Speaker 1: This is section forty five of The Gilded Age. This
Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Gilded Age,
Speaker 1: A Tale of to Day by Mark Twain and C. D. Warner,
Speaker 1: Chapter forty five. The galleries of the House were packed
Speaker 1: on the momentous day, not because the reporting of an
Speaker 1: important bill back by a committee was a thing to
Speaker 1: be excited about. If the bill were going to take
Speaker 1: the ordinary course afterward, it would be like getting excited
Speaker 1: over the impaneling of a coroner's jury in a murder case,
Speaker 1: instead of saving up one's emotions for the grander occasion
Speaker 1: of the hanging of the accused two years later, after
Speaker 1: all the tedious forms of law had been gone through with.
Speaker 1: But suppose you understand that this coroner's jury is going
Speaker 1: to turn out to be a vigilance committee in disguise,
Speaker 1: who will hear testimony for an hour and then hang
Speaker 1: the murder on the spot. That puts a different aspect
Speaker 1: upon the matter. Now it was whispered that the legitimate
Speaker 1: forms of procedure usual in the House, and which keep
Speaker 1: a bill hanging along for days and even weeks before
Speaker 1: it is finally passed upon, we're going to be overruled
Speaker 1: in this case, and a short work made of the measure,
Speaker 1: And so what was beginning as a mere inquest might
Speaker 1: turn out to be something very different. In the course
Speaker 1: of the day's business, the order of reports of committees
Speaker 1: was finally reached, and when the weary crowds heard that
Speaker 1: glad announcement issue from the speaker's lips, they ceased to
Speaker 1: fret at the dragging delay and plucked up spirit. The
Speaker 1: Chairman of the Committee on Benevolent Appropriations rose and made
Speaker 1: his report, and just then a blue uniformed, brass mounted
Speaker 1: little page put a note into his hand. It was
Speaker 1: from Senator Dilworthy, who had appeared upon the floor of
Speaker 1: the house for a moment and flitted away again. Everybody
Speaker 1: expects a grand assault in force, no doubt, you believe,
Speaker 1: as I certainly do, that it is the thing to do.
Speaker 1: We are strong, and everything is hot for the contest.
Speaker 1: Suespousal of our cause has immensely helped us, and we
Speaker 1: grow in power constantly. Ten of the opposition were called
Speaker 1: away from town about noon, but so it is said,
Speaker 1: only for one day. Six others are sick, but expect
Speaker 1: to be about again tomorrow or next day a friend
Speaker 1: tells me a bold onslaught is worth trying. Go for
Speaker 1: a suspension of the rules. You will find we can
Speaker 1: swing a two thirds vote. I am perfectly satisfied of it.
Speaker 1: The Lord's truth will prevail dilworthy. Mister Buckstone had reported
Speaker 1: the bills from his committee one by one, leaving the
Speaker 1: bill to the last. When the House had voted upon
Speaker 1: the acceptance or rejection of the report upon all but it,
Speaker 1: and the question now being upon its disposal, mister Buckstone
Speaker 1: begged that the House would give its attention to a
Speaker 1: few remarks which he desired to make. His committee had
Speaker 1: instructed him to report the bill favorably. He wished to
Speaker 1: explain the nature of the measure and thus justify the
Speaker 1: committee's The hostility roused by the press would then disappear,
Speaker 1: and the bill would shine forth in its true and
Speaker 1: noble character. He said that its provisions were simple. It
Speaker 1: incorporated the Knobs Industrial University, locating it in East Tennessee,
Speaker 1: declaring it open to all persons without distinction of sex, color,
Speaker 1: or religion, and committing its management to a board of
Speaker 1: perpetual trustees with power to fill vacancies in their own number.
Speaker 1: It provided for the erection of certain buildings for the
Speaker 1: university dormitories, lecture halls, museums, libraries, laboratories, workshops, furnaces, and mills.
Speaker 1: It provided also for the purchase of sixty five thousand
Speaker 1: acres of land fully described for the purposes of the
Speaker 1: University in the Knobs of East Tennessee. And it appropriated
Speaker 1: blank dollars for the purchase of the land, which should
Speaker 1: be the property of the National Trustees in trust for
Speaker 1: the uses named. Every effort had been made to secure
Speaker 1: the refusal of the whole amount of the property of
Speaker 1: the Hawkins heirs in the Knobs, some seventy five thousand acres,
Speaker 1: mister Buckstone said, But mister Washington Hawkins, one of the heirs, objected.
