Evening star., 1901-08-10

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]T wish some of my colleagues would just
look In this door now," said member of
the House of Representatives to a Star re-
porter as he stood gazing into the hall OF
the House from the east corridor few days
ago. 1T would perhaps be good thing to
give them a better understanding of ex-
actly how the floor of this House. of
which they rant so much in debate, is con-
structed. If they knew that underneath
their feet was veritable 'whitened sepul-
chre' it might have an influence on some of
their flights of imagination"
The member was referring to the beauti-
full white tile bottom of the cement founda-
tion over which the floor structure of the
House is now being built. The white tile
is an innovation in this place but its supe-
riority over the old cement work is at once
manifest. Between the tiled foundation
and the floor proper is space used as an
air chamber, and with the present con-
struCtion this chamber can be kept spot
leSSly clean.
The new floor is to furnish seating space
for the larger Congress to be elected next
time, and to do this the grade of the floor
is somewhat raised. In the rear corners 1t
Is at least two feet higher than the old one,
and several additional seats can thus be
provided for. Several additional steps VIII
be required at the rear entrances to the
hall. and at least one at the side entrances.
The marble altar which does service as
Speakers stand and clerks desks has not
been disturbed.
4
1--WE want to let as many Of the people
as possible be present at the Schley in
Guiry," said a naval officer in guarded tones
to Star reporter, but we are at loss
for MIA tai to desires
this respect. We want to have 1t so that
the public at large need not be content
with what 1t sees in the newspapers, but
that private individuals may come and see
and hear what goes for themselves"
You're going to play to the gallery
them" interrupted The Star reporter.
You might call it that" replied the off,
Ger. "for indeed the fact that the Naval
Library has a gallery is what recommended
the consideration of that room to us as the
scene of the much loOked-for event. But
even that selection would only admit
limited number of outsiders, after those
actually a part of the inquiry and the
press have been accommodated. Indeed.
the only course which now seems open to
us, II we expect to have conditions as we
want them, is to hire one of the theaters,
and thus insure ample room for all
why not Convention Hall? asked the
reporter, with a meaning smile, and the in
terview closed abruptly.
X
"A few weeks ago resident Of Brook
land decided to investigate portion of the
tin gutter running around his house." said
a citizen of that suburb. For nearly two
months the gutter had not carried of the
water into barrel at one corner of the
house. Instead of the water coming down
through the joint to the barrel 1t would
overflow near the elbow joint. Obviously
the gutter was stopped. A long ladder was
procured and a man sent up to clean out
the gutter. He found the nest of an Eng
lish sparrow built right over the hole Of the
elbow joint. The shingles had partially
covered the nest, affording some protection
TO the sparrow, but the nest was not the
cause of the trouble. The sagacious little
pair of sparrows had built a dam of mud
and other articles about six inches above
the nest so as TO keep the water off, and
do you know that the dam was a most ef-
fective and perfect one? 1t had prevented
any water from running on the nest and
enabled the sparrows to raise a family In
that peculiar place. The dam was so are
fully constructed that the Sparrows must
have spent many days at work on it. I
never knew before that sparrow would
carry mud in its mouth, but that these two
did there Is not the slightest doubt
The discovery shows what wonderful little
things birds are"
X X
we invited DlQS some time ago." said
on official of the Navy Department to a
Star reporter. 'for a number of minor sup
plies. and among the articles required was
a small amount of securing soap. We
awarded the contract for the latter to
merchant in New York, and on informing
him of the acceptance Of his bid advised
him of the fOrmalities which he must OBJ
serve in supplying the government, how he
was to have his contract drawn up In trip
lfcate, and lot Of other necessary red
tape. and also acknowledged the receipt Of
his certified check for 800 to guarantee the
faithful execution of the contract Now
the value of the soap we wanted lust then
totaled 81, and when the merchant received
the departments communication he EVIL
IDENTIFY adjudged the game not worth the
candle, for we received a very nice little
communication from him. in which he
stated that on reconsideration he would
withdraw his bid, and would send on i'm
mediately as a gift to the government
enough soap to cover our needs I don't
think his letter was meant to be sarcastic
He was just accommodating"
X y X \
II was the recipient of an unusual privi-
lege last summer" said young newspa-
per correspondent to Star reporter,
which was unsought by me, and assuredly
involuntarily bestowed. and this is how it
came about. I had been sent out to the
Turkish legation to interview All Ferrouh
Bey, the retiring minister, who has Just
left this country. on phase of the Ameri-
can claims matter. then at an acute stage
1t was hot, drowsy day, and the lega-
ton quarters looked as sleepy as 1 was I
was halfway up the front steps when 1
was startled by an unintelligible exclama-