The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-02-18
LOOKING THEM OVER.
Becky Sharp Makes an Inspection
of the House,
and TELLS ABOUT HER IMPRESSIONS


How the Members Look and How
They Wear Their Hair; Also Other
Little Particulars That Only = WO-
man Would Take Note or
81 wonder what they'll have in the pa
pers when the legislature is over" said
Topeka woman in my hearing last week.
"Why," she continued, "Pm just sick
and tired of hearing about it all the
time.'
But she was not one of the feminine
contingent who daily frequent the cor
ridors of the statehouse, and besiege
everybody from the pages up, to assist
them in gaining entrance.
To prove that there is such a contin-
gent, one has only to loaf bit about the
halls of state. as [ did last week.
l began the loafng act in the ante
room of the speakers sanctum, or '1store,"
as he himself calls it. Here a charming
young woman lends the assistance some
times necessary, despite Clerk McCray's
ministerial air. which has caused him to
be mistaken for chaplain, to break the
full strength of the tidal wave of human
ity which surges in and out all day-''to
see the speaker just a minute" Some
times he is there, chiefly, when-as one
young woman applicant expressed it
''the committee is in the hole" She ex-
pected to find him then, because some
one else would be in the chair.
When he is not in, some of the appli-
Giants look askance moment, then not
ing, perhaps for the first time, the afore-
said ministerial manner, they doubt no
longer, and go-to come again. When
he is there he has always a pleasant
manner, a courteous word, for the most
trivial or cheeky" land some of them
are pretty cheeky demand on his time.
BY this time everybody in Topeka knows
the genial speaker, from the crown of
his head, where every shining black hair
IS smoothly in place, down to his feet.
Mr. LObdell does only two things that
are undignifed. 1t is claimed that he
chews gum occasionally, and then he
smiles-no man who has dimple has
any right to smile if he wishes to retain
his reputation for dignity.
In spite of the dignified manner. there
Is, of late, the suspicion of a tired look
about his countenance, that is suggestive
of the price our public men pay for fame,
and l find myself wondering if it will
not yet be necessary to establish Kelley
cure for the political habit
The magic word JOURNAL, and the
speakers signature, the former having
secured the latter, took me past the aug
ust dOOrkeeper, who is as watchful of
his charge as good ST Peter could be.
AT first Pm a little abashed. l fear
the house is not expecting an observing
BYE.
Members are leaning back in their
chairs, with feet elevated on their desks,
absorbed in papers, though the clerk is
reading in a resonant voice.
Mr.. CubbisOn, who, as | learn later, is
Dne of the best, if not the best orator in
The house. is over near the journal clerks
desk smoking d cigar, and, judging by
;he way he inhales the smoke and slowly
cts it escape from his nostrils, after the
manner of a cigarette smoker, he is
thoroughly enjoying it.
Mr. Cubbison's speeches are very con-
b vincing, and would be apt to convince
you, even if he did not believe what he
was saying himself
Speaking of convincing takers there's
Judge W. B. Sutton. Beside being the
most deliberate talker on the floor. his
every utterance is poetical, and the poetry
grows especially apparent when he is
urging the claims of the Jack Rabbit re-
gion, which he represents. Judge Sutton
has very little hair, but his beard makes
it up.
Over in his vicinity sits Mr. Rohrbaugh
of Wichita, who is said to be humorist
at home, but who seems to take the
world very seriously here, and himself
more seriously. He wears mutton chop
whiskers and his hair becomes rather
disheveled, on slight provocation. My
observation of what would be called the
couture of the members Gf they were
women) is Occasioned by a young lady
clerk in the house, who, by the wav. ex-
planned that the reason she had not
adopted the fashionable part in the hair,
was because it was no longer a distinc-
ton of sex, and who called my attention
to the fact that the member who comes
nearest to having his hair parted in the
middle, is our own Mr.. Gardenhire. the
possessor of the most musical voice
heard in the house.
After speaking of that she said: HHave
you noticed that about one-third of the
members part their hair on the right
side, and some Of them rather far down."
had not noticted, but after that, did
There are several who are not trouble
parting their hair at all. Among these
is Col. E. II. Brown, whom the Young
ladies employed about the honse. saw is
the most dtstingVe looking man in the
hall. What hair he has, is like his beard.
snow white. Then there are those who
part their whiskers IN the middle. Among
them MIR. Hunt of Leavenworth, the man
who has the kindliest expression. and a
twinkle III his eye when he speaks: Mr.
Schlyer of Hays City who never speaks.
Mr.. Meridith OF Hutchinson who some
times does, and our own Colonel VeaIe
who has filed the chair SO ABLY during
much OF the past week 1t is to these
gentlemen, and to Mr.. Miller of Morris.
that the average legislator points with
pride, for vindication, when it is sup-
gested that any of their number is not
domestic in his tastes, or ever "cares to
wander from his own freside" farther
than the law-making duties take him.
Speaking of hair, Judge Beekman must
have gone to a barber and had his
combed Saturday night before he occu-
pied box at the minstrel show. Ordin-
arily 1t looks as though he had just
emerged from the bath tub and has no
percaptible part There are several
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