Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1888-03-06

presided over by big coIored man and his
assistant The cabinets, or baths, are about
the size of an ordinary hotel bedroom, and
the tubs are big enough for the largest-sized
statesman to wallow about in with ease and
comfort. Tom Reed, and Barnes, Of Geor.
gia, test their capacity more than any other
members, but they even can roll over and
founder about in one Of the marble tanks
with as much ease as they could perform the
same evelutions anywhere.
Some of the tubs are Rimply iron, nicely
painted, but the newer ones are made of mar
BILE, and each looks like great sarcophagus.
Three ordinary men might get in of them
without much croWding. The marble sides
are as slippery as glass and as warm as the
flesh that touches them Tbs aometers are
hung in each bath and orS 3 walls in the
passage. The temperature is kept always
the same, and q member might promenade
for three hours in nothing but his epidermis
without danger of cold. 1t was herd that
Mr.. Reagan struggled with tight under
shirt on the occasion of his famous bath
while the vote or the Morrison bill was being
taken.
The temperature is just at a point where
the least exertlon would bring on a profuse
perspiration, and but little rubbing in the
bath is sufficient to bring a ruddy glow.
Members come up in the elevator from these
regions with the hair curling about their
temples and their cheeks as pink as baby's.
Some of the older members take bath as
the last step ia their preparation for making
a speech. They write the speech, commit it
to memory, take bath and then deliver it.
If member has the rheumatism or cold,
or for any other reason feels the necessity of
being parboiled there is u Russian steam
bath at the end of the bathroom to- which he
resorts. 1t is little close room furnished
with wooden bench and a coil of steam
pipes that cover the walls of the compart-
ment. When the door shuts there can't
much heat get ont and the thermometer nat
urally runs up into the big combinations. A
member lies on the bench, the door is shut
and the steam is turned on. He is then in
about as hot place as he is likely to enter
in this life. He gets enough of this in q lit
tie while and he has to be cooled off grad ual-
ly by being plunged first into tub of hot
water next into cooler water, then cooler and
cooler until he gets back to the temperature
os ordinary mortals. It takes about an hour
or an hour and q half's cooling before he
ventures out into the colder atmosphere of
the house, and it is best for him to walk
rapidly on his way home.
Members of Congress can battle here any
day provided not more than hundred Sc
lect The same day; but on Saturday mono bat
members can enter. On other days employees
of the House, or men who have been given
tickets by members, may bathe. On Friday
business is most brisk, and the smashing of
the water may be heard from early morning
until the place is closed in the evening. 1t
is hard to tell how many people are bathed
on this day, but ordinarily @ hundred is as
many as can be handled Gin hours" After
an all-night session the capacity of the rooms
is strained Members have all their toilet
made here except their barbering. The air
smells moist with steam and is fragrant with
perfume and scented soaps. The very finest
toilet furnishings are used. The 'black man
of the BATH will rub you down and perform
all the service of the bath.
Besides this he has proper instruments for
the purpose and he will trim off the C rms
and keep the feet in order. When a new
member is elected from country district it
generally takes "a right smart while" to get
| his feet in condition. They require much
| care and attention. But this man keeps all
| the Congressional feet in order without re
gard TO size OR previous condition.
| Some members visit these rooms every
| day, some three times q week, some twice
some only once week, while n few do not
| call SO often.
| The last mark of attention from member
l to his visiting constituents is ''to give him
bath" After showing voter through the
building, explaining and testing the mystic
ries of the echoes in the statuarY hall, giving
| him a lunch, and finally conducting him tt
I >-O StNN~ 49, o@--N
| watch the ''whirligig of the House whirl,
| as q final and special honor the Represen
| tative invites him to take bath. If tn
Representative makes this offer in tn
| right way and to the right man it is ap
| preciated; but they have been known t.
| make enemies by making the proposition
| too abruptly and without explanation.
This Seasons Feminine lobby at tn,
| Capital.
From the st. Louis Globe-D Democrat
| The female lobbyists are probably not St
numerous this year as during some Of tn
| previous sessions of Congress, but they ar
| Just as persistent and as blandiehing as ever
| Occasionally there is beautiful woman, O
| charming manner and fascinating appearance
| who follows the profession of lobbyist, an6
| succeeds admirably because she is personally
| irresistible. Not always because Of any argu
| ments she makes, nor because of the justice O
her case; but often because her appealing eye
and expressive countenance and bewitchinG
| smile are too much for even an obstinate Con
| gresham.
But female lobbyists of this description
| are scarce, and in their stead has come new
| class whose attack is to be dreaded. They
| ceme as reformers, the agents of peac'
societies and the temperance unions, and IL
| the interests of International arbitration, anC
| prohibition, and woman suffrage, and for th
| advancement of morals and the prohibition
| of other highly ethical ideas. All reformer
| are subject to the suspicion of being cranks
| but there are pleasant cranks, and suav
cranks, and able and intelligent cranks, ant
| cranks whose only offence is the persistence
| with which they advocate their one idea
| Washington is the paradise of cranks, ant
| the average woman lobbyist whom infest
the capital is the most obnoxious crank o.
earth. She seems to cherish a fond delusiol
| that she was born especially to accomplish
| the particular mission that now engages he
| attention, and that her presence at the ma
| tional capital is an imperative public neces
| sity. She corrals the unwary member of Con
| gress wherever and whenever he may be found
She lounges in the corridors awaiting his ap
pearance, and haunts his committee rooms
and when he is cornered she talks him to tn
| very verge of dissolution. Ihat isn't In
| worst of it.
| Old members who have been in Congress
for fifteen or twenty years say the femal
lobbyists this winter wear the worst brant
of breath they have ever known in Washing
ton. They universally pronounce 1t OF
kind in comparison with which the breath o
the tabled harpie was balm of Gnead, swee
frankincense and myrrh. An able bodies
Congressman who is surrounded by one o
more of these lobbyists finds himself in tn
| draught of the simeon of death. She talk
to him in her balnay voice and breates hupo
him desolate fragrance which compels a
immediate surrender. He can only throw u
his hands and make terms, however displeas
ing to his better judgment. Under the Gil
cumstances it is solely matter of self-pre
ssrvstion.
T:5uhsr1ot-.Z ZEltr|ifion .ths s.Lifz.