The Washington times., 1894-12-11
CLoAkRoOM AND GALLERY.

A good many Of the old members when
| they Sit down to dictate 10 their stenographers
and arrive at the point where they want to
indicate that a period should be inserted,
think with amusement OF "a story that Con-
gressman Simonds used TO tell upon himself
in the cloakroom.
~ was attending a convention in our city,"
said Simonds. land was busy In the opening
moments fixing things among the delegates.
had not gotten through when found that
the convention was being called 70 order.
hurried along. whispering few words into
the ear of this or that man, and congratu-
lated 10 yself that was getting things strait,
when word came 10 me from the chairman
that the chief speaker OF the occasion had not
yet arrived. and that / must make a talk 10
hold the crowd until he should put in an ap-
pearance / was not vet through with my
business and sent him back word TO let me
alone for while. but before the word reached
him he announced me as the speaker OF the
moment.
II was not particularly embarrassed, for /
was thoroughly accustomed to thinking Oh
my feet and talking on short notice. but had
my head full of other matters, and had
pretty difficult problem in politics 10 work out
in q very few minutes, for there was not much
time to be lost So / got on my feet and be-
gan talking to the crowd, but permitting my
thoughts 10 still follow the other matter of
which had been thinking before was called
to speak. Ii was sort OF mental strabIsmus
looking two ways, or rather thinking one
way and talking another.
80 l rambled on through a rather long
sentence. still letting my mind wander from
the subject and when | came TO the end Of
the sentence l seem to have imagined myself
! talking TO a 5tenograDher, for l closed 1t
! with the word, period For moment there
was look OF panied surprise in the faces OF
my friends in the audience, and then they
| seemcdto grasp the situatisn, and the roars
OF laughter at my expense thoroughly re-
called my thoughts from their wanderlngs,
and convinced me that l was not debating.
/ But | seldom begin dictation that | do not
remember the sensations of that moment,
when l arrive at the first period.
"The most feasible plan for supplying the
needed buildings for a Government Printing
| Office, muninipal building for Washington,
| and many others that are needed, said one
! of the friends of the city of Washington aud
! ii careful student of legislation generally. lis
/ to erect a big building in Latayatte Square,
! just north OF the White House. A building
| covering that entire square would be as big
/ as the State, War and Navy building, and
/ would accommodate the Department OF jus
/ tiee. Interior Department. and Post-offiee
Department with ease. Then by erecting Il
] sufficient building on the square where the
| Department OF Justice building now stands it
would give ample room for the Agricultural
! Department, and the Supreme Court and
! Court OF Claims could be housed on the
/ square just west of the park, where the Cor
/ coran Art Gallery now stands.
This would bring every one Of the depart
ments about the Executive Mansion and 'front.'
/ ing it, and would make il practicable to use
! the buildings now used by them for other
! purposes. The Interior Department build
! ing with its solid walls and strong construc-
tion, would be just the thing for Govern
! ment Printing Office, the Post-office Depart
ment building an admirable one for the mu-
nicipal buildings. and for which the govern
ment could afford to pay good price. There
/ are plenty of purposes to which the Agrieult-
ural Department buildings could be applied,
/ for the government is renting dozens of
/ buildings all over the city for branches of the
/ service which have no permanent home. This
! plan would group every department about
! the White House, as should be the case, and
/ yet would not bring them extensively near,
for the White House fronts toward the Poto-
mac. and would thus have no buildings in
! front OF il. If Lafayette Square could not be
utilized the two full squares east and Yves OF
it would serve"
Those who saw Secretary Carlisle at the
! Capitol yesterday, especially those who had
! seen little OF him since he left the Senate 10
! become Secretary OF the Treasury, were as
! tonished and panied at the change that was
apparent. The tWenty-one months since Mr..
! Carlisle took charge of the Treasury have
! been very hard ones to him. They would
! have peen hard ones upon any man, no mat
/ ter how vigorous n physique he might have
| had for the hard work coupled with the Sc
we're strain and anxiety resultant from the
A1,cE h~n