News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-12-25
THE STUBBORN LIBRARIAN
HE GETS SENATE PAGE INTO A
HEAP OF TROUBLE.
And Leaves Him TO Work His Way Out the
Best Way He Cana Lesson In Life.

In the ssRecollections of Page" in
the United States Senate, in 81. NichO-
las for January, we find the following
interesting chapter:
One useful rule of conduct, however,
l learned at the very beginning OF my
experience-I never betrayed my ignor-
ance to a senator. Had 1 done SO, he
might not have had a sufficient conf
dence in my ability to entrust me with
an important message, and might have
called another page. Il, therefore, a
senator asked me to carry dispatch to
the House of Representatives and hand
it to a certain member, / would under
take the charge with perfect self-posses-
sion, and if did not know the member,
I would manage to lind him by inquiry
after 1 got to the House. Sometimes |
would be sent for certain book, and
would hardly know where to go for it
whether to the Senate Library, where
are kept books only of particular class,
or to the Law Library, which contains
works on purely legal subjects, or to the
immense Congressional Library, includ-
ing hundreds of thousands of volumes;
and sometimes l would have to try each
of these libraries before could get the
book. But always succeeded in doing
it, and without waste of time on my
part. Only once, during the whole
term of four years that was in the Sen
ate, did senator ever feel provoked at
the manner in which I executed any or
der given to me. 1t was memorable
day. He was making very important
argument, the galleries were packed,
and every one was listening intently to
what he was saying. In the course of
his speech he had occasion to refer to
certain book, and, searching through
the pile he had upon his table, found
that the. one he needed was not there. l
was standing at the end of the clerks
desk, and, looking straight at me, he
called out:
Bring me the third volume of the
Trial of Queen Caroline.
supposed that he would not be able
to proceed with his speech without
the book, and I felt very anxious to
bring it to him as quickly as possible. l
knew the book very well, having had
occasion to get it before, and that it was
in the Law Library on the floor below,
underneath the room occupied by the
Supreme Court. 1t was quite distance,
but I had my slippers on, and almost
flew through the marble corridors, going
down the winding stairway in manner
that must have astonished people who
saw me. Rushing into the room, gasp
ing for breath, said to the librarian:
Senator wants the third volume
of the Trial of Queen Caroline, please"
1t was book that he could have
found and given to me in very few mo-
ments, but for some reason or other he
did not seem inclined to rise out of the
chair in which he was sitting. After
waiting a short while and realizing
that every moments delay detracte1
from my glory, l again appealed to him:
"Wont you please get me the book ?
The senator is in the midst of speech,
and is waiting for it" But the libra
rian answered: "Well, he can wait.
And then he continued to sit there, per-
fectly unconcerned, for fully five min
utes. Soon, in came a page, who
shouted to me very excitedly: you'd
better hurry up with that book p And
the librarian merely smiled sardonically
-"but never a word spake he"
Two or three minutes later another
page entered, more excitedly than the
first, and 1 really believe that, before
the librarian condescende1 to get the
book, nearly every page in the Senate
was there to escort me back in disgrace
to the Senate Chamber. The errand
would ordinarily have taken perhaps
five minutes; if the librarian had acted
promptly, 1 believe l would have accom-
plished it within three minutes; as it
was, the delay was at least fifteen min
utes, and when / reached the Senate, |
hardly had the courage to give the book
to the senator, who was still speaking.
As 1 approached him with it, he gave a
majestic wave of his hand, saying very
sharply and in tone that was heard by
every one: "You may take it back. /
don't want it now" This made the tears
come to my eyes. I knew 1 had done
the best could; yet all my good inten-
tionSand earnest effort went for naught
1 suppose the spectators were unani-
meusly of the opinion that [ was a very
lazy and stupid boy. Since that occur
renee, in my battle with worldly affairs,
have frequently been uniustly sus-
pected and accused by people who knew
nothing of the facts, but based their
us
in this case. But people who do not
know the facts in any matter have hard
" the right to form, much less to ex
press, an unfavorable opinion of fell
bowman. That is the way have al
ways felt since l became old enough to
look at things philosophically.
And so, although felt stung, I gritted
my teeth and walked quietly to my
place. had made quite a reputation
for being prompt. polite, and intelligent,
and the senator possibly feared he had
hurt my feelings, when perhaps 1 had
not merited such treatment, for after the
Senate adjourned he asked me the cause
of the delay. [ stated that l had brought
the book to him as soon as l could get
IT, but said nothing further thinking
that explanation sufficient. Some of the
pages, however, who had clustered about
to hear the senator scold me, here inter
posed, and told how the librarian had
idly sat in his chair, apparently out of
sheer wickedness. What the senator
did, l do not know, but heard that he
gave the librarian a little discourse that
was chiefly remarkable on account of its
forcible adjectives. If so, I presume
the librarian regarded me as responsible
for it; but was not.