The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-03-11
THE NATIONS PAGES.
characteristics Of the Boys Who Wait on
Senators and Congressman.

Senators and congressman.
Some interesting character and pecu-
liar bits of life are found in the pages
of the Senate and House of Represen-
tatives. In the upper branch of Con-
gress there are about fifteen and in the
lower branch about thirty-five pages.
Their duties are well-known to the
average reader. Their fields of labor
are the floors of the two branches of
Congress. A page for the Senate, how
ever, never does anything for menu
ber of the House, and vice versa.
Sometimes a page is found who is
almost of age and nearly full-grown;
but they average from nine to fourteen
years, and most of them are very small
in stature, and upon first appearance
boyish in character. As years go on,
if they are retained, the little fellows
become sagacious, often proud, and not
infrequently initiate the statesmen in
bearing and conversation. There is no
better school for boy in which to be-
come an actor. He has the best of op-
portunity to study every phase of char
acter. Speaking of the pages some-
times initiating the acts of their superb
ors, reminds me of an incident that
occurred few days ago. A very
diminutive page who was borne upon
the rolls of the last Congress was SUI
perseded. When he learned that his
place had been given to another he be-
came considerably detected. for this
little fellow had dissipated in mild way
and had been profiigate, so that he was
| found almost without funds, and was
as far away from home as the State of
Missouri is from Washington. But the
| boy had been an observer and knew a
trick or two. He studied the situation.
He solved it. Going to his boarding.
house he hastily packed up his effects
without attracting the attention of any,
one. With great caution he removed
them to another quarter of the city.
Then he went out to bid his confreres
adieu. Meeting one of them. who was
about ten years old, and as tall as q
mans arm is long, he said:
'Well, goodbye, old fellow; I'm off.
My constituents have given me the
shake. l was defeated in caucus and
beaten in convention. The situation,
however, leaves me little flat. l am
nearly broke; but / have found way
out. will Jump my board bill. They
all do it.
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 cigarettes
and play billiards There is not very
great proportion of them, however,
who fall into these channels of dissipa-
ton. Those who do generally come
from the larger cities. Then the pages
have a way of ''hazing," and some of
the capers they play upon plebians or
inexperienced boys are wonderfully
severe and terribly embarrassing. 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. -
The basement is very dark and very
broad and cavernous. Portions of il
are unlighted, and the unsophisticated
youth soon finds himself lost. The sur.
roundings are weird and frightful, and
it sometimes takes an hour to get out
Pages receive seventy-fve dollars pei
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 iheil
posts of duty, as did Senator German
of Maryland. 1t is said that con.
siderable number Of the pages in the
House are blood relatives to members
and sometimes the members have theil
sons appointed Washington Cor. In
diaa,apohs Sentinel.