┌────────┐ ┌────────┐ │ │ Vestibule. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├─────────── Door. ────────────┤ │ │ North │ │ South │ │ Hall. │ │ Hall. │ │ │ │ West Hall of Liberty. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └────────┴──────────────────────────────┴────────┘ The west hall which a few years since made the whole Library, is 91 feet 6 inches in length, 34 feet wide and 38 feet high, the other two halls of the same hight are 29 feet 6 inches wide and 95 feet long. The halls are lighted by windows looking out upon the grounds of the Capitol and by roof lights of stained glass. The ceiling is iron and glass, and rests on foliated iron brackets each weighing a ton. The pilasters and panels are of iron painted a neutral hue tinged with pale green and burnished with gold leaf. The floors are of tessellated black and white marble. The iron book-cases on either side rise story on story, floored with cast-iron plates, protected by railings, and traversed by light galleries. Including the Law Library, these halls contain 26,148 feet, or nearly five miles of book-shelving, and contain over 210,000 volumes. The iron floors are covered with _kamptulicon_ floor cloth, a compound of India-rubber and cork, which possesses the triple advantage of being clean, light and cheap. The leg of every chair has a pad of solid India-rubber under it. Nobody is allowed to speak above a whisper; thus the stolid turning, or the light flutter of leaves make the only sound which stirs the silence. Alcove after alcove line the halls, but with the exception of two devoted to novels and other light reading, left open for the ladies of members’ families, they are all securely locked and protected by a net-work of wire, and thus the chance of pilfering and of flirting are both shut in behind that securely fastened little padlock. [Illustration: THE CENTRAL ROOM, CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY. INSIDE THE CAPITOL.—WASHINGTON. ]