The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1882-09-15
HISTORIC FURNITURE.
Ihe Desks Occupied by Great States.
men in the Senate.
from fbe yVasbSnr-to, (,rst;a,
lon;ol yUo1,,4o

-
Daniel Webster resigned his seat in
the United States Senate on July 20.
1850. His desk is still in the Senats
Chamber; but which one, where II sits
and who is the lucky Senator who has #
are secrets to all the world except Cant
Bassett, whom Mr.. Webster brought
mere when mere boy, and put him in
position as q page eighteen years. before
he resigned. Capt. Bassett has. held =
place III the Senate from that day mill
the present, being Acting. Sergeant.at-
arms now. But to the story OF the desk.
As above stated, the possessor of it or its
number is as profound q secret to the
Senator who sits at it as it is to an Egynt-
ian mummy. Capt. Bassett's reason for
Seeming all knowledge of the Numbers
Calhoun's seats a secret is that, knowing
and understanding the desire of the aver
age American citizen, both male and fe-
male, for relics, he fears to give the
secret away lest the desk would be
Clipped away by piecemeal By the curious
who throng the Capitol every day.
There has been no change in these desks
from the day they were brought into the
Capitol until now, other than the annual
coat of varnish. Capt. Bassett has a
memorandum record of their numbers
and places, which he keeps carefully IN
der lock and key, and will, when he
comes to shuttle off this mortal coil, fur
nish to the proper person! all the inform
alton relative to these desks, in order that
their history may be carefully preserved
and handed down to future generations
as mementoes of Webster and his associ-
ates in the Senate.
There are three other desks in the
Senate Chamber which curiosity hunt
ers would like to be able to see and
know that they are the right ones.
Those are the desks Of Jefferson Davis,
of Mississippi; Stephen A. Douglas, of
Illinois, and Charles Sumner, of Massa-
chusetts. Mr.. DAVIS desk occupied the
same position in the Chamber that
Beck's does now, but it is not known
to any one except Capt. Bassett
whether or not it is the same one. MIR.
Douglas was in the same place as that
occupied by Mr.. PendIeton, and Mr..
Summers was in the place now occupied
by Mr.. Dawes. L.. .., Fl. !.
In 1862, when the New York Zouaves
were in the city, about tweAty. of them
went into the Senate Chamber early one
morning to destroy the chair and desk
that had been occupied by Mr.. Jefferson
Davis. just as they were in the act,
Capt. Bassett put in his appearance,
and asked them what they~were about.
They quickly told him that they were
going to destroy " that seat and desk
because they were the ones used by
Jeff Davis. Capt Bassett suggested
to them that their mission to Washing
ton was to protect public property and
not to destroy it. They saw the point,
and Capt. Bassett at once proceeded
to so change the numbers on the desks
as to be able to say to all who might
inquire about the several desks referred
/ to that the desks that were, used by the
Senators alluded to were not now. in the
same places that they had been changed
around for the purpose of preventing
themfrom being mutilated by relic and
curiosity hunters. Capt. aBassettl is
annoyed very much nowadays by
strangers who visit the Capitol to know
which was Mr.. Conkling's desk. As
yet he has not seen proper to change it
from it's former position, but anticipates
doing so at an early day. All knowl-
edge Of who has the honor of using the
three desks above referred to, to-wit I:
Davis, Douglas, Summers, is as pro-
found secret to all the world, save and
alone to Capt. Bassett, as any knowl-
edge of Webster's. Calhoun's or Clay's.
aaaae Well Described.
Mr. Labouchere, himself a member of
Parliament, has paraphrased some we'll
known lines in modern opera to pre-
sent pictures of typical NJ. P.'s. The
rhyme would not be lost if G were sub
stituted for P, and the application to
/ members of Congress would be pat.
The most prominent type in Congress
would be the member who is not spe-
cially distinguished in Parliament i,
i Here's matter-of-fact NJ. P -
A thoroughly-safe NJ. p
| A stolidly- hearty, vote-with- his-party,
4 Do-as- he's-toId NJ p! ~ 19
Party fidelity is SO thoroughly the
rule in both legislatures that an uncom-
mon exception Isl.
! A talSe-pretenSe III. r,
A turn on his-side NJ. P,
A faclDg-both- wayslcal, poor lackadaisical,
Vicar-of-Bray NJ. P.
The callow men in Congress are. few,
and, as Congressman go, by no means
insignificant. Perry Belmont is, per-
haps, the youngest, but he is. very much
more of man than he was credited with
being. Chicago was once. thinking o.
sending to Washington Substitute c
for P)- eeeea 81. va.la s9Eg-
! A juvenile M. P, ssir4 @
A fluff on he-lip NJ. p, ~, ,ss I.
A collar-and-cuffYish, terrbly-muffyish,
T saw, don't-you knowY NJ. P.
AS most of the Washington as well az
the Westminster statesmen are lawyers,
the following type is common enough
A nisi-pri,ts NJ. P,
- "A legal, sred-tape NJ. p,
A specious, sophistical, dryly-sta tistical,
Speak to-a-brief III. p!
I The potent, grave and reverend duffe1
in legislation is well enough described
as follows: 6i5
A ponderous, loud NJ p,
An ore rota7ldO NJ. P,
H A know-all, historical, quite the Sir-Oracle,
# Crichton- the-Second NJ. P.
But the active, urbane, pass-a -jobbing
bill over the Presidents veto every
time, the statesman who hourishes on
the Thames as on the Potomac, is
feather his-Dest NJ. P, 10
ok-to-himself M. P,
Whose GROWING ambition is social position
A modern, not model n. Pa ~ II
Labouchere presents many additional
types, but their counterpart is not con
spicuous on. this side Of the.Atlantic.-
Chicago Times. ti.i];ai E7isi ~
Kerosene. rssa -.
The Boston journal of Cbemistri
corrects the impression, which may b
generally extant, that that ,@Yaluabl
contrivance, the kerosene lamp, has II,
time to attend to anything else than Il
7 bursting and blowing human beings in
to hospitals and eternity. It says: q
convincing proof Of its abilities in an
other direction is found in the an
announcement of the death byi suffocatiol