Evening star., 1936-02-15
Bv DOr0thea J. Lewis.

NWEN = L W. bOyo WOAhAAS ia
the shadow of the dome as Sen
ate pages, learning how laws
= are made, and they want to
be aviators, explorers, jockeys and
complimentary note-newspaper men,
when they grow up!
Perhaps that's not true picture OF
% desires and the effects of politics
on young minds, because we inter-
viewed only six-but, after all. there
was not one whisper of the delight
of having an honorable before ones
name.
Snaps" nights" and Sob runs"
are parts of the pages vocabularies.
And they do say their motto is, Take
care of the Senators"
The pages, who range in age from
IL to Is years, report for duty on the
floor of the Senate promptly each
morning at $50 o'clock. tThey can
go to school in the basement of the
Capitol from $50 to $50 and after
recess or adjournment, if they want
to, and study the three RS or Latin or
algebra for SIS month. A Prof. Ken
dali is the teacher. Others have pri-
vate tutors or go to night school.
If they are late for work roll call,
they are punished. usually by being
given "a night" that is practically
the same as being kept after school,
for the boy who is serving night must
remain in the Senate until the very
last senatorial hat and coat have been
removed and everybody else has gone
home. Some times night means work
on a Saturday when Congress isn't in
session..
Most of the morning before the Sen
ate convenes at IL, the pages are run
ming errands on the Sob rum: that Is.
carrying bills and resolutions between
the Capitol and Senators offices or
committee rooms In the Senate Once
Building. And, unofhcially, they are
cutting various high jinks, also-but
more of that later.
A FTER 20 minutes for lunch (they
tried to get 80, but were unsuc-
cessful, they report) in their own little
private room in the basement OF the
Capitol, where they have lockers and
tables and chairs, the pages report
again at the Senate.
Two take care of the revolving doors
On the Democratic side and two on the
Republican side, assisting Senators and
placing the senatorial hats on the
nroner senatorial locker shelves. These
lads have to memorize each hat, ana
if they misplace one, get at least a
bawling out.
At l1:45 they all come into the
chamber and at 1855 they line up
at attention before the front row OF
desks ready to hear the prayer. sew
eral of the older boys are assigned 10
answering the telephones In the CLOAK
rooms.
The other pages then take their
places Sitting on the rostrum reaoy
for work.
This batch of % come from the
Carolinas. Oregon, Virginia, Texas
New Mexico, Rhode Island. New
Hampshire. Florida-and SO bring all
manner of drawls and accents with
them. The Carolinas have the largest
number. though many OF the boys
families now make their homes IN the
District.
The % pages are divided this session
II for the Democrats and 5 for the
republicans. They serve any or all
senators on their respective sides and,
in case of emergencies, abandon all
partisanship even to the extent OF
having a Republican page bring a
drink of water for Democratic Sena-
tor
senators snap their fingers and
nages hurry to bring whatever is
wanted-the bill or resolution before
the senate, a pack of cigarettes. a
glass of water for a speech-making
Senator. phizz water for the Vice
president, who always manages tc
snau his fingers on the Democratic
side of his desk. Sometimes, they
even order dinner for busy Senator
-"blue points and ALL" according tc
an- ex-page.
In addition to serving Senators per-
sonally, each page has five desks
to attend to, keeping an up-to-date
file of Congressional Records and
pending bills. Failure to properly
attend to these desks Jslso mean,