The Washington critic., 1886-05-26
TOPICS OF THE DAY.

NtUS says; by Midnight inc 1un mas
got fast and furious. There has also
been probably big quarrel There is
call for tellers. The Speaker has left
the chair for n few minutes and the
Speaker pro TEN. names the two gen
tlemen who have just been at logger.
heads. They advance in front of the
Speakers desk and shake hands, as
tellers always do. At this there Is
burst of laughter, in which the tel
lers join. Then come motions of one
kind and another, which are utterly con
fusing to any but the legislators them.
selves-yea and nay votes, calls of
The roll, and all of the parts of the
Chinese puzzle which goes to make up
filibustering. Sometimes they have
quorum and sometimes they
haven't. The minority intrusts
things TO two or three good
parliamentarians who know all the
moves by which action is delayed. One
dilatory motion succeeds another. In
vain the other side also calls up its best
parliamcntarians--thcy can vote down
motions, but they can't prevent the
motions being made, which kills time,
and that is just what the minority
want. 1t gets on toward morning.
The gas flickers and grows yellow; the
air is close members are leaning their
tired heads on their hands, and only
raise them to vote aye or no. The gal.
leries are deserted, and only the Speaker
is wide awake and attentive. Then the
motions to adjourn begin to be made by
the majority, but the minority turn the
tables upon them and refuse to ad.
journ. The pages have long since
been excused, or else sit on the steps
around the Speakers desk, half asleep.
Half dozen of them are rolled
up in corners, as sound asleep as il
they were In their beds at home. At
last the thing becomes hopeless, and
motion TO adjourn is allowed to prevail.
The Speaker suddenly braces up, and,
without any stops at all, rattles off:
"The Chair hears motion to aeiourn
is there objection the Chair hears none
the House is hereby declared ad.
journed," and in five minutes the
chamber Is deserted. There has been
call of the House, considerable fun,
some irritation and not one atom of
business transacted.
~
Curtis says in the Inter- Ocean that
he knows of buxom widow in Wash
ington, at whose house Senator Sauls-
bury has been constant visitor for
nearly twenty years. He is fond of a
game of whist and glass of punch.
b No hand can brew one that suits the
Senator's taste so well as hers, and
there isn't lady in the world that he
prefers to her as partner at rubber.
About once week he spends an even
ing at her cosy home, and after the
other guests are gone he usually re.
mains to take another glass, and smoke
cigar before the crate of the drawing
room. 1t is then that the comforts of
home, the attractions of a fireside,
and jolly companion warm up the
cookies of the old mans heart, and he
seldom leaves the house without pro-
posing marriage to her. Years ago he
was very much in earnest, and
used to press his suit with the
ardor of the conventional lover, but
the proposal having been renewed so
often, it has become matter of Jest
between them, and now he pops the
question regularly in quaint, comical
way, by asking her when he shall en-
gage the parson. She always laughs
and tells him they are too young to
marry, and then the old man drains
his glass, puts on his hat, and goes to
his lonely rooms, which must be very
dismal to him after an evening at her
fireside.
Twenty years make great change
in the way people look at things" said
an old resident of Atlanta the other
day to the "Curb Stone Crayon" man
of the Constitution. I'm the matter of
decorating soldiers graves, for exam.
pie, the people have changed more than
they would be willing to admit. When
Decoration Day was first observed
every other emotion was subordinate to
poignant grief. The sight of soldiers
graves then caused the grief of people
to break out afresh, and the scenes on
the grounds were funereal In character
because the majority of women wei in
black. 1t was the custom then to have
the flowers distributed by young girls
dressed in white. This simple cere.
monial made sharper the contrast and
brought out in stronger light the ruling
emotion of the people who made up
the great crowds who came together
on such occasions. Outside of these
contrasts there was tinge of romance,
and the unexpected was constantly
happening. People who had been
enemies in the years before the war
would meet suddenly or would be
revealed TO each other suddenly by
some little act of common sympathy or
common impulse and would become
friends. ! remember one case in which
there had been alienation between two
families caused by an elopement. A
young man married neighbours
daughter against his fathers wish and
when the war broke out he volunteered,
went into the army without word Of
good-by to his parents, and in the clos.
ing year of the war was shot dead at
Resaca. Through the efforts of his
wife's family the remains were brought
home and inferred In the home ceme-
terry, All that loving woman's hands
could do to beautify the grave was
done, and when the first formal
observances of Decoration Day
ceremonies came around, the sol.
diers whe came to that spot laden
with flowers found 1t already so beau
tiful and impressive in its decoration
that not flower was added. Late in
the afternoon of the warm May day
and after the grounds had become
almost deserted, sorrowing little
woman in black came with her little
boy to knecl at the grave and rearrange
the flowers and to drop on them many
tear. To the other side came shat
tered old man supported by an old
lady, whose snow.white hair clustering