The National tribune., 1909-05-13

The scene in the front of the Civil Ser
,ice Commission offices rivals descrip.
ton, for there were some 5000 peopl,
gathered there, not all wanting blanks
but wanting TO see the fun. And the,
saw 1t. They pushed and pulled ant
hauled until the stone coping was brok-
en- down, iron fence was demolished
Spring hats were wrecked. dresses were
torn. mems hats were smashed, and tn.
language used ought to keep things ir
that vicinity warm for a month. The
Commission gave out 5000 blanks t6
people who applied for them. 1t was
stated by the clerk who handed then
out that not 800 of them would show
up with the application filled out fol
filing. And the police were called out
to quiet a mob of people who were
making all the disturbance Just for fun.
Truly we are a queer people, and jus
about as emotional as the French.
A United States Senator Is a queer
duck, and no mistake. One of the OBJ
jections that was raised to building the
great Senate Office Building was that
the structure would be so far away ii
would subject the Senators to the inn
portunities of their constituents as they
wended their way to that building. Then
the underground tunnel was projected
at cost of a good many thousand dol
lars. 1t connects directly with the Sen
ate Office Building and with the House
Office Building tunnel right in front of
the Capitol. Then it was urged that
the trip was too long to be made in a
hurry on foot, so the Superintendent OF
Buildings and Grounds bought two
automobiles for use in the tunnel. And
now the Senators won't use EN- No,
indeedy. Senator Aldrich says that he
needs the little exercise he gets in walk
ing over. and, furthermore, he takes
outdoors for it.
There are not very many veterans in
the House, but among them is Repre-
sentative Charles Henry Morgan. Re-
publican, of Joplin, Mo-, who has had a
picturesque career.
He went into Wisconsin regiment
in the civil war as a private and came
out as Captain. He was captured at
Chickamauga and confined at Libbey
and other prisons. He escaped from
the Southern prisons four times. only to
be recaptured; but the fifth time was
more successful, and made his way to
the Union lines near Columbia, S. c.
Afterward Morgan studied law. and,
not having had enough war, became
Lieutenant Colonel of the 9Th Mo. in
the Spanish-American controversy.
Senator DoIliver, of Iowa. has a mar
yelous memory. and, being an omniver-
oUs reader of the best literature, he can
quote whole passages from works in
which the ordinary individual is apt to
be little versed. Delivers father was
a Methodist circuit-riding minister, and
in his early days DolIiver got an ac-
quaintance with the Scriptures that he
never will forget. He is long on quota
tions from the Good Book.
Senator La Toilette is another Sena-
tor who can remember things. He is
great student of Shakspere, and can
repeat some of the Shakspere plays
from start to finish. T
About once in so often all Army and
Navy officers and men are warned that
they must not do anything to influence
legislation in their own behalf" and
the warning, which was due in the Navy
has been issued. The Off
GERS and men are warned by Secretary
Of the Navy Meyer that they are not to
draft bills, make recommendations or
by arguments try to influence legisla-
ton except thru strictly official chan
nels. OF course, there is no objection
to a man Logging for his friends. so to
speak, II the friend is trying to get a
bill thru for something else.
Miss Ethel Roosevelt is in the city,
the guest of her sister, Mrs. Alice
Rooseyelt-Longworth, and several pret
ty affairs are being arranged for her.
This week she will start with the Her
bert Wadsworths on a horseback riding
trip to their home in Genesee, N. Y.
Gen. Fred D. Grant has been in
for the last week, and the
old friends of his father have been ab-
startled IpoI meeting him sud-
denly by his remarkable resemblance To
his father. Gen. Grant is not averse 10
the suggestion of resemblance, and
wears his beard short clipped as his
father did and has the manner of his
father. He speaks with slow deliberate
ness as his father did, and in the same
sententious war. 1t will be
that Gen. Grants wife was
Miss Honore, of Chicago. She was at
the time of their marriage one of the
most beautiful women in the country.
She had great black eyes wealth OF
black hair and perfectly marvellous
inclined to olive. She was
as brilliant as she was beautiful, and is
thoroly charming yet
The Post Office Department is tired
and has invited designs for something
new that will also be decorative.
Here in Washington everybody seems
bent on stopping noise. The church
bells must not chime. the school bells
must not ring, whistles must not toot,
street cars have buZzers instead of bells,
so that passenger does not know
whether he will get. off at the right
street or not. because he can't hear the
buzzer, and so 1t goes. But things are
lifferent down al Norfolk. The Com
mandant of the Navy Yard, for some
reason unknown to anybody but him
self, stopped the firing of the 9 O'Clock
gun. And such a howl! Why, you
you'd think that the health and pros
perity of the people of Norfolk depend
I'd upon the firing of the 9 o'clock gun.
And the Navy Department has sent the
Assistant Secretary of the Navy to Nor
folk to find out wflat under the sun ali
the commotion Is about After all
noises, big and little. become so much
the habits of ones life that they cause
annoyance only while they cease. Let
the little clock on the manteI suddenly
cease its gentle "tick-tack" in the dark
watches of the night, and the sleeper
in the room will waken almost instant
ly, and be depressed by the awful si-
fence. A man who had worked all his
life in boiler factory up to middle
age went to the solitude of the Rockies
and set up a cattle ranch. Inside of a
year he was almost insane with the si-
lence of the vast spaces out there, and
had runway made next his ranch
house, where he kept under wire about
afr 1,