Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-01-03

LluSldSLlc eAItCtdItJ VI SCIOOl SIlS. IFcI
the veterans, who have been here so long that
to hear them tell it they are sick and tired of
the frivolitirs and %vanities Of society, are
eagerly planning their rounds of conquests.
I am quite sure they wouldn't do this if they
didn't like it. AS a matter of fact, this is the
only manner in which the woman can exert
herself in this city. 1t is the only avenue left
open to her. She must 90 into society or do
nothing. Therefore she goes into society,
and. as a rule, goes in with her whole heart
and soul. Human nature is pretty much the
same here as it is the world over, and the So
ciety women find it quite as impossible to re-
sist the attractions of the rounds of formal
| calling, which in moments of frankness they
admit is stupid and inane, as the school girl
does to withstand the charms Of caranels
and picnics.
For n fine example of the power Of the hui
man side of our natures over the men whom
the world looks up to as great, | commend
an incident of which l was all eye witness
one dav last week. Just before the adjourn
ment Of congress a bride and groom appeared
in the rotunda and Statuary hall. In this
there was nothing unusual. Brides and
erooms are as common as rays of sunshine in
the Capitol. They wander about arm in
arm, sometimes hand in hand, or sit and COO
upon the benches in the rotundn without at
tracing any attention. But this bride and
groom were extraordinary in some particu-
lars. The young man was tall, lean, angu-
lar, awkward, and very, very ugly. The
young woman was a dream of beauty, an etch-
ing made by the hand Of nature i'll a joyous
moment. She was small, plump, modest and
yet not shy, figure perfectly nodded, lips
red and smiling, eyes which appeared to see
-.l.alx ,,1 ,-o+ ,,-hirl y,or ,,,rSpr in tho
hall saw almost Immediately. The young
man by her side was no doubt a worthy
Young person, but by what accident Of fate,
by what satire OF the gods he had managed
to gain possession Of one who was a beauty
to his beast, soon became the conundrum of
the Capitol.
do not exaggerate when 1 say that this
pair attracted mere attention in the national
state house that day than all the legislation
that was enacted within its walls, more, even,
than the president could have reused by sud-
denly making his appearance in the building
leaning upon the arm of Ben Butler. The
groom was universally envied and execrated.
The bride was everywhere followed by hun
dreds of pairs of admiring eyes. The ill
matched pair were in charge of one of the
guides who stand always ready to show
one the Capitol for a dollar. This worthy
piloted them into the hall of statuary, appa-
rently unmindful of the score of men follow
ing in their wake. Hepointed out the statues
of Adams, Allen, Garfield, Fulton, Hamilton,
Washington and all the celebrities in as cold
blooded a way as il he were not exhibiting the
great men of q continent, long since dead and
gathered to their fathers, to one whose phys
ical charms were all but sufficient to make
warm blood run in the veins of those marble
figures.
But then a guide, be it book or man, or any
other advice giver and mentor, never yet had
a soul. Capitol guides are, if anything, less
soulful than their brethren the world over.
This one grasped the young and lucky groom
by the shoulder, and pressing downward upon
him as on a lay figure, said: "Now, you stand
there" Then-and the crowd of admirers
watched him eagerly-he touched the brides
arm and led heIs fifteen feet from her lord,
to her saying: ~This way, please, and I'll
show you the echoing stones" And after he
had STATIONED her upon a certain square in
the mosaic floor, the onlookers becoming
angered lest he should again touch her with
his fingers, he turned to the groom and re-
marked: CHOW, speak to her and you will
notice a very curious effect between those
two blocks"
The groom spoke some commonplace words,
but I doubt if the pretty bride heard one
syllable. I saw her face flush and then turn
a little pale. In another second she had left
the block on which the cold blooded guide
had left her standing all alone, like a statue
of love, and returned to her husband. It was
all very clear. At the very instant in which
she was planted on that block of stone she
had discovered that she was being watched
and admired by two dozen men. As she
looked about her the scene was one calculated
to change the pulse beats of one with far less
blood in her veins than the pretty creature
evidently had.
She was surrounded by a Gordon of states
men, grave and almost reverend seigneors.
Many of them were bald headed and many
others were gray. One of those nearest by
was Senator Edmunds est. Jerome'0. Not
far away was black eyed but bald Senator
Ransom. Happy Roswell P. Flower engaged
gray old Senator Sawyer in conversation, as
I thought, merely for a pretext whilst he
looked at the bride. Sawyer himself had his
eyes with him, and now and then other sena.
tors paused to survey the scene while passing