Speaker 1: He was indeed very reluctant to sell any part of
Speaker 1: the land at any price. And indeed this reluctance was
Speaker 1: justifiable when one considers how constantly and how greatly the
Speaker 1: property is rising in value. What the South needed, continued
Speaker 1: mister Buckstone was skilled labor. Without that, it would be
Speaker 1: unable to develop its mines, build its roads, work to
Speaker 1: advantage and without great waste its fruitful land, establish manufacturers
Speaker 1: or enter upon a prosperous industrial career. Its laborers were
Speaker 1: almost altogether unskilled. Change them into intelligent, trained workmen, and
Speaker 1: you increased at once the capital the resources of the
Speaker 1: entire South, which would enter upon a prosperity hitherto unknown
Speaker 1: in five years. The increase in local wealth would not
Speaker 1: only reimburse the government for the outlay in this appropriation,
Speaker 1: but pour untold wealth into the treasury. This was the
Speaker 1: material view, and the least important in the Honorable Gentleman's opinion.
Speaker 1: Here he referred to some notes furnished him by Senator Dilworthy,
Speaker 1: and then continued, God had given us the care of
Speaker 1: these colored millions. What accounts should we render to Him
Speaker 1: of our stewardship. We had made them free, Should we
Speaker 1: leave them ignorant? We had cast them upon their own resources?
Speaker 1: Should we leave them without tools? We could not tell
Speaker 1: what the intentions of Providence are in regard to these
Speaker 1: peculiar people, But our duty was plain. The Knob's Industrial
Speaker 1: University would be a vast school of modern science and practice,
Speaker 1: worthy of a great nation. It would combine the advantages
Speaker 1: of Zurich, Fribourg, Cruzot and Sheffield scientific providence had apparently
Speaker 1: reserved and set apart the knobs of East Tennessee for
Speaker 1: this purpose. What else were they for? Was it not
Speaker 1: wonderful that for more than thirty years, over a generation,
Speaker 1: the choicest portion of them had remained in one family, untouched,
Speaker 1: as if separated for some great use. It might be
Speaker 1: asked why the government should buy this land, when it
Speaker 1: had millions of acres more than the railroad companies desired,
Speaker 1: which it might devote to this purpose. He answered that
Speaker 1: the government had no such tract of land as this,
Speaker 1: It had nothing comparable to it. For the purposes of
Speaker 1: the university. This was to be a school of mining,
Speaker 1: of engineering, of the working of metals, of chemistry, zoology, botany, manufactures, agriculture.
Speaker 1: In short, of all the complicated industries that make a
Speaker 1: state great. There was no place for the location of
Speaker 1: such a school like the knobs of East Tennessee. The
Speaker 1: hills abounded in metals of all sorts, iron in all
Speaker 1: its combinations, super bismuth, gold and silver in small quantities, platinum,
Speaker 1: he believed, tin, aluminum. It was covered with forests, and
Speaker 1: strange plants. In the woods were found the coon, the apossum,
Speaker 1: the fox, the deer, and many other animals who roamed
Speaker 1: in the domain of natural history. Coal existed in enormous quantity,
Speaker 1: and no doubt oil. It was such a place for
Speaker 1: the practice of agricultural experiments that any student who had
Speaker 1: been successful there would have an easy task in any
Speaker 1: other portion of the country. No place offered equal facilities
Speaker 1: for experiments in mining, metallurgy, engineering. He expected to live
Speaker 1: to see the day when the youth of the South
Speaker 1: would resort to its mines, its workshops, its laboratories, its
Speaker 1: furnaces and factories for practical instruction in all the great
Speaker 1: industrial pursuits. A noisy and rather ill natured debate followed
Speaker 1: now and lasted hour after hour. The friends of the
Speaker 1: bill were instructed by the leaders to make no effort
Speaker 1: to check it. It was deemed better strategy to tire
Speaker 1: out the opposition. It was decided to vote down every
Speaker 1: proposition to adjourn, and so continue the sitting into the night.
