Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-07

oring to address the Senator" asked the pre-
siding officer, coolly.
"No, - itr' was the response, "she
gentleman from Virginia Is addressing the
Senste!''
He rambled on, not to say maudled. but
finally consented to be led away. Indeed.
among the stories told of the House when 1t
met in what is now Statuary Hall, is one of
q member who was permitted to keep his
valet in the cloakroom to take care of him
when he became helpless, and another of a
CONSERVATION by suddenly insisting on GO
ing to bed, gayel in hand, under the
Speakers desk. Such things do not happen
now.
Clay Had Good Constitution.
Every house of social standing in WASH
ington 30 years ago was equipped with a
sideboard furnished with choice wines, and
every visitor was regaled with brandy tod
dy-singular and plural. But the habit of
constant drinking seemed to be, with many,
an insurance against sottishness. Mr.. John
3. Coyle, author of the forthcoming FIFTY
Years of Men and Manners in Washington"
tells me good story told him by Mr..
Gales:
"Clay and l." said Mr.. Gales, chad sat at
poker table on Capitol Hill all night, and
we started home just at daylight. He lived
at Browns and was afraid he would never
get there, because we had drunk so much.
He said he would get home perfectly WE'LL
said: well, Mr.. Clay, I beg. that you
will not 60 to the House to-day why
not?' he asked. Because YOU are so tired
and you will be sick, said. Very anxious
went up to the Capitol in the afternoon,
and there he was in the Speakers chair, as
self-reliant and clear-headed as ever. After
adjournment saw him. I didn't lie down.
he said, nor sleep a wink. just went
and took bath and got shave and
breakfast, and never felt better in my
life.'"
Drunk on All Big occasions.
There were three terrible drunkards in
the House just 30 years ago-the last year
of Clay's service-Tom Marshall aud Jim
Sprigg, of Kentucky, and Felix Mcconnell,
were all of them regular FOUNDERS, and
liable to disgrace the House any time.
Marshall, in fact, was pretty sure to be
drunk when anything great was expected
OF him. have seen him attempt to lecture
before large and refined audience when he
was unable to stand and coolly sat down on
the floor and talked conversationally to
those who were not too disguised to remain.
"Jim Spriggs' drank as much as he could
get, and was made very happy by 1t. One
night he had bar-room fight with 1oafer
and had an ear bitten of. "We welcome
back to Kentucky" said Prsntiss in the
Louisville Journal, "all there is left of our
gallant fellow-citizsn, Hon. James G.
Sprigg." ...
Felix Mcconnell should have been named
Infelix. He was a very brilliant and
erratic member, quick at repartee, witty,
well-informed and the delight OF the House
when on his feet, drunk or sober. But he
was sensitive and humiliated, and one
morning just before his term expired be
committed suicide here in this city.
But why multiply instances? With in
creasing civilization come improving man
ners and morals, and even if it were not
logical deduction it must be obvious to all
careful observers in Washington that every
Congress has been more sober and better
behaved than its predecessors Of the wis
dom of the Fifty-second Congress it does
not become me to speak, but probably not
one has contained so many total abstainers
from spirituous liquors since the Republic
began. W. A. CRoFFUT.