The Springfield herald., 1913-08-01

"As for me-" continued Baldwin, IL
never spoke to him. and never knew
any one who did. The speaker HIM
self only addressed him-and then as
the gentleman from Greene-when
they were verifying roll-calls No one
ever knew where he boarded. The
herd book gave him a paragraph. say
Ing that he had been born in Indiana
along In 81. and moved to this state
sometime in the ffties. Left an or
phan early, with no education. he had
been day laborer all his life. work
ing at anything he could get. mostly
on farms. He never had held office
before and none knew how he broke
into the legislature-the tidal wave, l
suppose. Every one knew he never
would come back again.
We'll. we got down to the last
night of the session. The hands of
the clock had been turned back In
that vain old attempt to stay the re-
morseless hours. but its pale and i'm
passive face was impotent as grave
stone to stay dissolution and oblivion.
| know men who would have spent
fortune to give that legislature one
more day of life. but it was sweep
ing on its midnight death. Somehow.
whenever think of the legislature.
think of that legislature. and when
ever my mind conceives the state
house it isn't pictured to me as stand
ing there on the hill. stately In the
sunshine but as 1t appeared that night
as l walked over from the Leland,
with the clouds flying low over its
dome. The lower floors were dark
and still as sepulchres. and the mes
senger boys who came over from the
Western Union. now and then. remind
ed me of ghosts as they went by. their
heels dragging on the marble floors
of the corridor A light was burning
In the governors office. though the old
man himself, | knew, was over at the
mansion. pacing the floor of the IL
brary and cursing with classic curses.
We were going to try that night to
pass the Bailey bill over his veto.
But the third floor blazed with
electric lights, and the big dome was
full of noisy echoes. The senate kept
its coat on-you know how they
mimic decorum over there-but the
like a pack of wolves around the.
speakers dais. with faces ripe with
whisky, shaking its fists under the
umbrella of cigar smoke. Every fei-
low was trying to get his bill PASSED
in the last hour of the session-you
know what 1t isHHank?"
"Oah. yes" replied Jennings. 'but
'tain't nothin' to what t used to be
under the oil constitution. We'd stack
pile O. them ere private acts up on
the clerks desk. an pass 'em all t
oncet ith whoop. Them as the
days-but that as fore your time"
Those must have been good old
! days" assented the lobbyist "for the
gang"
81 reckon! A feller could "a done
business In them days, OF John M d
better left the OIL constitution alone
1t as good enough. But there as a
passion fer change right after the
war"
The lobbyist politely nodded concur
renee in this view and continued:
Some of the members clambered
on to their desks. filling the air with
|
with rattling leaves. Sometimes an
iron weight sheathed in paper whizzed
by on vindictive mission, and one
man made an Egyptian nigger-killer
with rubber bands. Some even hurled
their copies Of the revised statutes
1t was the first use they had ever
found for them. Once in while
some one would toss batch of print
ed bills to the ceiling. where they set
the glass prisms Of the chandeliers
jingling, and then fell like autumn
leaves, shower of dead pledges and
withered hopes. And out of all the
hubbub rose a steady roar"
Like at lynchin' bee." assisted
Jennings.
Exactly" assented Baldwin, who
had never seen lynching. There
were drunken howls and vacuous
laughs, and yet we could hear through
1t all the hoarse voice of the clerk. his
throat SO heated that you could see
the vapor of his breath. as you can an
orators, or a wood-chopper's in win
ter. rapidly intoning senate bills on
third reading The pages were grow
ing needless and impertinent. The
newspaper correspondents. their dis.
patches on the wires, pulled their Gig
arettes in professional unconcern. and
awaited happenings worthy of late bull
letins. The older members. who had
been through the mill many times be-
fore. lounged low in their seats. One
could see, above their desks. only
their heads and heels. The speaker
old 'Zeke himself. was in the chair
suave as ever. but growing caustic
He had splintered his sounding board
early in the evening. and had taken
to tapping perfunctorily his walnut
desk with his little inadequate gavel
And yet he and the older members
and the newspaper men would cast
occasionally an anxious glance at the
clock, and an expectant one at the
big doors.
las sat there on the old. red
lounge under the speakers fas-draped
canopy. noticed Henderson OF
Greene. standing away back under the
galleries on the Democratic side. eyins
the proceedings with the same mys.
terious stare that had never left him
since he had been sworn in. As have
said. had never spoken to the fel-
low. but had always felt a pity for