Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-01-25
CAPITOL VISITORS
They Have Necessitated the Refur-
nishing Of the Reception Room.
PLAIN But RELIC-LOVING
How They Secure the Buttons
From the Sofas.
FOUND IN THE GALLERIES


1t has been necessary to take the finely up
holstcred leather sofas out of the ladies'
reception room of the Senate and to put in
their place less perishable wooden and cane
settees. This was done to prevent the fur
piture being carried off in small sections by
relic-loving visitors at the Capitol. 1t has
heen the custom to have none but fine quail
ity and rich furniture, not only in the Sem
ate chamber, but in all the ante rooms. lob
bies and reception rooms. The furniture in
the Presidents room, the marble lobby, and
the ladies' reception room is of leather that
In the Presidents room being red leather
embossed in gold.
. Before the opening of this Congress all the
furniture was gone over and renovated, that
OF the reception room and lobby being en-
t1rely reupholstered. This looked very fine.
1t was lot long, however, before the but
tons with which the tufting of the uphol-
stery was held began to disappear. One by
enc, and then by the dozen. they vanished.
They were deer-seated into the cushions
so that they could not rub off; but that did
rot save them. They were put on as tight
as might be. but they came off faster than
the upholsterer could replace them.
Peculiar Class of Visitors.
In some respects this Is phenomenal
Congress. Among other things 1t has its
own peculiar class of visitors. There are
certain of the habitUes Of the Capitol who
appear every session and vanish again to
some unknown region when the recess be-
gins. Some OF these are still here, but many
OF the most familiar faces are missing.
Namelcss parasites, they are remembered
only by their personal appearance. Some
may be dead. Others have probably fol-
lowed INTO retirement the old statesmen
wrecked at the past election to whom they
were in the habit Of clinging They have
teen replaced by an entirely new and orig
1nal set of people.
These will become the habitues and lobby
veterans or the future. This seems to be
sort of recruiting Congress, marking a
reorganization epoch in the life of this
strange society. But the change is more
VINO come to look upon Congress for an
hour or for day. People who are not
used to travelling seem to find themselves
at TINS 1ime with more money. or perhaps
with only more leisure. than usual Per-
maps in the great number of new men IL,
congress they find people whom they know
better than they did the old, and they are
actua,ed by a desire to see how ne,ehbor
So-and-so looks as statesman.
Plain, but Relic-LOvinx.
If Congress may be judged by the COM
pany 1t keeps, this is surely a Congress of
the plain people. These are a people who
feel sort Of proprietary interest in the
greatness. glory and magnifcence of the
capital of the nation. They look upon
everything with sort of awe, mingled
with an assumed familiarity, and they
seem all to be inspired with a desire to
take small piece of this magnificent prop
erty home with them. This is how it han
pens that the buttons cannot be kept on
the upholstery. They would probably cut
the buttons off the vests of the Senators
and Representatives If they dared, but there
they are confined to swinging on the but
ton holes. Buttons Off the furniture are by
no means all they take, but this is their
particular fad. 1t is not the intrinsic
value of the article which attracts them,
but its quality as q souvenir While sit
ting on the nice soft leather sofas, they
dive their hands down into the upholstery
and cautiously twist away until they are
in possession Of a button or two, so that
at the end of day the sofas are as in
nocent of buttons as David Copperfield's
Pegotty after a demonstration of emotion
Finally all hope of ever satisfying the
craving for these buttons was abandoned
by the Senate custodians, and this week
the leather sofas were taken out and very
plain settees made Of wood and rattan were
put in their place.
Dropped in the Galleries.
One days session of Congress makes a
curious harvest in the galleries.. The
abandoned property picked up and turned
over to the sergeant-at-arms would stock
curiosity shop. Canes, umbrellas, over
shoes, pocketbooks. letters, articles of jew
elry hairpins, backhair and bangs, gloves,
srectacles, wells and heaven knows what all
are picked up from time to time. The
things of value are almost invariably called
for. Once considerable sum of money in
roll was picked up by one Of the page
boys. and was never called for, though it
was advertised III the leading local news
papers for a month. Not long ago pocket
book containing several hundred pounds in
British notes, return steamer ticket and
railroad tickets for an extensive tour of
America was picked up in one of the gal
leries and afterward returned to the owner,
an English tourist, who reported his loss
to the police. A pickpocket Is a thing al
most unknown in the Capitol building,
though thousands of strangers jostie
against each other in the corridors and are
crowded together in the galleries. But one
case of a pocket being picked has been re-
ported during this session. That was the
work of an amateur, who got frightend
and returned the property on the pretense
of having found it. There are no. more
police in the building than there were fifty
years ago. when it was not more than a
third of its present size, but the force ia
peculiarly efficient.
Mr.. RnnsOm's Diplomacy.
During the attendance of ex-senator Ran
som, the minister to Mexico, upon the meet
ing of the democratic national committee
here, a story was told on him to illustrate
his wonderful gifts of diplomacy There
was young American stopping at Minister
Ransom's residence in Mexico. This young
man appeared several times in a pair Of
trousers Of that delicate shade between a
blue gray and lavender. Ransom refrain-
ed from remarking upon the trousers as long
as he could Finally he threw his arm
around the young mans shoulders and said,
smoothing him down caressingly the while:
MY dear boy; God bless you, my dear
boy. how are you this morning? 1 hope you
are well, very well. my dear boy; God bless
you. You are looking fine this morning. I
never wore trousers like those when 1 was
young man. You are looking fine God
bless you, God bless you, my boy. Not to
criticise, not to criticise, as 1 remarked. /
never wore trousers like those when 1 was
a young man like you. You know the mig
gers used to wear that sort when they went
to ricnics. God bless you, my boy; you are
looking fine and well this morning." And
he patted the young man on the shoulder
and stroked him down in the most affection
ate manner.
The ExngEerative Agent.
From the IndinraDos JOurnal