The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1885-09-04

viii try. Then he gets the stranyers's
full name aud address. and finally tells
him to go to the members entrance
opposite the rear Of Henry Wis
chapel in the abbey. show a card. and
keep on till he gets to the lobby of the
House. where he VIII come out and
give him the pass.
At the proper time he makes his APP
pearance at the door. A group of POI
licemen and two or three oveiwhelm-
ing doorkeepers in full dress defend it.
but armed with his credentials he
boldly makes known his errand and is
motioned in. The first barrier is
passed. He goes to the end of hall.
and second group of police ask him
his business. He shows his card and
passes on. through the great hall
where the dynamite explosion &C.
CURED. Police are as plentiful as hops.
and the Wis tor is made aware that h g
person is closely watched for protu-
berances. Now he is in the lobby,
with little assemblage of favored
people who have gotten as far as he
has, and he gives his card to mag
niticent doorkeeper and subsidies into
line with others. all under the
inspection of the police. Pretty
soon the member issues from
closely guarded portals and SIN. les
and says he will try. And he does
try. He walks rapidly of to some mys-
terious part of the building. where the
Speaker has an Office, and in fifteen or
twenty M nutes returns. bearing an or
der on the Speaker, on the member 5
recommendation and responsibility, for
the strangers admission. So. follow
ing in his wake, he passes the third
Gordon and is in an inner lobby, where.
if he tries to lo:ter or look about him,
he is instantly pounced upon by po-
liceman and told to move on. He is
shown a door. and. opening it, he be-
gins the ascent of a winding staircase
to find himself presently before turn
st;le. At this gate very grave man
sits with large open book. and be-
hind him two or three more policemen.
The very grave man hands the now
thorough'y-cowed visitor a pen, and
bids him write his full name, London
address and national ty. The pen is
bad and sputters, the visitor forgets
street aud number, and as he writes
United States he breaks out into cold
perspiration under the stony glare of
the policemen's eyes. But, rather to
his surprise. he isn't arrested; and now
the last barrier. is passed. and another
gorgeous doorKeeper motions him TO a
seat in gallery about as big as =
horse car, and less comfortable.
Nothing surprises an American visit
or in the House of Commons more than
the small size of the chamber and its
limited accommodations for both men,
bers and the public. Alphabetically
it is a superb hall, and its acoustic ef-
fects are fine, but to American notions
it is entirely inadequate in dimen-
sions. 1t is smaller. more
over than analogous chambers.
not only in our own, but in most other
countries. 1t is too small to seat the
members on the floor, though packed
closely together without desks or elbow
room. And the gallery space is con-
tracted in the extreme. There are in
all five galleries to which visitors have
access under more or less severe re-
strictions, and the five accommodate
altogether perhaps $50 persons. Of
this. the three galleries for miscel-
laneous visitors hold sixty spectators.
Then there is a reporters gallery &C
commodating forty, and a latticed gal
lery for ladies holding perhaps forty or
fifty more.
In these galleries the most abject
order prevails. One must not talk or
hang his overcoat over the bench in
front of him or read or sleep or take
notes. And if he gets tired or hungry
and goes out, he can not return.
Imagine the visitor satisfied with his
experience and once more at the turn
stile on his way out. Again he passes
under the sharp eyes of the very grave
man and the police, and now begins a
series Of supervisors more extraor-
binary than those he endured when APP
preaching the hall. for while the visitor
passed four sets of guards when going
in he ,>asses no less than seven before
he reaches the liberty of the street.
And even then he knows he is under
the surveillance of the police, and that
detectives may be shsdowing h'ssteps.
and will Wis t his lodgings on the NOR
row to see if his account of himself is
truthful. London Cor. NJ 4. Sun
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