Evening star., 1902-04-19

tions set aside and rallied off for the use
OF those who present cards. Yet the pri-
vate galleries are every day sought by
hundreds of people who make requests of
senators and representatives Cor cards OF
admission. These cards admit their bear
ers for limited number of days, which
are specified in each case, the privilege
usually being granted for ten days. The
private galleries play a very important
part in the daily life of senators and rep
resentattyes. as admission to them Is a
privilege" which they can extend to visit
ing constituents. and many a one coming
here from the old home carries back as a
precious memento of visit to the capital
of the nation a card signed by a United
states senator or representative of his dis
trict showing that for given number of
days he had been given the run of the
private galleries
1T doesn't look like very much in Wash
ington,' said a senator who had just writ
ten his name on several cards but it Is
great thing back in the state to show that
you have been in the swim at the national
capital"
:: :. x X X
Some of the clerks in the War Depart
ment played a joke on well-known clerk
in the telegraph office the other day.
They got a cheap cigar filled it with small
pieces of rubber and then gave it to the
telegraph man. He Is always playing
practical jokes on his fellows and they
were merely trying to even up. He started
in to work as usual and puffed vigorously
on the cigar He must have had Il cold in
his head for he didn't seem to notice the
foul smell that soon permeated the atmos--
phere. His associates could hardly stand
1t, however, but they didn't know about
the cigar. The odor finally became over
powering. and the smell of rubber was un-
mlStakable. AS there had been some trout lie
with the telegraphic apparatus, the inno-
led f~ny tha I'll -,
the insulatorS had caught fire. An expert
electrician was summoned from the West
ern Union office and spent some time Cx-
amining the switchboard connections 1t
was not until after he reported that there
was nothing at all the matter with them
that the truth dawned upon the operat ars
that 1t was merely a case of bad cigar"
1t was a curious commentary on the smok-
er's taste that he didn't know he was not
smoking tobacco until those around him
Informed him of the fact.
x
The small attention paid to most speakers
in the Senate and House of Representatives
is often commented on by visitors to the
galleries. But while speakers are not lis
tened to. they are read. great many sem
ators and representatives read not only
newspaper reports of congressional pro-
ceedings, but the official report con-
tanned in the Record as well. They
this labor. Many of them read over the
list of bills introduced and reports made
on various matters from committee. and
later run over The pile of these bills and
reports. which are furnished to them daiy
Not few senators spend much time hunt
Ing Tor the prOVerbial dark gentleman in
tn" WoodDile. which they now and then find
The title of a bill may indicate that it's
purpose is far different from what is shown
Dy one OF. of its obscure paragraphs. Many of
n loo, Ia
WT@rk in committees, for it is well known
That the most serviceable men in Congress
are often those whose counsel is given in
committees and who are only occasionall.
heard IN debate on the floor of either house
Z: = x =
Il never read of the flights of carrier
pigeons remarked an old citizen to a Star
reporter. that it does not bring to my
mind some early recollections in that con-
nection. / was raised down town. Tenn
perance Hall alley. between 9th and lUth
ID and Z streets, being in the rear of my
home. Nearly onehalf of the boys of my
time kept pigeons-and in nearly every loft
there We're some carriers. There was but
little expense about it, for the pigeons got
all the feed they needed around the old
Marsh market, which afterwards got the
name of the Center market. This was be-
fore the days of the telegraph. 1t was the
day of the lotteries, and lottery offices or
exchange offices, as they then called them
were licensed and were conducted as open
as churches or shoe stores are now. One
of the biggest lotteries of my boyhood days
was that by which this city raised the
money to build the present court house but
which was then known the city hall. The
capital prize was $4,000. and was won by
a boy friend of mine, who lived in Alex
andria. Though nearly all the smaller
moi o;t 60,
refused to pay the capital prize. A Ions
suit against the city ensued, but in the end
the city got the best of the suit and has
never paid dollar of it since
W ell, that boy, who was a frequent
visitor to my house with number of our
crowd. conceived a plan to beat the private
lotteries. which were drawn daily in Balti-
more and. which, through its agents here,
sold great quantity of tickets in this city
and Alexandria. The drawings took place
there. in the mornings generally. but they
did not reach here until late in the evening
Originally they had to come over on the
sta0. but after the railroad began opera
tion they got over in about four hours
There were no minute trains then.
Three hours for way trains and two hours
and quarter for express trains was con-
sidered awful fast running, and when the
latter did it in two hours We thought the
limit had been reached. The lottery draw
inSs came over on the way trains for the
reason that the man who brought them had
W hidhc 'titd 10 give drawings TO
persons along the line.
our plan was to send one of our crowd
to Baltimore and get him to send the draw
ings over by a carrier pigeon so that we
could play to a certainty. The thing work.
ed handsomely for a week or So but the
lottery people found 1t out and delayed an
nouncing the figures that came out of the
wheel for four hours. BY that time their
man was here. so that our scheme was
nipped in the bud. We We're considerably
ahead OF the lottery. though, when they
found us out. l don't remember all the
boys who were in it now. but 1 do distinctly
three. One of them has been a governor of
leading western state for three terms
and served four terms in Congress- Another
was prominent clergyman afterwards and
was the pastor of church in this city for
twenty years, dying only few years ago.
Another was a successful business man.
founding a business which, though he died
thirty years ago. is now carried on by his
yr.a nd oh nd in he