The Portland daily press., 1880-05-01

The extra session of Congress has BIOS
tional poet has arisen-Hon. Stephen w.
Downey of Wyoming.
From day immemorable it has been the
custom of grave assemblages to tighten
counsel with song. The bard has ever had
his place at the side of heroes. When white
boards wagged in hall, and wise words
opened the mouths of mighty warriors and
''they sent round the joy of the shelF', as
Ossian sang, the harp of the minstrel and
the voice of him crowned the feast. And
for history repeats itself-in our day above
the debates and 'cold tea' of Congress rises
the song of Hon. Stephen W. Downey of
Wyoming. Why he chose to offer a metri-
cal argument instead of the plain prose of
the usual representative, must remain a
mystery unless Mr.. Downey rise to explain.
In his name, indeed an imaginative person
might hear faint prophecy of song. Down
ey-a callow nesting unfedged, in present
ing his little bill, naturally would ''chirp
and twitter twenty million loves" But
Hon. Stephen W. Downey Of Wyoming was
not so newly Matched as to act upon the idea
that the representatives Of free people
wol,ld listen without protest to the recital
of original poetry. Whether his course of
action was his own choice, or suggested to
him by outside influence-the result was the
same. The poem was left unspoken-to be
printed in the Congressional Record.
ha ovnpaoa TO mo hos
Gus ways more or less civil. of causing con-
yersation to be stopped. He advises that a
hall be rented, or that one cease to offer to
him, unpropitious, gifts of taffy. He ans
wers chHrlishly, he jerks his buttonhole, to
its destruction, from the OBTAINING finger.
Congress has invented the Bore Constfic-
tor. This machine is called the Congress
sional Record When time and patience of
hearers fail, the would-be orator is per-
mitted to print his speech.
1t is not likely that single cadence of
the argument of Hon. Stephen W. Downey
ever struck the air of the House of Repre-
sentatives. On Monday, II April, 1880, the
gentleman from Wyoming introduced bill
providing for certain paintings on the
walls of the National Capitol" These pic
lures were to represent scenes from the
New Testament. Whethera series of works
of religious art would or would not be desir-
able in the capitol is not needful here to dis
cuss; the means, not the end, of Mr.. Down
ey's project is the notable point.
The preamble of his bill consisted, except
for inf oil of tla
given in the Episcopalian prayer-book. The
bill itself was in the usual Congressional
form. Hon. Stephen w. Downey of Wyom-
ing had spoken. His constituents, straining
their ears eastward to catch his words.
would feel that he had done them credit, had
earned his pay and mileage, had asserted the
artistic and moral tendencies of his territory
He had not said anything particularly orig
| lnal-but to repeat the creed in Congress re-
| quires some pluck. 1t is as difficult as it is
rash and ill-adVeed in this world of mixed
| motives, to search for the reason of mems
| actions. tits hard to.say which was first
| the egg or the chicken. So it need not here
| be debated whether Hon. Stephen w. Down
| ey's poem sprang full-armed from the head
| of his bill; or whether the bill was new
| Wooden Horse of Troy, dragged into the
| camp for the purpose of letting loose upon
an unsuspecting crowd the numbers of Mr..
| Downey's verse.
The poem is entitled the Immortals; and
| without any direct reference.to the bill OF
| which it is in support-tends to prove
| that the nations from earliest antiquity
! have concurred with the gentleman from
| Wyoming concerning the immortality of the
| soul.
| The first knowledge of the existence OF
| this poem dawned upon the House on Mon
day y Aprila-when members, on taking
their seats, observed it conspicuously
printed on the first Is pages OF the Congress
sional Record. Il is safe to say that the
House thrilled, at first with surprise then
| with gratitude. This argument, ordered to be
| printed, had not been delivered.
Hon. Stephen w. Downey Of Wyoming,
opens his poem sonorousy. He gives his
constituents to understand that
wearied with the toll
| And csaseless combat of the rolling years
|
toconfess what was he indiges tible menu Of
his supper-he proceeds to tell what a Phan-
tasmagoria looks like:
| Her brow like fair Columbia's broad and full
| Meath which her brown eyes looked in wistfui and
| Intensely earnest tenderness, was bound
| With fadeless wreaths of shining immorteltes.
and to the slumberous ear of Hon. Stephen
W. Downing of Wyoming she
With what soul-ingulfing ecstasy
Rolled forth the story of her pilgrimage.
She had been to Olympus, where the usual
stock company was performing; and the
constituents of Hon. Stephen W. Downey
must perforce hunt up their classical die
tionaries and smooth out their dog-eared
Virgils, if they wish to keep up with the
procession. Jupiter makes good speech,
but the chorus of immortals do themselves
little credit, They profess to
Draw closer in the Olympian ring,
Swear by the dark internal river
andlgenerally compare unfavorably with oul