Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-05-25
From the Literary Digest.

If a United States senator has a
cold. he hurries to Col. Daniel NJ. Rams
cell, the sergeant -at-arms, who makes
1t well. If the situation be a more
serious one; if. let VS. say the senator
has STUDIED his political toe and has
been thrown for the time being into a
'paroxysm of pain" he still hurries,
n the "surgeon-doctor' remains the
same. For Colonel Ransdell is mentor
In all things. and his healing propensi-
ties are Well known. Faith. too. plays
Its important part, n from the mo-
ment this kind friend leads a new and
"sternly embarrassed senator to his
desk In the Senate chamber, to the
time when ne arranges for that SEN
ator's funeral cortege,' he is known
as Little Father"
But. says the New York Herald, the
fact that the sergeant-at-arms may
upon occasion arrest a senator and
bring him into the Senate chamber to
make up a quorum, lis one other
reason for the Little Fathers popu-
larity With that body. Moreover:
He knows when to be jolly. and again
many moods o. lack of them as any
one of the 81 men for whom he
is 1.-The little father" Under his direc-
ton 80 doorkeepers guard the five
ways into the Senate chamber and
the gallery. He picks the nimble pages
"AV OdSA d1Iu lOElu III v0o
Senate n is responsible for the or
derly behavior of visitors.
Every two years Colonel Ransdell
shuts himself up in his office for a
season from three to four weeks and
chooses a new carpet for the Senate.
This Is a serious job. this process of Sc
lection which must be guaranteed to
suit" go different people, and
Lorimers La Follettes alike" are
the possessors of .most unlovely' SEN
sibilities. 1t can be done, but only with
the utmost tact and by eliminating
many, many hundreds Of different
samples" for there are as many
shades of rugs as there are shady
senator's"
occasionally the sergeant-at-arms is
called upon to separate those bent on
personal encounter" n in many ways
must show a sample of diplomacy far
in advance OF that which the average
diplomatic senator possesses.
He must be able to keep a cloakroom
door hooked ope for Senator Hale, Of
Maine, that he may have fresh az. and
at the same time close 1t for Senator
Du Pont, of Delaware, that there may
be no cigar smoke in h chamber.
But that is not all, and the ..present
efficient sergeant-at-arms" has set up
troubles for himself.
Two sets of swinging doors on either
side OF the desk of the vice president
lead from the Senate chamber to the
marble room where senators receive
their callers. Beside each Of these is
q small, deliberately lacquered snuff
box. 1t is M of the duties of h SER
geant-at-arms to keep these boxes filled
with fresh snuff. 1t is an old Senate
custom which has come down through
much ridicule from the old days. Sen
ator Billy Mason. of Chicago, when
he left the Senate, paid his compli-
ments to the old boxes and poked fun
at the Senate for their maintenance.
But the s~nuff-boxes are a serious
matter. To propose that they be re-
moved would be to tread upon the toes
of half the Senate. Not that they
take the snuff generally, although a
few playfully test its condition occa-
ssionally. but it is a tradition, and the