The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-13
HABITS OF STATESMEN
IRREGULARITIES THAT HAVE MARKED
MEMBERS OF THE SENATE.
PAYNE and His string, Rengnn's Cat
FfddIes," Edmunds's Thumb Twid-
ding and Hoar's Keys.
;nec,aI 70 the Indianapous Journal.

WASHINGTON, Sept. Ex-senator Payne,
of Ohio, whose death was announced this
week, one of the members of the Sem
ate always pointed out to tourists by the
guides as among the men worth seeing in
the Senate. Mr.. Payne rarely spoke. In
fact it is not recalled just now that he
ever made speech of any length or inn
portance, though it is recalled that on one
occasion after having given notice that he
would address the Senate, and having thus
obtained an excellent audience, the vener-
able Senator arose in his seat, and, after
looking around his colleagues for mo-
ment, sat down again without uttering
word, with the pleased air Of a man who
has worked off a good joke on his friends.
Mr. Payne was one of the sights OF the
Senate because he was at his time point
ed out as the richest man in the Senate.
and guides told with bated breath Of the
fnconceivable millions which he controlled.
explaining that, as president of the Stand
ard Oil Company. he was the modern
Monte Cr1sto. To daily habitues of the
Senate gallery Mr.. Payne was interesting.
because of an odd trick he had of chew
ing a string. He always carried In his
vest pocket piece of cotton Irvine about
half yard long. He was very regular in
his attendance on the sessions. and no mat
was manfully sitting in his seat listening
apparently with wrapped attention. But
whenever he sat thus absorbed, he would
unconsciously pull his cotton string out OF
his pocket and, putting one end In his
mouth, he would hold the other end of the
string in his left hand. and after stretch
ing 1t out to it's full length he would grad
ually begin feeding 1t into his mouth, until
it was all gone, like young girl chewing
a piece of gum. Then. after he had mas
ticated it for q few moments, he would
reverse the process, and gradually unfeed
the string again, until he held only the
end of it between his teeth. after which
he would again resume feeding it into his
mouth. Mr.. Payne did this little act in
absolute Inconsistencies. None of the
Senators ever called bis attention to II,
though they all noticed it, and Senator
Payne and his string were as well recog-
nized as one of the institutions of the Sem
ate as Senator Wilson, of Maryland and
his snuff box.
Mr.. Payne was not the only member OF
the Senate in days gone by who was the
unconscious victim of uncomfortable
habit. Mr.. Reagan, of Texas, was another
man given to petty peculiarities. One of
Mr.. Reagan's great tricks was the making
of .'cat fiddles' or "cat cradles" All day
federacy would sit in his seat making the
most complicated devices. with a long
string, the ends tied to his fingers and to
an observer in the gallery 1t would appear
as though the whole weight of his intellect
was devoted solely to the proper manipu-
lation of the strings on his fingers. Mr..
Reagan had another habit which was In
tensely annoying to the man whose duty
it was to clean I'D the Senate floor every
afternoon. Every card that was brought
to him the Senator would fold in the mid
die with mathematical precision, tear 1t in
two parts, and thus keep on dismem5ering
the card until he held in his hand lot
of infinitesimal scraps, which he would then
blow out into space, with a mighty
puff of his lungs, producing an effect some
thing like the snowstorm that envelops the
forlorn heroine out the prairie in the
modern realistic drama. Another peculiar
ity of the Senator was an annoyance to
some Of his superstitious colleagues. lie
had a great way of selecting any seat on
the Democratic side, provided that it was
not his own. Whenever a Democratic Sem
ator was sick Mr.. Reagan invariably appro-
priated his chair, and as during the course
of his career in the Senate number of his
colleagues died, Mr.. Reagan began to be
looked upon as a "hoodoo" for any sick
1t is we'll remembered that on one occasion
when Senator Vance was sick he wrote up
to Senator Pasco, who arranges the pairs
for absent Senators, telling him that he
sick, and adding pathetically: For
Gods sake, don't let old Reagan have my
chair" Senator Vances chair was taken
out of the Senate Chamber.
Senator Edmundss great fashion of twid-
ding his thumbs still clings to him, and
even now when he sits in the Supreme
court chamber waiting to address that dis
tinguished body, it is his invariable habit
to twirl one thumb around the other. The
great Vermont statesman has acquired
accomplishment, however, that few thumb
twirlers can achieve. Mr.. Edmunds can
twiddle one thumb from right to left and
the other one from left to right, This is no
mean achievement.
Senator Hoar's trick of swinging his keys
by the key chain can be seen every day in
the Senate. Mr.. Hoar's seat is next to Sem
ator Sherman, and as his enjoyment Of
swinging his keys increases he increases
the length of the chain radius OF his circle.
SO that Mr.. Sherman frequently finds it de-
sirable to move his chair away from the
circle of influence of his Massa chusetts
neighbor
Mr.. Hoar is about the last of the Senators
with habit. New men are coming into tho
Senate who wear short coats and silk hats.
Their manners are free and easy, and they
are not above commenting on The idosyn-
cracies of their venerable colleagues, with
the result that these elderly gentlemen are
all curing themselves of whatever little
habit Of that kind to which they have been
addicted.