Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-05-12
A LEGISLATIVE CIRCUS.
What the sunday-school Teachers Saw
and Heard at the Capitol.


ladies and gentlemen from various sections
Of the State in attendance upon the State
Sunday school Convention. Being here, a
large number OF them concluded yesterday
to embrace the opportunity now offered to
visit the Legislature and SEE how that grave
deliberative body conducts itself.
WHERE THEY WENT.
They went to the Assembly Chamber in the
nick of time. 1t was field day; day
when the House got on its ear literally, and
waltzed around as never had done a ward
caucus or crossroads convention. 1t was,
in short. circus day, and the Speaker was
forced TO be a ring master, while any
number OF members successfully aspired to
fill the roll of the clown. Probably the As
semblymen knew there were present score
of modest maiden Sunday school teachers !;
another score of gentlemen of the white
| choker fraternity; another score of middle
| aged ladies who give their lives to Christian
work ard the amelioration of mankind
what splendid new missionary field opaned
to their astonished gaze yesterday); another
| score of grave and good citizens who labor in
the Sunday school because they love the best
of Gods creatioa-the little children-and
believe the right way is rather to bend the
| twig than seek to bow the oak, and they saw
! gnarled, knotty, scared and iegislatively.cal
| loused old oaks yesterday waving their leaf
less boughs in parliamentary sirocco that
must have convinced them of the entire cor
RICHNESS of their theory and practice.
WHAT THEY DIDN'T KNOW
But whether the House knew it was under
| the critical eyes of so many representative
| citizens or not, it had its season of ground
and lofty tumbIipg all the same. At first
the Sunday. school devotees found the great
| oh nhpro lot q II 10,
bers like sucking doves. The Clerk called
| the roll monotonously; the Chaplain prayed as
| if he meant it, that the good Lord would
| guide the Assemblymen Alright, but there
was wavering tone in his voice that spoke
of his little faith that the Lord would under
| take any such contract on such q
day as yesterday. Then the journals
] youth murmured among themselves, "Be-
hold, this is goodly body of orderly men.
Alas! they had not counted on tha deep-dyed
strategy of Mcclure. the smiling subtilty OF
Whipple, the organic scarcasu of an Ed
wards, the profundity of Baker, whose Dem
ocfatic faith is ruffied by spirited Republi-
can help who is not slow to announce
her stalwartism nor did they dream of the
INDISPENSABLE grin with which g Howard
astonishes multitudes as he momentariy
moves to adjourn, or dazzles by the flash CT
his wit in that remarkable speech,
''MR. SPEAKER, CALL MY NAME"
Nor had they information regarding the
sprightly jackson, who loves lawyers and |
recesses, nor the naivete of aCamroD whose |
righteousness bursts party bounds and lets
Immune rable cats out of sewed up caucus
bsgs nor of the inpetuosity of Burns, the |
machiavelian watchdog over the rights Of
Burns on the floor, and who ranks as the !
mathematical Lightning calculator of poin's
of order. Nor had they been told of all the |
thunders that are bound up in the small |
person of the guileless Plat; nor OF the |
boundless drollery and the facetious waggery
of Lane-in his own estimation.
THE OPENING GUN.
But of all these they soon had ample OPP
portunity to judge, and the scales began to
tumble from their eyes as the legislative
placidity was first disturbed by the effort of
a number of sportive representatives to "get |
off under pay, to go home, or to. day g picnic |
They saw Platt shake the metaphorical "red |
rag" as Baker POLITICALLY expressed it, in the
face of the serious Reynolds, who charged at
it while Del Vale. the elegant but abridged |
picador, plunged parliamentary darts into the |
hide of the Republican bull. Il was lively, |
but it was only the opening-the prologue |
to the play on which the curtain was rung up
as the question of overriding the Gov
errors veto of the grub BILL" as the scholarly
Whipple gracefully and tersely put it, came
on the docket, and then, when the news came
of the Senate having ridden rough shod over
the meek and submissive executive whose back |
bone had so suddenly been made manifest, |
the band began to play and the representa-.
tive body Of the great State OF California
beat the floor with It's heels, and blistered its |
digni6ed hands with applause, and exhibited |
its sense of propriety by Kissing that caused |
the meek-eyed Sunday school folks to open |
their optics for once in their lives, and wonder |
il they hadn't made mistake after all, and |
got themselves into an ungodly playhouse. |
THE SECOND LESSON.
