The Nation's Pages

An Intíianapolis correspondent at Wasliiiigton writes: Some interesting character and peculiar bits of lifc aro found in the pages of the senato and house of representatives. In the, upper brancli of congress there are abimt fifteen and in the lower branch about thirt v-tive pages. Their dnties aro wellknown to the average reader. Their iields of labor are the. floore ofthetwo branches of congress. A page for the senate, howevér, never does anything fot a tnëmber of the liouso and vice versa. Sometimos o page ís found who s aLmoat of age and nearly full-grown; bnt they average Erom '. to 1 1 yeurs, and most of them are very small in stature, and upon Brst apppearanco Í boyish in eharacter. As years go on, if they aro retained the. little fellows become sagae.ious, often proudi and not nfrequentlv imítate the statesmen in bearing and conversation. There is no botter school for a boy in which to become an actor. He bas the best of opportunity to study everj phase of character. Speaking of the pages sometimes imitating the ae's of their superiors, reminds me of ah incident thni occurred j a few daya ago. A very diminutive iMffl wiui iras borne apon the rolls of the last congress was superseded. When he learned thai bis place had been given to anotlier li' l)ecame considerably dejected, for this little fellow had dissrpated in a mild way and had been proflígate. ' so tliat he was found almost without funds, and was as far away trom home as the state of Missouri i.s from Washington. Bnt the boy had been an : server and knew a triek or two. He Studied the situation. He solved t. Going to hla boarding-house he liastily packed up bis effecta without attracting the attention of anvone. Witli great caution he removed them to another quarter of the city. Then he went out to bid his confrères adieu. Meeting ono of them, whó was about 10 years old, and as tall a.s inan's arm is long, lie said: "Well. good-by, old fellow; ['m oft'. My conetituenta have given me the shake. The situation. liowever, leaves a little flat. I atn nearly broke; but I have found a way out. 1 will jump my board-bill. They all do it." Sometimes tlie pages run in schools. likc fish, and beeomeclannisli. Not infrequently one meets a crowd of them, '■ all under three feel in height, at the midnigl'.t hour, making the town howl. Many of them smoke cigarettes and play biUiards. Frequonüy the little fellows drink beer, lor they can buy it anywhere at the counter?. There isnot j a very great proportion of them, however, who fall into these channels of dissipation. Those who do genei-ally come from the larger -it ii-s. Then the have a way of "haiing," and some of tlie capera they play upon plebeians or nexpBrienoed boys are woiulerfully severe and teiribly barrassing. One of the favorito tricks in tlie line of ha.ing is to take a new boy down in the lower basement ander tlie hall of the house and show him the "rubber man.'" 'l'hjs basement is very broad and cavernous. Portions oí il are onlighted, and the unsophisticated youtli soon finds himself lost. surroundings ure weird and frightful. and it sometimes takes an hour to get out. l'aes teeaive J15 per nionth diwiag the session. Those in the house are generally changed everytwo year3, bul tlie boys in tlie genate are retained, and some óf them gTOW up to mauhood ás ilul sénVitiir 'tiorman. "oï ',lár i'aiii'i. It is xiM thai a considerable number of the pages in the house are blood relatives to inembers, and sometimes he rin mbers have their gons appointed.