The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1891-05-03

Vhe LaUleS' 'hecepUlOn-ItOom.
'tAnother one ~
ayes, another one'
.sWell, I'm beat.
''And so was the desk.''
Then both gentlemen laughed. and the first
speaker, dawdling sightseer at the Capitol,
continued to gaze at the desk top in front Of
him. He was chattering with John Clancy,
assistant doorkeeper and custodian Of the
House floor during the interim. The visiting
New Englander, after puttering about the de-
serted and echoing corridors, had, as usual,
drifted into the empty House chamber, and
after climbing up on the platform proceeded
to disport himself on the vacant throne Of the
erstwhile Car, Thomas 3. Reed. Thestranger,
in following the einvarable custom of sitting in
the Speakers chair and paving over his desk,
discovered by this act of devotion the battered
condition of the latter article. This led to a
conversation with Mr.. Clancy, who informed
the astonished stranger that this was the
second desk top that had been pounded into
pulp by the late muscular parliamentarian and
that a new one must be prepared for the Demo
cratic gavel of the Fifty-second Congress.
One half of the green desk-cloth is still bright
and new, but the other is battered and cut
from the centre to the boundary line on the
right, and the wood under it is in splinters.
The visitor suggested that the next Speaker be
given a desk with metal top, but the officer
explained that not only was it impossible to
use any sort of metal, but that even hard wood
had been found injurious to the hand after
brief trial.
CONGRESSIONAL. CARPET.
Speaker Reed, however, was not the only de-
structive statesman in the lower House. The
spick and span glaring green and yellow
carpet laid one year ago in that chamber is
now defaced and worn and grimy beyond
words A Congressional carpet suffers all the
violence of both parties. 1t is kicked and
scraped and Uttered in fearful manner, and
is used by this small army as both doormat
and cuspidor. Nearly every Congress finds
new carpet ready for deeecration and destruc
tion in the House. The Senate chamber also
is provided with a new carpet for both floor
and gallery, and heap of furnishing generally
is going to take place in the two Houses and
various committee-rooms between this and
December. Sergeant-at- Arms Valentine says
that the next Senate carpet will be selected
with view to harmony and not contrast. If
the newly furnished quarters of the Sergeant
alarms is proof of that officers taste, it is
safe to say there will be no repetition of the
vivid yellow and green abomination which
now quarres with the soft golden greens and
bronZes of the wall decorations. More than
this, Mr.. Valentine says, that in the purchase
of carpets and pieces of furniture, and in the
employment of decorations, American manu-
facturers and artists will be given the pref
erence. The present covering of the Senate
floor has been down four years, but is not a
bit shabbier than the House carpet which has
been in use but year, The visitor would be
struck with two brilliant patches of new
carpet which are set in at the foot of the pre-
siding officer's platform. At either side of
the clerks desk, on and just in front of the
lowest step these bright patches in the else
where faded carpet are particularly con-
spicuous. These steps are the seats of pages,
and the wrggling and scuffling of the small
boy makes two or three of these patches
necessary during one administration.
About the 1st of May the Senate and House
carpets will be ripped up and carted away, and
not until July or August will the new twenty
five hundred yards be laid down for
the Fifty-second Congress. The desks also
will be oiled and polished and put in readiness
for old occupants and the newcomers. The
new arrangement of seats has already taken
place, and the new members know what
neighbors they are to have. Some years ago
it was decided to have a second story added to
the little single drawer desks in the Senate,
but Senator Edmupds, who occupies front
seat in the synagogue, declined any such new
tangled addition. AS it was necessary to pre-
serve uniform height, his desk had to be
raised to meet the requirements Senator
Dawes's desk, that formerly occupied by Stan
ton, is the only other one without the newtop,
This also is hoisted up on extra wooden feet
1t curious fact that the carpet under and
around Senator Plumb's desk is worn more
than that of any of his immediate neighbors
1t would seem that while he is said TO occupy
his seat less than any other Senator he must
do more kicking while heis present
GREEN CARPET AND SORE THROAT.
There is a second good reason for assuming
that no green carpets will be laid anywhere in