The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1880-04-30
DELEGATE DOWNEY.
He Creates a Breeze by COpyrighting
n Poem and Printing It I'm the Com
gressiOnal Record.


Mr.. Stephen w. Downey, Delegate
from Wyoming, retired last night, in his
humble boarding place, perhaps the
least known and humblest member of
the House of Representatives. He
awoke this morning to find himself the
subject of conversation by everybody,
and, for the time being at least, the
most notorious member in Congress.
The occasion for this extraordinary
change il his condition is a poem Of
1900 lines, which Mr.. Downey has had
surreptitiously printed in the Congress
siOnai Record. The other day Mr..
Downey introduced the following bill :
bill providing for certain paintings on the
walls of the National Capitol.
WHEREAS, The people of the United States
are Christian people and firmly believe in God
the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and
earth, and IN Jesus Christ, His only Son, our
Lord, who conceived by the Holy Ghost
born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius
Plate, was crucified, dead and buried: He des-
cended into hell; the third day He rose from the
dead He assembled into heaven, and stitch on
the right hand Of God, the Father Almighty:
from thence He shall come to Judge the quick
and the dead; and believe in the Holy Ghost
! the holy Catholic church, the communion of
saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection
| Therefore,
! BE IL enacted by the Senate and House of Rep
resentdtiUes of the United States of america an
| Congress assembled: That the sum Of $780,
600, or as much thereof AZ may be necessary
/ be and the same is hereby appropriated out of
any funds in the treasury not otherwise APP
propriated, to be expended under the direction
of the architect OF the Capitol, to commemorate
in suitable paintings by the great living artists
of this century, the birth, life, death, and
resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ, az told
III the first four gospels of Matthew Mark
Luke, and John.
! Nobody paid any special attention to
that bill at the time, regarding it the off
spring of some fanatic of Wyoming Ter
ritory, and that Mr.. Downey had merely
introduced it by request; but to-day this
bill occupied a display-head position
upon the first page of the Record, fol-
lowed by 1900 lines of poetry, which are
introduced as follows:
The mmortals; dedicated to the Congress Of
! the United States.
1t is prefaced by the following:
For go back to the beginning of ages, exam
inc all nations. read the history Of kingdoms
and empires, listen TO those who return from
the distant isles. The immortality of the soul
has always been and still H. the belief of every
people on the face OF the earth. The knowledge
of one God may have been Obliterated. His
glory, power and immensely may have been eff
faced AZ / may say, from the hearts and
minds of men. Obstinate and savage ma
tons may still live without worship, religion or
God in this world, but they all look forward to
| future state. Nothing has ever been able to
eradicate the opinion of the immortality of the
| soul. They all figure to themselves region
which our souls shall inhabit after death. and,
in forgetting God, they have never discarded
the idea of that provision for themselves.
JOHN BAPTIST MAssILLoN.
Mr.. Downey is native of the State
of Maryland. He is a tall, medium
figured man, and very modest and un-
assuming in appearance. His flowing
red beard and mustache and curling
hair suggest, perhaps, poet, if he were
to be met in any other place than the
halls of Congress. The other day he
asked permission to print an argument
in support of his bill. and, in obtaining
that permission, he has had his poem in.
serted. At the head of this poem stands
Copyright, 1880, by Stephen w. Downey AL
rights reserved.
This extraordinary contribution to the
periodical known as the Congressional
Record would, perhaps, put an end to
the custom of the House of giving mem.
bers permission to print matter not de.
livered in open session. 1t may also
lead to an editor being placed in charge
of the Record. At present it is mere
tumble of proceedings, edited and hacked
over by members themselves, until each
mornings issue no more represents the
actual proceedings than if each member
had furnished his own account of what
had taken place. Mr.. Downey is very
much astonished mt the sensation he has
created. He said that he had an idea
that he might get a good advertisement
for his poem by putting it in the Rec
ord and that he could sell enough after
ward to help him pay for new building
in Wyoming, to be used as a public Ii
brary. The poem is considered by some
of the members and Senators to be
very classical and scholarly thing, bu
no one pretends to defend this attemp
to publish a copyrighted poem in tn,
public records. In the Senate step.
were taken this morning to have it ex
plunged. Mr. Morrill,, of Vermont, Offered
resolution to have it struck out of the
record, but, hearing that the House hat
already taken action upon the subject
the resolution was temporarily with
drawn. Mr.. Downey's poetical narrative
which he dignifes by the name of al
argument, is combination of Dant,
and John Milton. Mr.. Downey has il
this poem q remarkable vision, wherein
he sees many wonderful faces of thu
other world all of which he relates t,
his fellow Congressman, for the purpos'
of persuading them to pass his bill. HI,
closes with the following valedictory:
Phantasmagoria, daughter of the West,
Thou virgin child of fair Columbia,
Lured by holy passion for the spirit of good
That wooed thee, willing, on the dusky plains,
Thou didst conceive In spite of lowering clouds,
The grand design Of making straight the paths
Leading from darkness of delusions wiles
To the immortal light of faith and truth,
BY mercy guided toward thy destiny
Thy feet have trod upon the shining way,
And, with the princes and immortal gods of ancien
ages,
Thou hast walked beyond the confines of mortality
, Amid the streets and temples of eternity.
True TO thy birthright, mid the dazzling giean O
more than royal spendor,
, Thou hast ne er forgot thy mission
To illume the paths by which may and con
quer.
The terminating rays Of wondrous light
In which thy pilgrimage has been baptized,
Have given 10 thy divine conception birth.
, And through the lifted veil giimmers the light G
, truth.
From high Olympus to the COLE star