Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-14
HOUSE OF COMMONS
OF VISITOR TO
MOTHER OF PARLIAMENTS.
Spectator in the Galleries Looks in
Vain for Display of Traditional
Dignity.

From the London Chronicle.
Chin on hand, I sit in the gallery con-
templating for the first time In my life the
legislators whose business it Is 10 make tho
laws I endeavor to obey and to adjust the
taxes l struggle to meet And there Is a
curious feeling at the back Of my brain
that though this is my first visit to the
house of commons. have seen all before,
again and again, In some inverted fashion.
You would expect a certain dignity from
people who occupy such building as the
Royal Palace of Westminster. Nor have I
been disappointed. There are few more
Impressive sights on earth than that of
member of parliament emerging from the
sacred interior in tardy response to the
card or constituent. The friendly mem
Der has shown me the place where Charles
L stood to take his trial; he has described
to me in the central hall the majestic walk
Of the speaker when he proceeds to the
other place. We have sat upon tho terrace
and seen disconsolate ladies forsaken by
their hosts who rush away with the word
division" on their lips, and return, having
made one Of those laws 1 hope to keep.
Most dignifed. All this I seen to have
known before.
Even the press Is received in digniled
fashion; for instead of hazarding the
chance OF the ballot go through the clois-
tiers where colossal policemen salute me,
and the one who guards the lift to the press
wants evidence. H6 recognizes The ticket,
and the lift whisks Spe to a floor with tor
tuous passages, rooms>sngga 5ting vestries
and filled with serious men at work with
autographs. And presently I tumble
through swing door-the house of COM
mors-an attendant whose aspect swings
vaghely between that of head waiter and
prime minister-end I am handled into a
little pew Later on I learn that when
the press gallery cannot recognize the man
below who gets up and makes a historic
remark this attendant Is consulted. He al
ways knows. Still the note Of dignity is
maintained. Two centuries ago I should
have lost my ears for putting the house of
commons into print. Today am given a
MT III to 1o seat over the speakers head and
am presented with program Orders Of
the day is the official designation.
Caricature is the Reality.
Chin on hand, I watch, and have seen It
all before. turned upside down as I had
imagined. Quite familiar the modern oak
picked out with gold, the green benches,
the subdued light: familiar. too. the gal
leries where peers are penned, or friends of
members gathered: familiar, too. the grilled
pen over tho press gallery, whence ladies
can hear little and see less. Down below a
man Is droning something about a door
somewhere in the building that opens that
way when 1t should open this way. He is
very precise and very dull Point Is, that
door should, with the whole force OF the
greatest empire the world has ever known.
be altered. He founders and fumbles with
phrases, but you can see exactly what he
wants to say. The newspaper reports next
day said 1t for him in line or two. So we
go on. with foolish little questions treated
at great length until, at last, i'm
PEELED by that feeling that all this was
quite familiar-Somehow-I asked my neigh
Dor:
which is Balfour?'
"Those," he replies.
My eyes follow his discreet finger, and
find pair of soles staring al me from the
flashes across me / have seen It all before
in caricature The caricature Is the actual
reality. Mr.. Balfour does stick his feet on
the table, and the speaker does not ask him
to behave. Looking further round the
benches, covered now with black-coated
men of all ages, see one in brown.
"Oh! Keir Hardie." says my companion.
The picture might have jumped from the
pages of a comic paper; and thereafter it
was impossible to avoid seeing my law
givers through the atmosphere of carica-
ture.
Unwritten Laws.
Curious traditions-schoolboy traditions
there are. And the real interest Of MEN,
bers in the house seems concentrated upon
those ntceties of etiquette. Outside the
stripe that marks the position Of the bar,
you are not in the. house. and members
| hover, toeing the line and retreating. In
| all manner Of ungraceful attitudes lounge
| the members. and the point seems to be 10
keep your silk hat on your head, unless you
want to so to sleep or to address the
speaker. Then you remove 1t. This Is
/ most important point. For no one but q
and the member must not wear 1t when he
IN on his feet, Moreover, there Is another