From the rotunda, broad corridors lead north to the Senate Chamber and south to the House of Representatives. Following the corridor to the south, we come to a large semicircular room. When the central division of the building was all there was to the Capitol, this room was occupied by the House of Representatives, and here were heard the speeches of Adams, Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and many other famous statesmen. It is now set apart as a national statuary hall, where each state may place two statues of her chosen sons. As many of the states have been glad to honor their great men in this way, a splendid array of national heroes is gathered in the hall. Among the Revolutionary heroes we find Washington, Ethan Allen, and Nathaniel Green. A statue of Fulton, sent by New York, shows him seated, looking at a model of his steamship. Of all these marble figures, perhaps none attracts more attention than that of Frances Elizabeth Willard, the great apostle of temperance, and to the state of Illinois belongs the distinction of having placed the only statue of a woman in this great collection. Leaving Statuary Hall, we go south to the Hall of Representatives. Here representatives from all the states gather to frame laws for the entire nation. Seated in the gallery it seems almost as if we were in a huge schoolroom, for the representatives occupy seats which are arranged in semicircles, facing a white marble desk upon a high platform reached by marble steps. This is the desk of the Speaker of the House. The Speaker's duty is to preserve order and to see that the business of this branch of Congress is carried on as it should be. Before delivering a speech, a representative must have the Speaker's permission. The Speaker is a most important person, for all business is transacted under his direction. The representatives come from every state in the Union, and even far-off Hawaii, Alaska, and the Philippines are allowed to send delegates to this assembly to represent them in making laws. Think what a serious matter it would have been to the people of the far West to have the capital of their nation in the extreme Eastern section of the country if the development of the railroads, the telegraph, and the telephone had not made travel and communication so easy that great distances are no longer obstacles. [Illustration: THE OPENING OF CONGRESS]