Keeping Old Bills

It is not generally known that evcry bill, every report, every executivo communication, - in short, everything that comes beforo congross, - is preserved in tlie original. But such is tho fact. Tlierc is a placo devoted to tho prescrvatioQ of these relies, and a man spcciallycharged with preserving them. The room is a succession of iron corridors, one above tho other, lined with receptacles for holding large volumes. Comtnencing on the roof of the house, the records run down in chronological order. The books are of all sizes down to about forty years ago, when they assume uniformity. They are all leather-covered, and are strongly bound. laside of them aro thick leaves upon which bilis, reports, and othcr congressional documents are pasted in the original. Every kind of paper is thero. The history of the improvement in paper manufacture can be traced in these volumes from the first session of the continental congress down to the present day. It is noted, too, in delving among these oíd tomes that the latter ones aro better prepared than those precedlng them. For instance, there is evident slovenliness in the volumes of the first congress. ImprovemeDts go on as tho dates becomo more recent. But very little is missing in this vast collection. The first and second congress are not complete, and there is a somewhat bad break in the continuity of the records in the years just before the British burned the capital. Tho break was caused by fire and by the British taking away some of the volumes. There aro a number of volumes on hand which show the effects of British depredations. They are charred, and their contents smoked and covered with dirt. But not a word is there in them that cannot be read. Thus, from the dato of the lirst meeting of congress there is an alrnost unbroken oollection in the original of almost all matters that came before that body. In later vears a great deal of ingenuity has been shown in making the edges of the contents of tho leather-backed volumes as smooth as those of any first-class publication. Tho ingenuity is the more apparent when it is remembered that all sizes and kinds of paper are used in preparing bilis for introduction, and in writing reports and other matters pertaining to congressional business. Tho origiuals, when ordered to be printed, go to the government printing office, but strict care is always taken that they are rcturned. The printer' s marks are to be seen on many of the papers. For the past thirty years these volumes have been prepared by an old gentleman who is now nearly 70 years of age. He has a room in tho basement of tho capital set apart for his own uso. There ho locks himseif up and gives a receipt for the doeuments which are sent to him. He then arranges them in his books in regular order. When he has finished a volume he turns it over to the proper ollicial and gets a receipt. The volume then goes to the place set apart for such records. One would not think that there would be much inquiry for what is contained in the dust-covered old books, but thero is. There is hardly a day but that somebody wants to get a copyof an original document of years and years ago. They are always accommodated. The old gentleman who prepares tho original matter for preservation is but seldom seen. One of tho gentlemen in charge of the iron corridors says that he does not see the old man more than two or three times a year, when he appears to hand over the volumes he has prepared. - Washington Crilic. Tho new Chinese dictionary comprises forty volumes. Fertile land can be purchased io Mexico at 30 cents an acre.