Thus the first lesson was read these unsoptis- |
ticat,d Christian workers But the second |
one threw it far into the shade, when .he I'M
tanned Modoc from the lava beds Of Siskiyou
gave TIE Democratic war whoop and let |
loose the dogs of prey by moving to recon-
slider the vote that laid out Repub- |
lican Apportionment Bill so cold |
that he has not hreathed since. Then |
sprang to his aid, his trusty ally from the |
sand dunes of San Francisco, the abbreviated !
Medallion whose sole motto is: Knuckle |
down, toe the tlw, and show your hands,
vent ebs vote, 60 On the record, and help to |
make history" He moved to lay the motion |
on the table, and then the storm broke loose,
and the Sunday. school folks realized what
legislative tactics are, and how it is possible
to sandwich four motions between the edges
of one, and prove the absurdity of the
philosophical truth that the smaller can
not contain the greater bulk. Mcclure
moved call of the House, and it icing or
dered half.dozea frightened teachers found
| the doors closed and escape from the gladia.
| tnrial arena impos sible, and that, too. when
the roaring lions had just been turned loose
to devour Christian martyrs, and such
| Daggett moved TO suspend the call IA dozen
men on their feet wildly gesticulating. The
| Nevada Patterson moved to table the mo-
ton the Chair cried out that it wouldn't
let the House thus be tied hand and foot
two dozen men now wildly gesticu|at-
iDg) The call was suspended. and
the stragetic Mcclure led on the dogs
of war with motion for a recess. Then
there was gathering In hot haste and rallying
and the believing of Burns and the bowling
of Howard as motion succeeded molten and
they were buried each within the womb of
the other, until the Chair was 50 pregnant
with forts of the House to resolve. that no
safe delivery seemed possible, and all the
lady teachers comu,iserated the Speaker, as
ne begged the House in that hour of his ex-
treme trial mot to tangle the Chair all up.
FINE SCENE.
Mcclure urged hls recess, time was wanted
to bring back laggsrds 10 resurEecs Bill Ar
portionment Whipple Clipped in point Of
order that belonged 10 JACKSON OF IOWafu VI
Barne, thus infringing their prescriptive
right, and Mcdonald moved the previous
question, and then there broke out clamor
as Mcclure tried to speak that put Bedlam TO
shame, and made theereat statue over the chair
drop tears on the nose of the typical grizzly
at her feet in pure sorrow Cries, cat-cail,
shouts, yells, droweei McClure's voice. and
wselmed in a iod of moderation, he sat
wn, while sad-smiling Speaker Parks
folded his arms, and by his manner said to
the House, 6 Gro it / give you up" Counts
were disputed, motions to adjourn tired on
the heels OF calls of the House. roll calls were
thicker than blackherries in June, and con-
fusion and disorder danced triumphant on
the fallen dignity of the Assembly of the
Commonwealth. Then the good teachers,
well over their fright. began to be amused
and laughed with all the rest at the effJrts of
the Clerk to read slowly, and the
cries, slower" "Go slow" .'Call |
the roll" "Call it over again"
Mr.. Speaker. / didn't understand, begin
again, etc, all to consume time, pending a
motion for call of the House. when sud
denly the gavel fell at 1890 P. NJ aud the
House, under rule. was in recess. Hall a
day gone, $3.50 gone with it, but brilliant
example OF legislative dignity had been given