The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-10-09
PROCTOR KNOTT.
Ono Of His Characteristic Speeches whe,
in Congress.

| Ono Of His Characteristic Speeches When
in Congress.
Proctor Knott of Kentucky made o
very humorous speech in May, 1870, on
proposition to pave Pennsylvania
avenue at the public's expense. He
gave as one reason why this should be
done that the avenue is so much used by
the horde of office e-bolders that throng
the thoroughfares of Washington "For,
Sir" said Mr.. Knott, ''if thereis being
! on earth for whose comfort and conven-
ienco entertain the profoundest sci
lcitude. if there is one whose smallest
want stlrs my sympathetic soul to its
serenest depths, it is your Office holder,
| your otfice-holder, your public function
ary. When 1 see one of that noble army
of martyrs bidding .adieu to his
| home and all the sweets of private life,
/! for which he is so eminently fitted by
nature, to immediate himself upon the
altar of his country's service for four
long years, Homer's touching pictures
of the last sad scene between the noble
Hector and his weeping family rises be-
fore my sympathetic imagination.
When I see him plunging recklessly in
to an Office of the duties of which he is
profoundly and defantly ignorant, I am
reminded of the self-sacrificing heroism
of Curtius when he leaped in the yawn-
ing gulf which opened in the Roman
forum. When I behold him sadly con-
templating his majestic features in one
of those gorgeous and costly mirrors
which is furnished him at the public ex-
pense, my heart goes out to him in the
sorrowfully at q miserable repast
of sea terrapin and cham
payne, my very bowels yearn for
him. And when saw him performing,
perhaps, the only duty for which he is
fully competent, signing the receipt for
his monthly pay, I am SO overwhelmed
with pity for his miserable condition
that wish 1 were in his place. When
such considerations as these, sir, have
come crowding upon my mind, appeal
ing to every generous sentiment of my
better nature; when have thought how
the official nerves or our poor neglected
public servants are racked by the car
rattling over the stony street. I have
felt under the sudden impulse of the
moment, that we ought to tear UP the
old cobble-stone pavement on the ave-
nue. and supply Its place with one of the
new fashioned patent wooden ones over
which the splendid carriages of our gov
ernment officials, with their coats bf
arms and liveried out-riders
might glide as smoothly and
noiselessly as the aerial car of the
fairy queen through the rose tinted
clouds of the upper ether" Mr.. Knott
disclaimed anything but the kindest
feelings towards the people of Wash
ington. I rejoice" said he, "to know
that they are so fortunate MS to have
the privilege of enjoying the fruits of
the governments munifcience in i'm
proving the nations capital. But l do
hope that after we shall have paved and
lighted all their streets for them, after
we shall have supplied all their houses
with water, after we shall have contri-
bnted in every possible way to their
comfort, convenience and tastes, they
will not insist ON our making an appro-
priation to pay salaries to the little
cast iron niggers which / see some gem
tlemen have put up in front of their
houses to hitch their horses o."-Ben
Perley Poore.