Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-17
O'BRIEN-BAIN GOSSIP.

The Senate Chamber During Reeess-A
Historic GaveI and Its Careful Custo.
diana Disappointed Newspaper Man
The Presidents Caution in Making APP
pointments.
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DIsPATCH.l
WASHINGTON, June 15.-The Senate cham
Der has been cleared of all its furniture, and it
presents a very bare appearance to the sight
seer who strays through the Capitol. The only
adornment that the floor knows is the, disks Of
metal that cover air-shafts which have their
upper termini under the desks Of Senators.
There will be eight new desks in the chamber
when Congress meets. The Senate carpenter
is now at work fashioning them after the pat
tern which has been followed in the Senate for
more than fifty years. The desks are made of
mahogany. They are high and narrow, and
the tops can be raised when access to the inte-
rior is desired. A shelf below each is intended
to hold the file of the Congressional Record and
the books of reference each Senator keeps at
hand. These desks never wear out They are
occasionally patched where vandals shave
pieces from them for relics. In the House lit
tie metal tags designate the desks by number
and each member is numbered to correspond
with the number of his desk; but in the Senate
the name of each Senator is engraved on a
metal plate and his desk is thus designated.
The desks that Webster and Clay used are still
part of the Senate furniture. There is only
one person who can identify tnem-Captain
Bassett. the veteran Chief of the Senate Pages
and he would not point out one of them for
any consideration. Captain Bassett has been
an employe of the Senate since 1881 and he has
a great veneration for anything connected with
the memory of Daniel Webster. 1t was Web
ster who had him appointed to the position
that he first held in the Senate-that of page.
The Growth of the Senate.
When these mahogany desks were first intro
duced in the Senate there were only 81 Sem
ators. Their number has been increased with
the addition of each new State until now there
are 76 desks. Beginning with the next Congress
there will be "a. The eight new mahogany
desks for the Senators from the four new
States will ranged along the back row of the
Senate. The side of the chamber, on which
they will be placed will depend upon the polit-
ical complexion of the new Senators. 1t seems
likely now that six of the new Senators will sit
on the Republican side of the chamber and two
of them on the Democratic side. Senator Blair
will be- left alone in his glory, the only Republi
can on the Democratic side of the chamber.
At the time of the war, when the Southern
Senators left the Senate chamber and there
were only six Democrats left the Republicans
sat lndiscriminately on either side of the
chamber. Since the war Senator Blair is the
first Republican Senator to sit on the Demo-
cratic side of the chamber.
A Carefully Guarded GaveI.
The furnishing of the Senate chamber has
changed but little since Webster and Clay and
Calhoun were here. The same desks remain
and the same chairs. The desk on which the
presiding officer taps with his gavel is the same
and the gavel itself has not changed. This
IL soTnathi0O of q nuriositv IF is a I1iooa
of ivory cut in about the form of an hour
glass; 1t was made in 1881, when John @. Cal
houn presided over the deliberations of the
Senate. Ever since that time Captain Bassett
has made this gavel his especial charge. 1t
remains in his possession during the session OF
Congress and before the days session of the
Senate begins, he has 1t in his pocket. At 11:55
each morning he steps to the presiding officers
desk and deposits it there. AS soon as the
Senate adjourns he returns it to his pocket.
Where he deposits it for the night nobody
knows. So many questions have been asked by
the curious concerning this historic article that
he is in constant dread of it being stolen. 1t
Is in some safe place of concealment now.
When the Senate is called together again, Cap
tain Bassett will be on hand with the gavel in
time for the presiding officer to use it to call
the Senate of the Fifty-frst Congress to order.
The gavel has no intrinsic value. Its emily
value is historic. The Senate gayel is not as
Speakers gavel has heavy handle, and 1t is
used with such vigor In calling members to
order that the top of the Speakers desk has
to be renewed at least once during the session
of each Congress. The woodpeeker's tap and
the blow of the sledgehammer are in no
greater contrast than the tapping of the Presi-
dent of the Senate and the vigorous pounding
of the Speakers gavel.
Work of Art.
Eighteen months ago an attempt was made
to supplant the historic gavel of the Senate.
Alex. NJ. Kenaday, Secretary Of the National
Association of Veterans of the Mexican War,
sent to the Senate in December, 1887, gavel
which had been made by one Of the veterans,
a pensioner under the law Of January %, 1887,
named Charles Uferhusto. The gavel was
made of $50 separate pieces of wood, taste.
fully inlaid, the different co1ors blending har-
moniously. It had been sent to Mr.. Kenaday
by the pensioner as Christmas gift andit was
offered to the Senate through Senator Butler.
1t was inclosed in a case which was almost as
much of curiosity in workmanship as the
gavel itself. At the suggestion of Senator
Butler resolution was adopted referring the
that day it has lain in q cupboard in the office
of the Financial Clerk of the Senate. Occa-
sionally the Financial Clerk Mr.. Nixon, takes
il out to show it to someone, and then returns
it to thai shelf to which the Senate con-
signed it.
A Disgusted Newspaper Man.
The most thoroughly disguised man in Wash