The Republican., 1892-10-14
ECHOES OF STATUARY HALL.
The Curious Properties of the Old Repre-
sentatives' Chamber.

The Curious Properties of the Old Repre-
sentatives' Chamber.
Statuary Hall was for many years
occupied by the house of representatives
previous to the completion of the great
south wing of the capitol where the
representatives now meet annually. 1t
is a semi-circular room, is this old hall
Of representatives, and a very peculiar
place. For some reason, which no one
has been able to explain, it is an echo
hall possessed of remarkable acoustic
properties. There are certain blocks
upon the tiled floor which echo to other
blocks, so that when a capitol guide
familiar with these blocks is standing
seventy-five feet from you he will ad-
dress you in an ordinary tone of voice
and the sound will come from the floor
beneath you or seemingly from the air
above your head. Under the eagle there
is an exit, and any one standing in the
door back of those marble pillars can
talk away across the hall to the oppo-
site entrance and startle strangers as
they enter the room. Some of the
newspaper men have learned the loca-
ton of these echo stones and take great
delight in puzzling visiting friends or
new men on Newspaper Row.
The natural telephone is one of the
wonders of this wonderful hall. Away
over in the corner you can stand and
whisper, while your friends may be at
a similar corner on the opposite side of
thu aud hnop evllu hlp m q
plainly as though you were standing
face to face. The sound goes upward,
presumably, and comes down on the
other side, but how it is connected no
one knows. This Is the most wonder
full acoustic puzzle in America-a great
deal moro inexplicable than the we'll
known echo at the top of the dome
1t was not the intention of the archi-
tect to make an echo hall. 1t was to
build room in which speechma' ling
would be easy and agreeable. Instead,
he builded a beautiful hall in whic all
conversation was veritable jargon.
How the gentlemen ever managed to
make their speeches and continue their
debates no one now can imagine. Yet
Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, John C.
Calhoun and Hayne, of South Carolina,
delivered some of their finest oratorical
efforts beneath this roof.
There is one block-a bout the tenth
one on the floor from the base of the
column over which the eagle presides--
which is called by the guide 3D." the central
block" That is because it does not
carry its echo to any other block in the
room, but brings back to whoever
stands upon it his own voice. If you
were to stand upon the cen trail block
and utter your name you would hear
the voice ringing in your cars your
own voice-lilze the roaring of thou
sand people shouting in unison and
calling you. 1t seems that this block
is the acoustic center of the hall, and
every sound made upon it is reflected
back from every Granny of the room.
What terrible place it would be for
an orator to stand and listen to his
own words as they came bounding back
and reverberating with thunderous
mockery. 1t is stated, however, by the
| ''oldest inhabitant' that when the floors
were carpeted the echoes were not so
pronounced, but, nevertheless the MEM
| bers of the house complained constant
| ly of the bad acoustic properties of the
hall Rochester Post-Express.