Mexico weekly ledger., 1899-06-22

formation. would inquire Of the speak.
er what bill was under discussion. Be
ing informed and having thus got him
self into The Record for that day, SO he
could send marked copies thereof to his
admiring friends at home, he would
hasten to participate in the revelries Of
the city. This performance he repeated
diurnally until ii came to be a standing
joke and a perpetual bore. Like Major
Joe Bagstock. ''he was sly. sir, devilish
slyP' But, like most ally people, he
finally overdid it and came to grief.
Mr.. Reed has no patience with fools,
and detests shams most heartily. One
morning he wss addressing the house
when in came the Ohio man aforesaid.
prancing down the big aisle and asked
the speaker his usual matutinal ques-
ton. Reed did not wait for the speaker
to respond, but answered 1t himself.
The Ohio statesman started ont, when
Mr.. Reed drawled, "Now, Mr.. Speaker.
having Embedded that fly in the amber
of my eloquence, / will proceed"
Somehow the tale reached Ohio, and
when the member came up for renomi-
nation an old delegate from the rural
districts, who knew more about tobacco
than about the dictionary, addressed
the chairman of the convention in these
sensible but deadly words, mir. Chair
man, we don't want any man to repre-
sent us who has been imbedded in Tom
Reeds AMBER, T" placing the accent on
the last syllable and making the "e'
very long.
The convention thereupon concluded
that It would leave the member free to.
squander all his time seeking pleasure
and failed TO renominate him.
where Jerry simpson ewas At"
Mr.. Reed very rarely INDUCED his
sarcastic faculty or exercised his power
of repartee while in the chair. Some
times, however, the temptation was ir-
resistible. One Of his greatest coups
was executed in the Fifty-tifth con-
gress and came about in this wise:
When during the extra session Mr..
Reed was adjourning the house three
days at q clip, which Is the constitu-
tional limit Of adjournment by one
house, he held that Sunday was no
legislative day and in this way man
aged to make two adjournments OF
three days each cover an entire week
of seven days. What be was really try
ing to do was to hold the senate of the
United States up to universal execra-
tion by focusing all eyes upon them for
causing the delay in passing the Ding
ley bill, he having a settled theory that
that august body is a hindrance rather
than a help to legislation.
A great many members did not take
kindly to this three days adjournment
business. Among these was Jerry
Simpson, the irrepressible Populist
from Kansas. Nearly every time the
house met Jerry would rise to a ques-
tiop of the highest privilege and grave
y argue that the house was not con-
additionally in session, for the reason
that Sunday was not counted as a leg
i~slative day. AT first this seemed to
amuse Mr.. Reed, and be listened patti
entity to Jerry and his coadjutors, but
n very hot morning he was clearly in
a bad humor and uneeremoniously saw
ed Jerry off at the knees, declaring that
he was out Of order and should not
proceed ont Of order, whereupon Mr..
Bland Of Missouri moved that Jerry be
allowed to proceed in order. Strange
as 1t may seem this very reasonable re-
quest was resisted and a roll call had
upon il, and, stranger still, the house
decided that Jerry should not be al
lowed to proceedin order. II Jerry had
let the matter rest there, he would have
been all right, for no patty on earth
could carry such a record as that, but
unfortunately for him he did not let II
rest there. While they were counting
up the vote, though it was evident how
1t had gone. Richardson Of Tennessee
came up the big aisle and said to the
Kansan, Jerry. when they announce
that vote, ask Reed where you are at. T"
So when the vote was announced. de-
termining that he should not be allow~1
ed to proceed in order, Jerry arose and
said very gravely, "Mr. Speaker, You
decided that | could not proceed out Of
order, and the house has decided that
l cannot proceed In order. now I want
to know where I am at. Quick as a
fash Reed replied, ''That Is one Of the
things that no mortal man has ever
been able TO tell whereupon Jerry
collapsed into his seat amid a roar Of
laughter that almost cracked the glass
ceiling.
Jerry Simpson was one of the most
formidable debaters that ever appeared
on the floor Of the house and delighted
to worry Mr.. Reed, giving as bis reason
for it that in 1894 Mr.. Reed began q
speech in Simpsons district in the fol-
lowing manner Fellow citizens, for
four years this district has been repre-
sented in congress by chaos" which
seemed to have the same effect on Jerry
as Sydney Smiths remark had upon the
woman whom be called a parallelopi-