The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1893-12-07
THE SENATE GALLERIES.
Cd ous People Who Go to Get Bird
Eve View of Statesmen.

Cd Eous People Who Go to Get a Birdie
Eye View of Statesmen.
All day long there is receding wall
of faces on the four sides of the cham
Der gazing eagerly down into the arena,
like a picture from ancient Rome.
There is constant disputation carried
on in an undertone as to the relative
merits of the champions, and approval
or disapproval occasionally. breaks out
into applause or grumbling. Smith is
trying to explain the situation to his
neighbor Jones, who thinks he knows
more about it himself, and bets are
made on various moves in the proceed
ings and on the final result. OF course,
money is not held in the air as at a
race track, but it quietly changes hands
right in the galleries.
The character of the male portion of
the audience is unusual. Those who
take only a curious interest in the
thing are very Insignificant number.
| and almost as insignificant is the num-
Der of those who are residents of the
city. They are mostly strangers at
tracted by this contest, and they are
| of two as markedly distinct classes as
| are to be found in contact. Hundreds
of them belong to the upper class of
Abusiness men, whose interest in the
7ghtcome is SO great that they are drawn
here to watch the fight, and are held
by that fatal fascination of interest
which has proved disastrous to SO many
claimants who have once put their
faith in congress and have been chained
to the chariot wheels of the conqueror,
demagogue.
They are men who have seldom be-
/ fore sat in the galleries of congress,
and now it pals on their business
sense. The subtleties of legislative
methods they do not understand, and
, their patience is sorely tried; but their
very impotence and anger hold them
here to watch the game out. Sitting
shoulder to shoulder and knee to knee
with them are men of another class, in
contrast to the well-dressed, white
skinned and soft-handed banker and
merchant They are perhaps not as
( numerous as the others, but they are
equally strangers to Legislative halls
and are quite as apt to attract the eye.
They are a plainly and often shah
billy dressed lot. Some have bronzed
faces and rough hands, with heavy
lines in their cheeks and across their
brows, like men who work in the fac
tory or at the forge by day, and often
at night assemble toget her to talk over
their condition and grope about
| through the mysteries of political
economy. Along in the class with
burnt hair, homespun clothes and
heavy boots, who put their hands VI
to their ears for trumpets. Further
down the scale come the pale-faced
thin-lipped, wild-eyed men, who lister
eagerly to all that is said, and run
their fingers nervously through their
long hair when the bankers of Wal
street are mentioned, or when the oft
repeated phrase about the masses anG
| the classes occurs.
Hour after hour this strangely as
= -, =. atss~ -.a1-sits and watches the
fight and the rise and falI OF the tTds
of excitement can be seen passing back
and forth over the eager faces. Inter
est, approval, anger and impatience
| alternately light and darken the coun
tenances, and the undercurrent of an
tagonism is observed in the dark look.
exchanged and the impatient jerk Of
the shoulder or wag of the head. -
Philadelphia Telegraph.