Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-06-13
MOUSE HOLDS HOUSE
FIRMLY IN ITS GRIP
Plays Around on Floor and Attracts
Attention From Debate by
Donovan and Mann.
The best laid plans Of mice and

THE best laid plans Of mice and"
The man who leaned over the gallery
rail in the House of Representatives
started to quote that trite saying and
stopped right at the place where every
one else stops. Scarcely any one can re-
member the rest Of the sentence.
However. mice and men were having
the time of their lives in the House at
that particularly moment. Representa-
tive Jerry Donovan of Connecticut had
Just risen to slam Representative James
R. Mann Of Illinois, the republican floor
leader. Representative Mann had come
back strong, and the two were skating
around in circles endeavoring to see how
near they could come to calling each
other a charter member Of the Ananias
Club without having the sergeant-at-arms
rush in and call the fight draw.
It would have been an extremely inter
esting hot weather attraction on the
House vaudeville stage. and every one
was interested in it up to the point when
mouse appeared in the bright green car
peted arena just In front Of the reading
desk.
Mr.. Mouse sat up on his little rear legs
and took a look about him. He caught
sight of a democrat and scampered down
the aisle until he reached Representative
Bryan Of Washington, who was tanning
himself with hot extract from one OF
his own Observation-Disclosures speeches.
Representative Bryan reached down and
tried to scoop Mr. Mouse up with the.
speech, but the rodent took the same
view of the progressive's campaign
speech that any sane mouse takes of
trap, and fed.
Debate Still Goes On.
AN at, +;r,. D.a..,o,+,+;ro. no,o,,n
and Mann were solemnly beating the air
with their vituperatons, Representative
Donovan claiming that at a certain
crucial moment in the House only one
republican was present and Represent
alive Mann was starting with such stric-
lures as absolutely untrue" and work
ing ahead rapidly from that compare
tive mild rebuke. At any other time the
House would have been glad to listen,
but the members who were watching the
mouse were tickled to see mouse, who
really had not been granted the privilege
of the floor under the House rules. scam
per up and down the middle aisle with
no one-not even Joe S1nnott the veteran
doorkeeper who recently ousted MEM
Der of parliament-to escort the mouse
into the corridor.
Representative Victor Murdoch forgot
about the fierce battle going on over his
head between the two warning members,
and began to take a deep interest In the
mouse:
"A bull mouse. Ell, Vic?' asked the
ordinarily serious Representative Town
send of New Jersey, who used to be
humorist before he took to playing golf.
..Yes-the kind that gnaws ship sub
sidy planks in democratic platforms"
was the answer of the bull moose
leader.
Representative Alfalfa Bill Murray
of Oklahoma came in about that time
and seemed to be utterly and abso-
lutely fascinated by the mouse. but the
mouse caught sight OF Alfalfa Bills"
dropping mustache and leaped back
ward about a yard and a half. At that
time no one was paying any attention
to the Mann-Donovan alteration, but
the reception to the small animal came
to an end suddenly when the poor lit
tie thing endeavored to run out the
front door and met his death meath
the solemn tread Of a southern demo-
crat.
Deposited in Murdock's Pocket.
And then Alfalfa Bi1l'' lifted the tiny
corpse and dropped 1t tenderly into
Representative Murdock,s pocket The
Kansas man acted with all the timidity
of a scared school girl when he dis
covered the lifeless body of his late