Evening star., 1928-12-23
Capital Sidelights

| preserved, visitors to the Capitol should
have the good fortune to get an intro
duction to Assistant Sergeant-at-arms
Col. Edwin A. Halsey, as did group OF
| young women from Massachusetts,, who
are students at Trinity College.
| Col. HalSey has been an employe al
the Capitol for more than 80 years, has
performed notable service there anc
knows all the prominent men of the
country and knows the old Capitol as
few persons do.
First these young women sat in the
Vice Presidents chair and were allowed
TO hold the historic gavel, shaped like
a small hourglaSS, without a handle
which is the most historic relic in use
| today. This ivory gavel was used in the
Continental Congress and has beer
used constantly by every Vice President
including John Adams, the first of ths
line
| Next they saw the Senate snuff box
and daintily helped themselves to
| small pinch. This is on ledge neal
the Vice Presidents desk and is relic
of the olden days when practically al
of the Senators used snuff and took II
from the common box.
The desks in the Senate are the very
| ones taken from what is now the Su-
preme Court Chamber, and some oi
them were used by the greatest states
men in our history Calhoun, Webster
| Clay, etc. On these desks are still kept
the old silver-topped inkstands and the
| sandShakers, which in the elder days
were used instead of our modern blot
ting paper. Today some of the Sena-
tors occasionally dust some Of this sand
| over paper they have signed for q
constituent, to add little touch of the
historic past.
The most historic desk in the Senate
| is now occupied by Senator Pat Harri-
son of Mississippi Senators from that
State always endeavor to secure the use
of 1t during their term In the Senate
1t was the desk of Jefferson Davis
| During the Civil War the Senate cham
Der was occupied by convaleScent Union
soldiers. When they found the name OF
Jefferson Davis, then President of the
| Confederacy, on this desk. several OF
the more hot-tempered plunged their
bayonets through the side of 1t to show
what they would like to do to its former
occupant. The places where the bayo-
nets passed through are still noticeable
| to the touch and the young collegians
from Massachusetts, got great thrill
| by running their fingers along these
| slasheS on the side Of the desk.
Then there is the Daniel Webster
| these desks in the Senate we're being
improved" by putting hinges on the
desk top so that 1t could be swung up,
allowing the Senators to place books
and papers under 1t. At that time the
! famous George FriSbie Hoar of MasSa-
! chuSettS was using this particular desk
| and gave orders that it was not to be
changed. What was good enough for
Webster is good enough for me-" he de-
clared. Instead he had shelf put un-
| der the desk to place books upon. Sc
this Webster and Hoar desk Is differ
ent from any of the others. 1t is now
used by Senator Blaine of Wisconsin
| Warren G. Harding is the only Presi-
dent who went directly from the SEN
ate chamber to the Whne House. His
/ desk has been marked for future gen.
| erationS. 1t is now used by Senator
McNary of Oregon
| In the Marble ROOM" which is the
Senators lounging room, Col Halsey
/ pointed out to the college girls the
portrait of George washington in Rev
olutionary uniform which Is one of the
freaks of nature, unmarked by human
hand, which appears In slab Of mar
BILE in the ceiling
In the Presidents room, which is
the most elaborately ornamented Office
|
are beautifully painted in vivid color
ing by the great artist Brumidi, who
helped to decorate the Vatican. The
| furniture in this room has been pre-
served since Lincoln's day and the
center table was used formerly at the
White House as a desk by Lincoln
| and is the one on which the famous
Emancipation Proclamation reste
when the Great Emancipator" signed
it. In this epochal document Lincoln
wrote:
"I do order and declare that all per-
| sons held as slaves within said desig-
| mated States and parts of States are,
and henceforth shall be, free; and
that the Executive Government of the
| United States, including the military
and naval authorities thereof will rec
ognize and maintain the freedom OF
such persons.
And upon this act sincerely be-
lieved to be an act of justice, war;
! ranted by the Constitution upon mill
| tary necessity, invoke the considerate
| judgment of mankind and the gracious
favor Of Almighty Cod
One of the particularly attractive
ceiling decorations is above the word
Religion" and is called "The All-See-
ing Eye" because the expression is the
same from whatever angle you look
at it.
In the Supreme Court Col Halsey
| points out the two marble companion
mantels which are symbolic of I'm
Union There Is Strength" and these
| mantels were the subject of famous
speech in the Senate at the opening
Of the War Between the States.
The young collegians from MaSsachu-
Setts got another big thrill out of sit
ting in the chairs of the two Massa-
| chuSetts men who are now on the
| Supreme Court bench--Associate JUS
ticeS Oliver Wendell Holmes and Louis
| Dembitz BrandeiS. Justice Holmes.
now in his eighty-eighth year, sits at
| the right of the Chief Justice and is
| the oldest man ever to sit on the
Supreme Court bench. He was a first
| lieutenant of the goth Massachu-
sets Volunteer Infantry in the Union
Army soon after his graduation from
| Harvard College. He was shot through
the breast at Balls Bluff, through the
| neck at Antietam and through the
heel at Maryes Heights, Fredericks-
burg, and rose to the rank of colonel.
When the young colleg1anS expressed
surprise that there have been only 10
Chief Justices In the entire history of
this Government, Col. Halsey told them
that the principal reason for this is
because Marshall and Taney together
held the post for 65 years
There are two small roll-top desks
on either side of the bench In the
Supreme Court which were used In the
court ip Philadelphia before the Gov
ernment moved to washington in 1900.
Just within the rail of the pit re-
served for lawyers is an antique sofa on
which John quincy Adams of Massa-
chusetts died. Also on this sofa the
famous Gus Garland died after he
was stricken while arguing a case be-
fore the court.
There is bust of John Quincy
Adams and tablet in the Office of the
Clerk of the House which memorial
ICES that he died there after so years
of public service, the last 16 in
yonder hall (Statuary Hall, which was