Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-01-30
Odd Bits Of Lille and Humor as Seen by 0bser.
| want walter Weiiman.

1 breast the great American thirst for con
vers;ition is unquenched, and finally he
tnds relief by starting up conversation
With one of the doorkeepers.
/ just within the outer main door of the
touse, where there is little lobby. the
uuzz is loudest. This is the newspe 7
corner. Here statesmen rendezvous 10
It'll the scribes what they know. Not
always is it that the statesman is sent
for by the journalist Almost as often
the shoe is on the other foot A some
what elderly statesman who stands be-
| fore me this moment, holding by the
buttonhole an inoffensive correspondent
who for half an hour has been fruitlessly
endeavoring to make his escape, serves
as convenient illustration of the itch
which public men have for reaching the
public through the press.
All along the corridor you will see the
| like of this--a man with another man
pinioned against the wall, corralled in Il
window recess, anchored by a coat but
ton and compelled to hear the tale Of
woe or to unburden his mind of its con-
tents. Here is where the able Journal
istic wolf goes about seeking whom he
may devcur. Here conscienccs are
wrecked aid dead" secrets revivifed
with the spirit of life by applications of
interviewers' pumps and telegraph wires
and printers ink.
The strangest thing about this Amer
ican life OF ours is the craze for com
munication. Such thing as a secret is
next to impossible in this Capitol. Every
man seems to have an uncomfortable
impulse to tell what he knows to some
body. II he doesn't want to do it in the
corridor he gets his man to go with him
into some nook iii the restaurant down
below, where. with small bottle and u
joint, tongues are loosened and ears made
patient If had a secret I'd sooner tell
it to my maid servant than to Il man who
haunts the Capitol. If were a secret
and didn't ike the man who had me and
wanted to get away from him would
| ;udtce him 10 20 to the Capitol and sit
down with y newspaper correspondent
to discuss small bottle
In this hustling shifting, Kaleidoscope
| ;hrong there is no end of American hui
man nature. There walks with stately
md measured tread senator who has
been national figure for quarter of II
century. This Capitol is like homo to
/ him. The next man we see is new
/ statesman who has Just succeeded in
getting a private pension bill passed. 1t
Is the first thing he has ever done for his
country. He is full of enthusiasm and
excitement With that bill i'll his hand
he is rushing at breakneck speed for the
other end of the Capitol to have it put in
the hopper there. You can always tell
the new statesman by his cagerness and
his activity when he has anything on
hand. But wait year or two, and the
all prevalent listlessness of the Capitol
will have overcome him. 1t is so with
statesmen and 80 with journalists
In Washington it is good form TO be
lazy. II is new to be in hurry. Even
the lusty youth whose business it 10 tc
ns;ii big basket of letters from the house
| the mailhox of tho house is n huge
| e!otlesbasket into which members fire
thsir missives with a skill acquired only
by long practice-moves few feet with
| his burden aud then gets tired.
Hero are a party of strangers taking in
the sights. They have guilebooks il
their hands, and a professional guide with
a nickel badge of authority on his persor
leads them about. Only the women Of
the party sec or understand anything
The men are overcome by such magnifi-
| Cence, so much greatness. They arr
dazed, ti'Hil. They stop as if they were
afraid Of putting their feet down on Q
basket of cg.,s or forbidden groUnd. II
is the stran eer woman who is clipper. sci
possessed, inquisitive Idon't know WHY
this difference exists between the sexes il
this matter, but there it is.
Take tho young woman in the whisper.
i,lss gallery Of Statuary hall, for instance,
1o1i know there is place at the base O.
the proscenium column Of that match
less hall where you may stand and tai.
in low tone and your voice is echoed te
the cciiing and across and dom TO tn,
base Of :he other end Of the arch. sixty
or eighty feet away. The young laaA
vino steps into one of these whispering
galleries while his pretty companion /.
in the other suddenly becomes tent;HC
tied. lie can't utter word He i
dumb. Not so with the Young woman
Nothing slazes her, bless her! And how
she makes the echo ring with her merry
laughter.
There are men and women and chill
dren gaping at the goddess from the hool
of the rofunaa. School girls and boys
are going to and from the Congressional
library. Poor old chaps who have spent
their lives-how. one can only guess--art
sitting about ON the benches watching
the throng while waiting for death, but
the rnling passion still uppernost in thai
they pair off in order to have some on.
TO talk to.
There are plenty of women in the cor
fidors OF the Capitol No one can Isl
what they are here for. Very rarely iC
you see woman alone. Why it is that
woman always wants another wornaf
with her. and does have, is more than
can understand. A sort of pairing efte.
seen here is Young and beautiful or a
least coIaely woman accompanied by 81
f,EttT anu more cAl~fituGea tsis. - .
cliapei.n tise elder is sometimes LITTLE
doubtful. Perhaps they are a congress
mans wife and daughter. and possibly
not. though they seem to know many
cc-lyressmen.
across one of the corridors moves ;
! prowe ssioG which is somber and stately
and Should he setlate. though it some
times is.I't The justices of the supremi
court. led By the little chief justice. ar
marching to their bench Even her
rank is eE-erytliing, for next to the chic
Justice is the justice who has serve
. Longest. and next to him his neares
Junior. and so on. A pretty picsHr
they make, and the passersby. afte
courteously making way, stand by 4
: lcok- Tie faces Of the learned justice
: ere not as solemn as their gowns. On
of their number has Just been telling
coed story in the robing room. and tn
old fellows are still giegiins. Thirt,
seconds later they mount the long bench
each and every one literally as sober as
) judge
q These corridors of the Capitol are fnl