The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-26
THE HOUSE FROM ABOVE.


 | Surprised-Speaker Reed as a Spec l tacle-Deceptive Views-Regulars | Who Lie in Wait for Episodes-Show | Below and Show Overhead.
 l As the mountains are round about Je-
 rusalem, so are the galleries around the Hall of Representative at Washington. I Here, however the similitude ceases; | there is nothing cherishing or protect | ing about this overhanging cordon of | spectators in that great oblong box of l room Rather does it seem to the nem-
 bers below as constituting a mammoth
 eye, the eye of the public alert and
 never sleeping.
 | The gallery in it's entirety is compre- hensive, including all sorts and condi- | tions. of men--and also of women.
 There are seats for the general male public, the doors to which are marked | Gentlemen" This same spirit of opti-
 mism designates other seats for La dies" Then there is the members gall
 lery, reserved for the families of con- gressmen, and the executive and diplo- ! matic galleries, sacred to high officials, domestic and foreign. More truly rep | resentative than all the others is the | | through cards from members, and it | partakes delightfully."- of the nature of | privilege especially to tourists from l afar who are all wound up to be inn | pressed. Lastly, there is the press gall l lery.
 | The common galleries of the House | are as peanutty as those of the Old | Bowery. They also woo the tramp to 1 sweet sleep, like the seats in City Hall Park on sunshiny day. There can | not be anything symbolic about the di- 1 plomatic gallery; it is usually empty. l Sometimes sallow, foreign-looking lit l tie boy will break for the moment, the | continuity of the fat door-keepers I dream. Sometimes a bevy of gayly l dressed Chinamen will give tea-chest | cover touch to the scene. But in gene ral the diplomats keep away; popular | government is so incomprehensible to | them that they dread to make it more l so. When they do come they look as though they wished they hadn't. Per- 1 haps, however, this aspect is merely l the hauteur of station
 Nor Is the executive gallery, immedi- I ately adjoining, in much greater favor | with those entitled to it's seclusion. 1 The trouble is that this seclusion is l more apparent than real. While the | fair women who sometimes come and 1 nibble bonbons are removed from vul- gar touch the notice which they attract | must be overwhelming. The order
 "eyes right" never meets with more complete obedience, and the inquiring hum of "Who is she?" is followed by | the answering hum of misinformation These two galleries, then, are attrib-
 utes of power, like the place ever ready
 at the head of the table for the absent l master
 The members gallery is too personal
 to congress to have much individuality | Its main characteristic is a pleased
 smile. Here come the good wife, and l Johnny from school and Miss Mary | just out this winter to hear pa speak, :" | And if they are the only ones who
 really do take full advantage of this | high privilege, their satisfaction is just as limitless. Many a member confused by jest and laughter about him, and
 mortified by seeing the leader whom he
 had hoped to impress engrossed in read- | ing the Congressional Record, of all
 things, has regained pluck and endur- l ance through the sympathy of bright
 eyes, even as doughty knights in cour-
 ney were wont to recover from re-
 sounding whack through the same in-
 spiration. Utilitarians may claim that | on this very account the members gall | lery should be closed, since it encour- | ages the output of congressional elo- | quence; but then it should be remem-
 bered that while members talk they are | iy1 f,,1e ifs
 scenes have resulted from this coniunc- tion of Joan in the gallery and Darby on the floor. Last spring, in the height of the riot attending the adoption of | the Cuban resolutions, tall, dignified | lady rushed through the corridor in a state of distraction pitiable to behold for it was at her husbands head that | the file of documents had been thrown. | And gossips around the Capital still tell
 how, years ago, when southern sena- tor was forced, struggling and shriek- | ing, off the floor of the senate, his poor
 wife, who had gone there in all the | flush of pride and hope, was borne
 senseless from her seat in the gallery | The private gallery is by far the most comprehensive in it's interests. Every , visitor at Washington has member to
 call upon; even the Indian from Okla
 homa has his delegate, and every con-
 gressman is only too happy to obige
 constituent with a gallery ticket; hence i here may be found a gathering purely
 national. The occupants, too, come not
 to rest to criticise, or to be admired; | their purpose is to see and to hear the
 whole show. There is a perpetual cram
 ing of necks, a continual pointing of
 hands while the heated air rises like a | huge interrogation point.
 In what. then. are the visitors most 1 interested? The Speaker, first and foremost. He is so easily recognized
 for one thing: he is such clever cari-
 cature of his pictures, for another
 Then he is so big, and so deliberate in
 his movements; and that drawl one has
 heard so much about is so droll. Pro-
 fessional humorists have only to march
 out upon the stage and stand silent and
 still and their audience will shriek with
 laughter. MT. Reed has much the same | influence upon his admirers from near | and afar.
 Then there is the Speakers clerk,
 whose post is by. the desk, who is so ex-
 pert in parliamentary law that one
 looks at his fingers ends in the very