Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1886-01-28
THE NATIONS PAGES.
characters ofthe Boys Who wait on
senators and congressman.

characters OF kno DYE O "~At on
Seuafors and congressman.
A. Indianapolis correspondent at
xraebincton writes: Some interest
character and peculiar bits of life
.ne found in the pages of the senate
al house Of representatives In the
al branch of congress there are
ZION. sbpt fifteen aud in the lower branch
a5ont thirty-ave pages. Their duties
az well known TO the average reader.
Tneir fields of labor are the hours
- the two branches of congress. A
=. for the senate, however, never
Us ANYTHING for member of the
So,,ee and vice versa, Sometimes
80 IS found who is al
Ppimost OF age and nearly full-grown;
hnt they average from Q to IA years,
and most of them are very small in
stature. and upon first appearance
bovish in character, AS years go or
4 ,bev are retained the little fellows
bocome sagacious, often proud, and
not infreauently initiate the states
Tnen bearing and conversion. There
i no better school for boy IN VIII ich
- become an actor. He has the best
Of opportunity to study every phase
If character. Speaking of the pages
Sometimes initiating the acts of their
superiors, reminds me of an incident
mat occurred few days ago. A very
diminutive page who was borne upon
Inc rolls of the last congress was sup
sreeded. When he learned that his
Mace had been given to another he
became considerably detected, for
This little fellow had aissipated in a
mild way and had been profigate, so
inst he was found almost without
funds and was as far away from home
as the state OF Missouri is from Wash
ington. But the boy had been an o5-
server and knew trick or two. lie
studied the situation. He solved it.
Going to his boarding house he hasti-
lv packed up his effects without at
tracing the attention Of anyone.
With great caution he removed them
10 another quarter of the city. Then
he went out to bid his conferres adieu,
Meeting one of them, who was about
10 years old, and as tall as mans
arm is long, he said:
well, good-by, old fellow; I'm off.
Nv constituents have given me the
shake, | was defeated in caucus and
beaten in convention, The situation
however, leaves me little fiat. ]
am nearly broke; but [ have found
way out. [ will jump nay board
bill. They all do il"
Sometimes the pages run in schools
like fish, and become clannish. Not
infrequently one meets crowd OF
them, all under three feet in height,
at the midnight hour making the
town howl. Many of them smoke
cigars and play billiards. Frequent
" the little fellows drink beer, for
they can buy it anywhere at the
counters. There is not very great
proportion of them, however who fall
into these channels of dissipation.
Those who do generally come from
the larger cities. Then the pages
have a way of haEing and some Of
the capers they piay upon plebiaus
or inexperienced boys are wonder
fully severe and terribly embarrass-
ing. One Of the favorite tricks in the
line of hazing is TO take new boy
down in the lower basement under
the hall OF the house and show him
the rubber man. This basement is
very broad and dark and cavernous.
Portions Of it are unlighted, and the
unsophisticated youth soon finds him
self lost. The surroundings are weird
and trightful, and it sometimes takes
an hour to get out. Pages receive
SIS per month during the session,
Those in the house are generally
changed every two years, but the
boys in the senate are retained, and
some of them grow up to manhood
from childhood at their posts Of duty,
as did Sen. German, of Maryland.
1t is said chat considerable number
Of the pages Of the house are blood
relatives to members, and sometimes
the members have their sons appoint
cd.