The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1879-08-27

I'SE>'S ssOS ~"O
ed, he asked particularly If she Was
there. Being answered In the mega
tive, Conkling withdrew. Guests
who arrived subsequently were some
what astonished to find the Senator
from New York and d servant bear
ing an 'immense boquet Of the ratest
and costliest. flowers standing in the
vesttbule. a ta4sslas5s,a.,. ;.a5at: .af
The night vas Indictment and Mrs.
Sprague was the last to arrive, but
here Conkling remained till she made
her appearance, and then as the doors
were flung open by the servant the
assembled guests In the par!or saw
the Senator in his courtly manner,
with whispered words, present the,
token of his admiration. From this
time on Senators slyly talked with
each other of this and other occur
rcnces, and the tongues of the female
gossips in that circle wagged I'M
ceasingly. BY and by Mrs. sprague
began to be constant attendant up
on the debates in the Senate. After
a time her steady appearance in the
gallery set apart for Senators fami
lies began to be noted by the outside
world. It fnattered not how dull and
embarrassing the proceedings might
he, the voluptuous form and bright,
.bewitching face of Mrs. sprague were
rarely missed. Comment followed,
as q matter Of course, and wicked
paragraph appeared in a New York
paper and went the rounds of the
press. E.
There was a short lived sensation,
but the public mind was engrossed
by the. all-absorbing theme of the
electoral fraud conspiracy, and this
incident of the winter of 1867 was
soon dropped. a2'5 'SS 6
When Mr.. Conkling made his first
long speech in debate his private
secretary retained a seat in. the spe-
cial gallery for Mrs. 'Sprague, and
sat by her side to protect her from
the enormous crowd that packed the
galleries on that OCCASION. When he
had concluded, and was surrounded
by crowd of eager assoc ates warm
in their congratulations, it was no.
ted that Mrs. Sprague seized a card
from the secretary and scratched {
line thereon in all the hot haste o.
eager enthusiasm. The secretary
caught the note and disappeared. A
moment later he was seen approach
ing Senator Conkling, who turned
away from half dozen Senators wht
stood with outstretched hands, ant
eagerly read this little note. As h'
glanced over it a deep blush Of pleas
ure passed over his face, while h'
put the note in his pocket and look
ed a warm glance of thanks to Mrs
Sprague, who was eagerly watchin!
him from the gallery. THIS opel
acknowledgment Of union Of hearth
was one Of the sensations Of very
interesting afternoon. The favorit'
amusement Of spectators who wer'
fond Of wat,'hing the Sprague Conk
Hing comedy was to study the ostricl
like art ofconcealment employed B.
The two in writing each other notes
Ridiculous as it may seem, it is new
ertheless a fact that there was hard
~ ever time when Mrs. 'Spragu
visited the gallery that the two di,
not at once begin correspondence
as a means of emphasizing the opel
glances which they were CONSTANT,
exchanging. Mr.. Conkling woul,
write Mrs. Sprague a note, fold it u
deliberately, and place it with blanl
piece Of paper and small envelop
inside Of a large official envelope
when colored messenger would ap
pear without even being summoned
and the package would be handle
him. Then he would disappear
After a while he would be seen t
enter the gallery and to hand til
large envelope to Mrs. Sprague. In
stantly all the ladies about her woul
be on the qui vive. Mrs. Spragu
was never in hurry. It was he
custom to place the envelope upo
her lisp and let it remain there fo
some moments, as if it were som
trivial matter. Then, after a prope
time, she would open the envelope
, read the Enclosure and then the blan
piece of paper would be used for wr
ting the answer. Then the colore
messenger would again appear an
receive the reply. As the messengt