Harper's Round Table, June 11, 1895

you see, it would be one for those two, and one for me, too."

STORIES OF OUR GOVERNMENT.

WHAT OUR REPRESENTATIVES DO.

BY THE HONORABLE HENRY CABOT LODGE,

UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS.

[Illustration: HON. C. F. CRISP, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE.]

It is not easy to describe in a short article an average day in the House of Representatives. The great days are exceptional, and a single historic scene gives no idea of the every-day work of the House. Moreover, if history is made on the days when excitement runs high, the business of carrying on the government is done every day, and it is about the latter that you wish to learn. By way of beginning, let me say a word about the place where this work is done. The House of Representatives holds its sessions in the southern wing of the Capitol at Washington. The House is very large, right angled, and rigid, with little ornament, and without beauty of proportion. The walls go up for about fifteen feet, and fr