then.
How you first gave up the ways OF An
honest man and became an editor of
newspaper: how, later, you joined the
army, and on doubtful battle fields stud
led the rascality Of camp life; how. since
the war closed. you have with beligerent
sririt kept ur a war of words and ruined
the dispositions of innumerable cOmpos-
itors by your execrable manuscript, how
at last You fell down, so lost to shame rs
to become a candidate for the Nevada
Legislature, and how as special certifi.
cate YOU were by reclamation elected
Speaker of this House, would be too
painful to ever mention. They might
remind one of the old couplet
when maidens stand in dancing row.
The fsi est leads the floor
When goslings to the mill-pond go,
The biggest goes before.
We. your friends, the self sacrificing,
the disinterested few, who, having no
personal ambition to serve, no fortunes
to make, no characters to guard, and
who, by the irreverent and ungodly, are
called :.the Third House." wish to pre-
sent you this gsvel, that whatever you
lack in personal dignity may be supplied
you by this instrument. If you can beat
order and q respect for authority into
this assemblage with this weapon it will
in a great measure redeem you and will
speak wonders for the gavel. We want
further to impress upon you the fact that
this is your own private property, and
commend you to take it to your home
nightly to use upon your children with
out stint in case their heads show any
disposition to grow like yours instead OF
their mothers. But dropping this ban
ter. Mr.. Speaker, and speaking in all
seriousness, as tribute to your ability
as q man, your worth as citizen and q
patriot, your character as Q companion
and friend, and your fairness and cor.
rectness as presiding officer, we tender
YOU this gavel as souvenir, given IN
spirit which We are sure you will prize
beyond the value of ingots or of pearls.
In reply to the above Mr.. Mighels de-
livered the following speech
Mr.. Clerk and Gentlemen /: The Chair
ia presumed, by q harmless fiction OF
Parliamentary Law, to be ignorant of the
manner by which this Memorial has
found its way to the Clerks desk; for 1t
is provided in our Rules that Petitions,
Memorials and other papers. addressed
to the House, shall be presented BY the
Speaker, or by member in his place.
Also, that "They shall not be debated
on the day Of their being presented, but
shall lie on the table, or be referred. as
the House shall determine" But l find
that this Memorial, like the unfortunate
victim of distorted law, who found him
self in Jail in spite of briefs, demurrers
and writs Of hdbeas corpus, has avoided
the channels whose course and depth
are marked and sounded by fathom
line of red tape, that it is actually. if not
technically, ''before the House,, and
that it has been quite audibly read, and
it being fact that we have not yet en-.
tered into any agreement with our con-
siderate and generous brethren of tho
Third House with regard to system OF
Joint Rules governing alike. themselves
and us; and inasmuch as the defendant
(who happens in this instance to be the
Chair, is by custom and law entitled to
the benefit Of the doubt. shall decide
this Memorial to be in order, to have
been already referred to an appropriate
committee, and to have been reported
upon favorably. and with q recommen-
dation that it be granted; and, that being
exempt from the operation of the ''Pre-
yious," and all other "Questions," save
the Question of Personal Acceptability,
it is q legitimate subject for short dis
cussion by the Chair at this time:
With regard to the "brief and abstract
chronicle" of some Of the by-gone per-
formances Of the present incumbent of
the Speakers desk, forming q pleasant
and instructive part of this Memorial, the
Chair protests that the "reminiscences so
wildly presented and SO cheerfully res
directed from the graveyard of the Past.
are outlawed by the Statute of limitations
concerning the motley and grotesque e1-
periences of the Pioneers who partici-
pated in the work and play of the far
vanished dreamland of early California.
Possibly, also, l might claim whatever
privileges are bestowed by that clause of
the Fifteenth Amendment which has q
kindly and charitable reference to per-
sons Of "previous condition"
1 accept this emblem and scepter of
my Office with feelings of pride and
qualification not unlike those which