Canada -- Description and travel; United States -- Description and travel
The old halls of the Senate and House in the original wings of the
Capitol are now devoted, the former to the Supreme Court and the
latter to a gallery of statuary, to which each State contributes two
subjects, mostly Revolutionary or Colonial heroes. Beyond, on either
hand, are the extensive new wings--the Senate Chamber to the north and
the Representatives' Hall to the south. Each is surrounded by
corridors, beyond which are committee rooms, and there are spacious
galleries for the public. Each member has his chair and desk, the
seats being arranged in semicircles around the rostrum. In practice,
while the House is in session, the members are usually reading or
writing, excepting the few who may watch what is going on, because
they are specially interested in the matter under consideration; and
the member who may have the floor and is speaking is actually heard by
very few, his speech being generally made for the galleries and the
official stenographers and newspaper reporters. Debate rarely reaches
a point of interest absorbing the actual attention of the whole House,
most of the speech-making seeming to be delivered for effect in the
member's home district, this method being usually described as
"talking for Buncombe." The other members read their newspapers, write
their letters, clap their hands sharply to summon the nimble pages who
run about the hall upon their errands, gossip in groups, and otherwise
pass their time, move in and out the cloak- and committee-rooms, and
in various ways manage not to listen to much that goes on.
Nevertheless, business progresses under an iron-clad code of
procedure, the Speaker being a despot who largely controls
legislation. The surroundings of the Senate Chamber are grander than
those of the House, there being a gorgeous "Marble Hall," in which
Senators give audience to their visitors, and magnificently ornamented
apartments for the President and Vice-President. The President's Room
is only occupied during a few hours in the closing scenes of a
session, this small but splendid apartment, which has had $50,000
expended upon its decoration, being a show place for the remainder of
the year.
THE WHITE HOUSE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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