Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1884-06-18
STATESMEN'S SIGNATURES.
How the Thrifty House Pages at wash
mgton Turn an Honest Penny.

"a procuring "''eoBiolio' CiHdpo ~
might better be said, however, that it
Is favorlte business, for these little
fellows make q business of it. You
can see them any hour before the open
ing of the session, or Immediately
after its close, When members are still
in their seats, rushing about, autograph
album in hands, asking members for
thelr signatures.
"You see,' explained one of them,as
he stopped to catch his breath after
dashing here and there among tho
assembled solons just before the fall OF
the Speakers gavel-"you see, we get
from IS $40 for getting these albums
filled, and it is worth while making the
effort"
"Whose are the albums?' he was
asked.
"Those of people in and out OF Wash
ington. A good many of them belong
to families of members, especially
from the rural districts. Nearly every
fellow among us pages has an album
or two, and sometimes three and four
during the session to get filled. There
are hundred or two filled u session"
"Do you have much trouble in get.
ting these autographs from members?
Not very often. There are few
cranks who won't give them to us
They are a curious study, these
albums, filled with the autographs of
the lawmakers of the country,runnlnS
from the President down; for your
autograph collector usually begins at
the White House, goes down through
Cabinet officers, justices Of the Supreme
Court, Senators and Representatives.
OF course the Presidents autograph,
where one album is to contain the en-
tire lot mentioned, is the first, and II
queer one it is. "Chester A. Arthur"
it says, all written with scarcely rails
ing the pen from the paper. The
letters lean way over towards the right,
chasing each other in hen track over
the paper, sometimes up hill, some
times down. There is character anu
vigor in the signature, but it is neither
graceful nor busineSs-liie. 1t is Il
great hurried scrawl. Mr. Waite, the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
signs himself an. r.. Waite, Chief JUS
tice, United States the letters chas-
ing each other up hill in somewhat
dignified, ambitious sort of way. Mr.,
Justice Miller signs himself sam +.
Miller, Justice Of the Supreme Court,
U. S." but the signature might rs we'll
be "Sal and Julia" so far as its legibil-
ity is concerned, for it looks more like
those two feminine applications than
that of a Justice Of the Supreme Court.
Judge Reagan, of Texas, signs with a
very unsteady, scrambly sort of hand.
Congressman Singleton, of Mississippi,
who was member of the Confederate
Congress, writes a very pretty, neat
hand, straight as though written upon
lines characteristic of this tall, slender,
neatly-attired oil man of seventy.
Barksdale, of Mississippi, who was also
a member of the Congress, writes as
though he was writing for deaf man,
with characters very large and high
and broad. His name stretches clear
across the page Of the album and, with
his post office address, reaches down
and covers one-third of its length. Car
Isle, the Speaker, signs in a schoolboy
hand, 81. G. Carlisle, KY The j is
more like an o than a j, and the aver
age reader would probably make Gar
Oline" out of the Carlisle. IIilt,of Hi.
nois, whoi is a college graduate and {
gentleman of large experience, makes
signature as large as his experience
stretching it across the full sheet, an(
occupying nearly half page with thu
signature and address. Murray, o
Ohio, writes "Respectfu!ly," and thel
follow lot of marks which Took a
though he had been testing very bat
pen. 1t may spell out ar. M. Murray,
but no living man would ever suspec
it of being that. There are some curl
Gus contradictions among these sigma
lures. For the man in the Who'll
House from whom you would have eX
pected the worst signature writes tn
best. This is Kleiner, Of Indiana. Iii
signature is, as the boys put it, Xix
copy-book writing, and yet he write
it with lightning.like rapidity, as
the case in all of his writing. Before
of Colorado, who would not be eXpec
ed to write a decipherable signatur
Signs with a good, clear, round hant
A name quite indecipherable turns OIL
on consultation of the COMPRESSION
directory to be "Frank III. Hurd,' f,
Hurd is the only man from Toled
Ohio. Beach, of New York, wi
CHANGED to sign on April |, precedt
his signature with the quotatic
"What fools we mortals be- and the
after his signature he writes, "a
Fools Day." Ochltree signs "To
Ochiltree, Galveston, Texas in We
bad hand. Phelps, w, W., signs "Wl
Walter Phelps" in a very esthet
hand, the "Wm." swelling out at Il
bottom like double Jersey onions.
A Test for Butter.
every housekeeper should knc
how to tell oleomargarine from BIT