Evening star., 1896-01-04
SEEN AT THE CAPITOL

star reporter was over near the DlB cOlumn
In the corner where the man with the Con-
gressional Record holds forth. Tuesday. and
party of tourists were trying the various
stones. At the column mentioned stood a
young man. and at the column on the other
side Of the hall stood the young mans sweet
heart. evidently. though the conversation
over this queer telephone Of stones arches
| and masonry is quite disconnected as
over one of wood and wires. This is the way
the young man talked however:
Say, ILL., is the old man out of hearing?'
"Yes."
"All right Say, let's cut the whole busi-
hess and get married. I'm tired of hanging
found a girl that l can't get close enough to
squeeze her hand"
What's that?'
you love me all the same?"
LII. you're brick 1 say. is the old man
rs? Then take this" and over the arches
| or under them, however the sound may
travel. there Went a rousing smack that
| would have blistered the lips of the lady, had
she got it in the regulation manner.
| X x XIX X
Very early in each session Of Congress it
develops that what every common school
needs is teacher in elocution. 1t is one of
| the mysteries past finding out why some men
will punish the circum ambient air by loading
1t with 1narticulate sounds that are worse
than meaningless, except to those who sit
close about them. and only make laughter
for those In the galleries, who can see the
Wild gesticulations, the impassoned shaking
| OF the heads, the pounding of DESKS but dis
tinguish no accompanying words. It is a
queer pantomime, and not much relished
There ought to be something in the rules
that Will prevent a man ranting for an hour
only to obiige one to read the Record to see
| whether 1t was diatribe on free silver or a
monologue on the Monroe doctrine that was
disturbing his peace Of mind Orators are
porn, not made, but there is nothing in the
constitution that prevents any man from
Maln1ng his voice to proper pitch and m odula-
tfon. One can have too much voice as we'll
as too little.
Mr.. Brosius Of PENNSYLVANIA literally
oomoards the ear with his stentorlan efforts,
wnen half as much volumne would make him
muSn more inteiligible and interesting. The
dashing general from Alabama can't talk
two minutes till he IS breathing like a wind
broken horse or an engine laboring I'D the
oivlde. Both men would profit by a sys-
teniauc course of voice culture. Speaker
Reed has not a powerful voice, and Its tones
are Ter from dulcet, but he pitches 1t prop
eriy, and sends it into space with force that
makes 1t carry surprising distance.
MI MI bailey. the young man from Texas. has
| clear tones OF excellent quality, but they are
marred by q "campmeeting' whang that
makes them monotonous. Mr.. Dalzeil has q
voice as thin as woman's and Mr. Patter-
son OF Tennessee roars like a blizzard
through q canon when he gets on his new
gold hobby. Gen. Henderson of Iowa is a
pyrotechnic speaker OF great eloquence. but
ne Is inclined to rant In his earnestness
Mr.. Cahnen of Illinois is as good as a
circus with his paisied gesticuiations and
ms strides up and down the AISLE and in
al ms years OF service in Congress has not
| learned than an Impressive speaker doesn't
nave to saw the air or thump the stuffing
Out OF rosewood desk to make MS points
One of the best speakers in the House and
the ona most seldom heard Is Mr. Cousins
OF iowa He speaks In a converse tional
tone, which carries even to the recesses of
the cloak rooms He has no tricks Of voice,
no fervency Of rhetoric. but his voice seems
Ireashted with the earnestness of the pur-
pose which moves him to talk
One OF the remarkable new speakers of
the House is Mr.. Connolly, the successor
or Mr. Springer. The gentleman of the
carnation was never an entertaining talk
e. however interesting his subject but Mr.
Connolly speaks with power and natural
eloQuence. equally unstudied. Mr.. johnson
OF Indiana and the new Mr. johnson Of
California would probably tie on which is
the more rapid speaker, and no stenogra-
pher would care to follow either for an
hour at stretch, but they are not Of the
same turn" though both are humorous at
WILL The Indiana mans wit turns on q
sarcastic spindle. and that Of the CaHfor-
nian is of the Chatting nature, and both
can bring a laugh, but neither of them is
an orator.
When Mr.. Payne of New York turns his
pig voice loose, you imagine that the wind
Is sweeping through a pine forest his in
nectton rises and falls SO monotonously
Mr.. Turner Of Georgia talks easily, but
dreariiy, and puuctuates with "sah.' Mr..
McCreary Of Tennessee talks In that color
less judicial manner that makes one feel
that 1t would take less time to read 1t than
to- listen to his speeches.
Amos Cummings sails into his subject as
Nvoph
to have it out. right then and there once
for all. In fact, there are no real orators
among the members Of the House. though
there are hundred or more whose every
utterance carries weight, and the very
mention of whose names brings a crowd
to the galleries to hear them speak The
human voice yields so readily to training,
1t does seem pity that it should be so
sadly neglected.
The gavel that Speaker Reed uses must
be loadei with lead. When he brings It
down on that pounding board, the very
ceiling rebounds with the sound of the con-
cussion, and every set of false teeth in the
House rattles. 1t stops the flow of rhet-
oric Of Mr.. Cooper Of Florida and even
slackens the volubility of Mr.. johnson of
Indiana. The mace isn't in 1t with the
power of that gavel.
X x x x
The gentleman from Boston," Mr.. Bar
rett, sustains the statement that Boston
men are generally good dressers. He has
an especially good taste in neckties, an ex-
quiste shade of petunia being his favorite
which he ties most artistically. That is
Mrs. Cleveland's favorite color, too.
x x x x +
Mr.. Cox of Tennessee is always associated
in the minds of strangers with a desk
His favorite attitude in questioning
speaker is to walk sedately down the mid
die aisle, and lean both elbows on some
bodys desk. and in that position he re-
mains while he rasps his opponent with
questions
= x * x
very funny sight it was the other day.
when the debate of the bond bill was in
progress, to see Mr.. Crisp chewing gum at
the rate of forty knots an hour His Jaws
seemed to be keeping company with his
thoughts, and both were scorching along
at lightning speed.
!: x x *
In the gallery On Saturday last there sat
man who attracted more attention than
would have been accorded the President of
the United States. had he walked into the
seat set aside for him in the House gal
lery. The man. who was sublimely uncon-
cious of the curiosity Of the people about
him, was the absolute counterpart of Abra-
ham Lincoln. A lady. who sat beside a
Star reporter, and who had known the
| liberator well. almost tainted when this