The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1901-11-29

in the commonwealth the twelfth. "
Then came Webster Williams, Win
thrOp
The Hall of Representative is
legislative chamber, unsurpassed in
the world. The dimensions are length
l39 fl; width % II: height 30 II. 1t is
lighted by ceiling OF glass panels,
set in a framework of iron. In the
ceiling are painted the arms of the
states. The speakers desk, of white
marble, occupies an elevated position
IN the center OF the south side, and the
desks of the representatives arranged
in cOncentric semi-circles, with aisies.
A silver plate on each mahogany desk
in House and Senate has engraved
on IL the occupants name (this is the
way our honored Mr.. G.. +. Scott's
name appears on his desk). In front
OF the speakers desk are the desks and
tables OF the clerks and official report
ers: on his right is the Sergeant-at-
Arms: on his left the Assistant Door
Keeper. The Speakers mace is set ON
its pedestal of Vermont marble at the
right of the desk. The mace is "a han
die of ebony rods bound together with
ligaments of silver and having on top
silver globe surmOunted by silver
eagle. IL resembles the faces borne
by the lictors before the Roman mag
istrates, and is the symbol of the
speakers authority. The mace is al
ways placed on the ped stall when the
House is in session, and laid on the
floor when the House is in Committee
of the Whole. The Sergeant-at-A Arms
bears the symbol before him when ex-
ecuting the Speakers commands to
enforce order or to conduct member
to the bar of the House.
House paintings. in the panels of
the wall, on either side of the Speak
er's desk, and facing the House, are
full-length portraits of Washington
by Stuart, copied by Vanderlin) and
Lafayettel by A ScheiTer), presented
to Congress 10y Lafayette ON his last
visit to this cOun ry. The landscapes
by Bierstadt) are the discovery of the
Hudson in 1909, and the Spanish set.
nement of California in 1893. A fresco
by Brumundi pictures the incident at
Yorktown when Washington declined
overtures from CORVALLIS for a two
days cessation Of hostilities.
Over the main entrance is the famous
clock whose hands are turned back on
the last day of the session, that the
hour of adjournment may not bemark-
ed by it, before the business OF the
House is finished. The clock is of
bronze, with figures of Pioneer and
an Indian, nd surrounding il, an
American eagle. Opening of from the
hall on the south back of he Speaker 5
desk, is the House Lobby; and back
of that the members Retiring Room,
its walls hung with portraits OF former
spe kers. The galleries are reached
from the east and west corridors by
magnificent stairways of Tennessee
marble. Facing the east stairway is
Hiram Powers marble statue of
Thomas Jefferson. Above the first
landing hangs Frank b. Carpenter 5
picture of the First Reading OF the
Emancipation Proclamation before the
Cabinet, Sept. %, 1862. The portraits
beginning at the left are: Edwin NJ
Stanton, Secretary of War: Salmon
y. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury:
Abraham Lincoln, President: Gideon
Wells. Secretary of the Navy: Will
| liam II. Seward seated Secretary of
State: Caleb b. Smith, Secretary of
the Interior: Montgomery Blair, Post
master General: Edwin Bates, Attor-
ney- General. The picture was pre-
scented to the United States by
Mary Elizabeth Thompson in 1878.
Alex. II. Stevens, eX-Nice President of
the Confederacy, and then member
of the House, was one Of the orators
of its reception. In the corridors
above are portraits of Cunning Bed
ford, of the Continental COMPRESS,
Charles Carroll, a signer of the De-
claration of Independence, and Henry
Clay, by Neagle. At the foot of the
West stairway is n bronze bust by
Vencenti, OF the Chippewa chief, Be
sheke. On the wall of the stairway is
Emanuel Lentz's spirit painting,
Westward Hon 1t has for its leg
end Bishop Berkeley's line; "West-
ward the star of empire takes its
way" and finds its inspiration in a
phase of Western settlement. The
scene is laid in the Rocky mountains,
amid whose detiles and passes an emf
igrant train is pushing forward to a
fair country beyond. The picture is
full of life and action. Below is Bier
stadt's Golden Gate, harbor of San
Francisco: and in the borders are por-
traits of Daniel Boone, the pioneer of
the Southwest, and Capt. VIM. Clarke,
of the Lewis and Clarke expedition 20
the Columbia, 1906.
HOUSE COMMITTEE ROOMS.
Some of the committee rooms open
ing out from the House corridors
merit attention for their adornment.
The Ways and Means room and the
Appropriations rooms are handsomely
frescoed. The Military Affairs room
contains series of paintings of forts
of the United States. In the basement
the scheme OF decoration in the Terri
tories room is of western Indian and
wild life, and the Indian Affairs room
has II collection of paintings by Col.
Eastman, of scenes among the Sioux.
In the Agricultural room, deliberately
decorated by Brunidi, are pictures OF
Cincinnatus called from his pillow to
the Dictatorship of Rome, and Putnam
summoned to his part in the Revolu-
ton. Ancient and modern harvest
scenes, Flora, spring Ceres, lsum-
mer Bacchus, autumn and Boreas,
winter portraits of Washington, JET
ferson, both farmers, and other details
make this one OF the most richly
adorned rooms of the building.
The Senate Chamber is u spacious
hall 1I3 feet I'm lpnpth 81 feet wide