The Washington critic., 1886-02-12

which he held ON his knee and disposed
OF with a great deal of interest and NJ
ttnlion. At 1 p. N. he walked over to
Secretary Browns desk and said. "Can
! sec the General again2" II am sorry,
but he is busy" said Brown. Mr..
Lord sat down at table in the far end
of the room and wrote the following:
DEAR GENERAL; ! voted for you and
worked for you. Can have n position
as messenger or watchmanY ADAMS
LonD." Mr. Brown took the note in,
but returned in moment and said
Garfield would promise nothing. AT
D p. m Mr.. Lord walked over once
more TO Brown and said: al hate to
lose the day. Won't you ask the Gen
oral If he can't give inc an old coat or
a pair of pants2' Brown went into the
house and soon came out with coat, u
vest and pair of half. worn shoes.
These he gave TO the man, and limited
that the train would go soon. Eyes,
boss" said Mr.. Lord, "but spent my
last cent getting down here, and |
guess the General will have to lend me
enough TO get home on" When Brown
reported this to headquarters Garfield
said If there is anything else in the
house he wants let him have It," lie
sent the man 50, and the last seen Of
Mr.. Lord he was marching down the
road with the coat on his back and the
rest of the goods under his arm.
Nv
Says the correspondent of the Courior.
Journal in regard to Speakers of the
House pro TEN: 1t is of interest to re.
call an erroneous precedent which early
in the first session of the last Congress
was quoted as having been a long-es.
tablished rule Of etiquette, viz, that an
ex-Speaker of the United States House
of Representatives should not take the
chair of that House as Speaker pro
tenn. This was given rs q reason in a
Washington paper why ex.Speaker
Randall could not preside, as It is al
legged Speaker Carlisle wished him TO
do, during the unavoidable absence of
the latter when suffering from severe
cold soon after his first election to the
-Speakership. Ex-Speaker Randall told
the writer that eX.Speakcr Banks had
told him that was the rule. Subso.
quently the writer found in the Con-
gressional Globe for 1850 two instances
when Speaker Cobb being absent, ex.
Speaker Winthrop, who had been the
Speaker during the preceding Con.
gress, did take the chair as Speaker
pro tenn at the requestof Speaker Cobb,
and he was also, when the absence
Of the latter was prolonged be-
yond the time for which he could
place another in the chair of the
House, elected Speaker pro tenn by the
house. One occasion was in March
and the other in April, 1860. When l
! met him last summer, l spoke to ex
Speaker Winthrop as to the rule of eti.
quette ex.Speaker Banks had quoted,
and he said he had never heard Of such
thing, and that 1t was nonsense to say
an exSpeaker ought not to take the
chair as Speaker pro tom. Ex-Vice.
| President Wheeler, who was consid-
| cred an excellent parliamentarian when
he served in the House of Representa-.
tives. and was often called to It's chair,
| said he also never heard of such rule,
| and did not think 1t a good one in any
way. Ex-Speaker Winthrop we'll re.
| membered the instances when he had
| presided in the House, after he had
| ceased to be its Speaker, and he took
much pleasure in recalling the fact that
he had been elected Speaker pro tenn by
Democratic House, he then being q
Wing.
A correspondent Of the Richmond
Wig who was recently at Staunton,
| called upon the venerable A. II. II.
Stuart, Secretary of the Interior, and
narrates some very interesting reminis-
cenccs of this distinguished Virginian.
Mr.. Stuart was an intimate, personal
friend of Henry Clay and remembers
much Of Benton, Wright, Webster,
Calhoun and other statesmen of the
same period. 1t was towards midnight
one day in the spring of 1850 that he
was aroused by messenger who
brought him letter from Mr. Webster
notifying him that President Fillmore
was anxious to have him in his Cabi-
net as Secretary of the Interior. AT
one o'clock the following day he sent
by the same messenger qualified ac-
ceptance, which was carried long dis
tance to the nearest telegraph and
thence forwarded to Washington.
Since the close of that term Mr.. Stuart
has never held office, except when II
was forced upon him, or when he
deemed some special exigency de-
manded his service. AS to the cur
rent issues now occupying the public
mind, he is, perhaps, more interested
in the silver question than any other,
and his views in the main were eX.
pounded by Mr.. Beck in his grea,
speech in the Senate. Another Issue
upon which he feels strongly and talks
eloquently is the tariff. When asked
how the tariff section Of the Demo
cratic platform corresponded with tht
views of Mr.. Clay and the Wings ol
1914, he says they are identical.