Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-06-18
BARBER COUNTY INDEX.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE IS, 1890.
The SENATE SHOCKED.

n
satiOn In the Senatorial Chamber.
The dignity of the Senate received
severe shock the other day. In the course
Of a rather dry debate there came
floating through the chamber the sweet
strains of annie Laurie" their sweet
ness somewhat tempered by presump-
tive ignorance of music in the person
or persons producing them.
The Senate chamber is walled in Sc
curely for the express purpose of pre-
venting the admittance of any sound
from the outer world which might inter
rupt the serious deliberations of that i'm
portant body. There are double walls
inside and outside, and air chambers and
Railways between, and even the roof
is double. There was time when
Senator from an Eastern State whistled
for page, but that is the nearest APP
proach to music that has ever been
heard in the Senate chamber before the
experience here recorded. Both mem
bers and employees were stupefied by the
sound Of the unexpected harmony-or
perhaps discord. At first it was sus-
pected that Senator Butler, of South
Carolina, who has been known to play
q practical joke even in the sacred con-
fines of the Senate chamber, had con-
cealed music-box in his desk, and had
''set it OFF, either inadvertently or
maliciously. Nobody knew just what
TO do, but it is quite likely that a com
mittee would have been appointed to
investigate Senator Buffers desk if the
Senator from South Carolina had not en-
IL, LaN
from the cloak-room, with look Of as
constituent upon his face that seemed
to guarantee his innocence.
Still the music went on, and so did the
debate. They struggled together for
about minute, when Engineer Jones
CHANGED to pop his head through the
doorway leading into the lobby. The
minute the sound of the music fell upon
his ear he let the doors fly together
again and started down the lobby at
speed that threatened his physical
integrity. Two or three minutes after
ward the music, which had been trip
ping itself upon the occasional periods
In discourse by Senator Call, suddenly
ceased. Shortly afterward when Engi-
neer Jones reappeared on the Senate
floor the mystery was explained. 1t
seems that a clerk connected with one
of the committees Is An enthusiast on
the subject of music A friend, as en-
thusiastic as he, called upon him at his
room that afternoon, his violin case in
hand. The clerks hute was in Q corner
of his desk, and discussion on the sub
ject Of music which ensued resulted in
a challenge to q duet The clerk
said that they would find some
nobody would hear them, and so
down stairs they went. After looking
about through the carpenters quarters
and the engine-rooms for few minutes,
they came across little apartment
nicely lighted and comfortably warmed.
1t seemed to have no occupant and the
walls about were evidently thick. So
the two musicians shut themselves into
the little chamber and attacked "Annie
Laurie" 1t was only when Engineer
Jones interrupted their communion that
they discovered that the chamber in
which they were standing was the
chamber through which many thousand
cubic feet Of fresh air are hourly pumped
into the Senate chamber. Every sound
of their tortured instruments, therefore,
was diffused through dozens OF pipes and
q hundred vent-holes, all leading to the
Senate chamber. The Senate engineer
has now added a postscript to the princi-
pal sign in his engine-room. Under the
words mo smoking" Is the further In
junction mo music. Cor. N. Y. Trib-