Daily Kennebec journal., 1895-04-01
Sc SENATE a MERCURIES.
THE BRIGHT LITTLE FELLOWS WHO
WAIT ON THE SENATORS.

WAIT ON THE SENATORS.
They Mingle Fun with Work and Are
Full of Spirit-Their Antics Amuse More
Than They Annoy the Senator's Many
Dcties That Occupy the Days.
Life is one glorious mixture of work
and play to senatorial page. He can get
in more fun to the square inch In his lei
sure moments, and he can do moro hus-
tling and quick work with his nimble feet
than almost any other individual alive IL
would be a benefit to society if the average
district messenger boy could be taken to
the capitol occasionally and given an OBJ
ject lesson ty being shown a senatorial
page doing an errand for a statesman. 1t
would make the heart of schoolboy burst
with envy to see this same page minute
after his errand is finished enjoying him
self as only a page can. As a bundle of
contradictions page is an eminent sue
cess. His equal is scarcely to be found in
apy other department of life, either pri-
yate or public.
In the first place, the pages are selected
from that age of humanity that is most
devoted to the utilization of every moment
of leisure as we'll as of every muscle in the
body. Activity and ingenuity arc the
page's watchwords. His first rule of ex
istence is to do whatever he has to do in
the shortest possible time, SO as to have
all the more leisure for his many and
varied modes of entertainment. AS rule,
his mornings are mostly his own, and
these he uses to certain amount of good
in n n
the basement Of the capitol with the ath
letic apparatus that has there been accumu-
lated for the use of this interesting corps
of young Americans Here diminutive
sets of dumbbells, boxing gloves and In
dian clubs have been stored from time to
time and some of the pages have become
quite proficient in their use.
Some good hard blows are struck in this
basement room, and occasionally black
eye merges into the full light of the SEN
ate chamber AS facile with their tongues,
however, as with their fists, the boys al
ways have ready answer, and they are
seldom pressed very hard as to how they
came by their bruises, for tits one of the
luxuries of being page that the senators
are not hard snasters, but are, ON the con-
trary, disposed to be very lenient and easy
going.
Asa matter of fact, the antics of the
boys amuso rather than irritate them, and
it is astonishing how much confusion
senator who strolls into the chamber in the
morning will endure before he enters
mild reproach. The boys use this morn
ing hour with great deal of freedom.
They are divided into watches, so to speak,
each boy having certain duties to perform
in the arrangement of the desks, the
strengthening of the chairs, the distribu-
tion of documents and the pens. A boy is
placed on guard at each of the doors to
the cloakrooms to prevent overcurious Wis
itors from strolling into these forbidden
precincts. and it is one of their duties gen.
orally to keep tourists from entering the
rows of desks within.
AS the hour of IL o'clock approaches
calm begins to reign among the pages.
They cease their romping as senator after
senator enters the chamber, and their sur
reptitious games of marbles are discon-
tinued. A minute or SO before the hour
Of noon the pages separate into two groups,
one on each side of the chamber, and each
page takes position in front Of the desk
before the first row of the semicircle
around the vice presidents chair. Each
boy has his place allotted to him and as
sumes as nearly as possible the position
of respectful silence. OF course this is
only approximate with these youngsters,
who are fairly boiling over with fun and
frivolity As the gilded hands of the great
blue clock over the south door point to IL
there is a hush throughout the chamber,
the pages straighten up into stiff and un-
natural positions, the doors on the east Of
the vice Presidents seat are thrown open,
and little procession formed of the secre-
tary of the senate, Captain Bassett, the
vice president and Chaplain Milburn, led
by ono of the pages, enters the room.
Tho boys standing by the front row of
desks bow their heads and remain as
though petrifed throughout the prayer.
Once in awhile one OF the more mischiev-
Gus lads will disturb the solemnity of the
occasion by surrepttious poke into the
side of his neighbor; but, as rule, they
arc we'll behaved and do not chafe under
the restraint of a couple of minutes. The
moment the amen" is sounded tho pages
scurry to their seats on tho steps leading
to the desks of the vice president and the
clerks, being equally divided between tho
two sides of tho house, and a few mo-
ments later they are to be found in all
parts of the senate wing as they fit about
on their errands for the senators.
This senator may want book from the
library, that cne document from his COM
mittee room. Another may desire the pres
ence of his clerk in the senate chamber, or
still another may simply wish to send a
message to a senator on the other side.
Many of the errands which these boys per-
form are confidential, and they never be-
tray the trust imposed upon them.
1t is only occasionally that boy is re-
tained from. the staff of pages in some
other capacity about the senate. OF course
the shining example of Senator German,
who was a page at one time, and who aft
erward became postmaster of the senate
after passing through successive stages,
acts, of course, as a strong incentive to
these lads to remain in the service as long
rs possible. But, as rule, they are re-
tired when they reach the age limit Of Is
gears. Places are found for some of the
brighter boys as riding pages, clerks in
A.. svk 20