Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-05-01
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BOYS
Who Wait on Senators and Rsprssez
tives in the Nssienal Capitol.

VINO Wait on SenotorB ana 8eproDe0Sor
tives in the Natienal Capitol.
Some interesting character and peculiar
bits of life ara found in the pages Of the sen
ate and house Of representatives In the up
per branch Of congress thsrs are about fifteen
and In the lower branch about thirty five
pages Their duties are well known to th<
average reader. Their fields Of labor are the
floors Of the two branches Of congress A
page for the senate. however, never does any
thing for a member Of the house, and vice
versa Sometimes page Is found who i
almost Of age and nearly fuil-grown; but
they average from Q TO II years, and most Of
them are very small in stature. and upon drs1
appearance boyish in character. As years GO
on, if they are retained the little fellows be
come sagacious, often proud, and not infre-
quently initiate the statesmen in bearing and
conversation
There is no better school for boy in which
to become an actor, He has the bst OF opr
portunity 10 study every phase OF character.
Speaking OF the pages sometimes Initiating
the acts Of their superiors, reminds me Of an
incident that occurred a few days ago. a
very dinunitive page who was borne upon
the rolls Of the last congress was
superseded. When he learned that
his place had been given to another he be-
carne considerably detected, for this little
fellow had diSs!pated in a mild way and had
been prof,igete, 50 that he was found almost
without funds, and Was far away from home-
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 at
tracing the attention of any one. With great
caution be removed them TO another quar-
ter Of the city. Then be went out to bid his
coufreres adieu- Meeting one Of them, who
was about 10 years old, and as tall as mans
arm is long, he said:
"Well, goodbye, old fellow; Tn of. Ny
constituents have given me the shake. was
defeated in caucus and beaten IN convention
The situation, however, leaves me little fat
l am nearly broke; but have found a way
out. l viii jump my board-bill They sil
do it"
Sometimes the pages run in schools like
fish, and become clannish- No. infrequently
one meets crowd Of them, all under three
feet In height, st the midnight hour,
making the town howl Many Of
them smoke cigarettes and play billiards
Frequently tho little fellows drink beer,
for they can buy it anywhere at the counters.
There Is not a very great proportion OF them,
however, who fan into these channels Of dis
sipation- 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 plebeians or inexperienced
boys are wonderfully severe and tsrribly
embarrassing. One of the fayorite tricks in
the line of hazinS is 10 take a new boy down
in the lower basement under the hall Of the
house AMI show him the rubber man"
This basement is very dark and very
broad and cavernous. Portions Of it are ur-
lighted, AMI the unsophisticated youth soon
finds himself lost The surroundings are
weird and frightful, and it sometimes takes an
hour TO get out Pages received t15 per
month during the session These in the houss
are generally changed every two years, but
the boys IL the senate are retained, and some
OF them grow up - manhood from childhood
at their posts OF duty.-W ashington Letter.