St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-12-06

pianos are shipped. and lay it down and
you will have pretty good idea of the
shape of these wings" in which are 10
Gated the house and senate chambers.
Then if you run a row of elegant COrinth-
ian pillars around this on three sides you
will get better idea of the exterior an
pearance. Cut low doors at either end and
at the side for the basement entrance, then
build flight of grand stairs running up
half the height of your box at the end. and
you will have good model of these wings.
Inside you want to put smaller box, about
one-fourth the size of the large one, locat-
ing it in the center. Just outside of this
you must place corridor running all
around the smaller box, and between the
corridor and walls of the large box you may
locate lot of small apartments. and over
them row of galleries. There you have
A MODEL OF THE HOUSE AND SENATE
chambers. The big piano box represents
the whole of the new wings at the north or
south ends of the capitol, as you like to
imagine it, for they are practically alike.
The small box you have placed in the CELL
ter of the large one represents the hall of
the house or senate as the case may be.
The corridors running around outside this
are the corridors surrounding the house and
senate, better known as the Hobbies"
The small apartments outside of these are
the committee rooms; the galleries above
are for the benefit of the people who desire
to see congress at work. Then imagine
your piano box to be 23S feet long, 142 feet
wide and so feet high, and the small bit in
the center, which represents the hall of the
house and senate, to be $50 feet long, 90
feet wide, and 80 feet high and you will
have pretty correct idea of the appearance
of the two wings of the capitol in which the
house and senate meet.
Now for the interior of these halls. Space
is too valuable and time too short to attempt
to describe long corridors and numerous
committee rooms, with their frescoed walls
and ceilings, tiled floors and costly furnish
ings. Let US look inside of the house and
senate chambers. The floors of these are
like those of theater descending toward a
common point in the center of the line
marking one side of the hall. In the senate
chamber this objective point is on the north
side of the hall. in the house it is on the
south side. At this lowest point, CORE
spending to the stage Of the theater, is To-
Gated an elevated platform, on which the
presiding officer sits. In front of him is a
long desk for the accommodation of the
reading clerks" and other officials. In
front of this is lower desk or table for the
official reporters who sit here to take the
shorthand reports of the proceedings. In
the house this center piece, where sits the
speaker and three subordinates, is of mar
ble sort of
GREAT WHITE THRONE"
while in the senate it is of some dark wood,
probably mahogany. These desks stand
in little open space in the lowest point of
the floor of house and senate chambers,
Around them at a distance of perhaps ff-
teen feet, stand. in semi-circle, row of
desks behind which are arm-chairs. Behind
this is another row of desks and chairs
then anothe. and another, and so on. These
are for the members. There are half a
dozen aisles passing up among these divid-
ing them up into sections. One of these
asles runs directly up in front of the pre-
siding officer, cutting the chamber and its
desks into two sections. In one of these
sections the Republicans sit, in the other
the Democrats. If the two parties are not
pretty evenly divided some of one pa rty
have to sit on the side occupied by the 9th