Speaker 1: Opponents might desert then, one by one and weaken their party,
Speaker 1: for they had no personal stake in the bill. Sunset came,
Speaker 1: and still the fight went on. The gas was lit,
Speaker 1: the crowd in the galleries began to thin, but the
Speaker 1: contest continued. The crowd returned by and by with hunger
Speaker 1: and thirst, appeased and aggravated the hungry and thirsty house
Speaker 1: by looking contented and comfortable. But still the wrangle lost
Speaker 1: nothing of its bitterness. Recesses were moved plaintively by the opposition,
Speaker 1: and invariably voted down by the University Army. At midnight,
Speaker 1: the house presented a spectacle calculated to interest a stranger.
Speaker 1: The great galleries were still thronged, though only with men.
Speaker 1: Now the bright colors that had made them look like
Speaker 1: hanging gardens were gone with the ladies. The reporter's gallery
Speaker 1: was merely occupied by one or two watchful sentinels of
Speaker 1: the quill driving guild. The main body cared nothing for
Speaker 1: a debate that had dwindled to a mere vaporing of
Speaker 1: dull speakers, and now and then a brief quarrel over
Speaker 1: a point of order. But there was an unusually large
Speaker 1: attendance of journalists in the reporter's waiting room, chatting, smoking,
Speaker 1: and keeping on the key vive for the general eruption
Speaker 1: of the congressional volcano that must come when the time
Speaker 1: was ripe for it. Senator Dilworthy and Philip were in
Speaker 1: the Diplomatic gallery. Washington sat in the public gallery, and
Speaker 1: Colonel Sellers was not far away. The Colonel had been
Speaker 1: flying about the corridors and button holding congressmen all the evening,
Speaker 1: and believed that he had accomplished a world of valuable service.
Speaker 1: But fatigue was telling upon him now, and he was
Speaker 1: quiet and speechless for once. Below a few senators lounged
Speaker 1: upon the sofas set apart for visitors, and with idle congressmen.
Speaker 1: A dreary member was speaking, the presiding officer was nodding
Speaker 1: here and there. Little knots of members stood in the aisles,
Speaker 1: whispering together all about the house. Others sat in all
Speaker 1: the various attitudes that expressed weariness. Some tilted back, had
Speaker 1: one or more legs disposed upon their desks. Some sharpened
Speaker 1: pencils indolently, Some scribbled aimlessly, some yawned and stretched. A
Speaker 1: great many lay upon their breasts upon the desks, sound
Speaker 1: asleep and gently snoring. The flooding gaslight from the fancifully
Speaker 1: wrought roof poured down upon the trank was scene. Hardly
Speaker 1: a sound disturbed the stillness, save the monotonous eloquence of
Speaker 1: the gentlemen who occupied the floor now and then a
Speaker 1: warrior of the opposition broke down under the pressure, gave
Speaker 1: it up and went home. Mister Buckstone began to think
Speaker 1: it might be safe now to proceed to business. He
Speaker 1: consulted with Trollope and one two others. Senator Dilworthy descended
Speaker 1: to the floor of the house, and they went to
Speaker 1: meet him. After a brief comparison of notes, the congressmen
Speaker 1: sought their seats and sent pages about the house with
Speaker 1: messages to friends. These latter instantly roused up, yawned, and
Speaker 1: began to look alert. The moment the floor was unoccupied,
Speaker 1: mister Buckstone rose with an injured look, and said, it
Speaker 1: was evident that the opponents of the bill were merely
Speaker 1: talking against time, hoping in this unbecoming way to tire
Speaker 1: out the friends of the measure and so defeated. Such
Speaker 1: conduct might be respectable enough in a village debating society,
Speaker 1: but it was trivial among statesmen. It was out of
Speaker 1: place in so august an assemblage as the House of
Speaker 1: Representatives of the United States. The friends of the bill
Speaker 1: had been not only willing that its opponents should express
Speaker 1: their opinions, but had strongly desired it. They courted the
Speaker 1: fullest and freest discussion. But it seemed to him that
Speaker 1: this fairness was but illy appreciated, since gentlemen were capable
Speaker 1: of taking advantage of it for selfish and unworthy ends.
Speaker 1: This trifling had gone far enough. He called for the question.
Speaker 1: The instant mister Buckstone sat down. The storm burst forth.
Speaker 1: A dozen gentlemen sprang to their feet. Mister speaker, mister speaker,
Speaker 1: mister speaker, Order Order, Order, question question. The sharp blows
Speaker 1: of the Speaker's gavel rose above the din. The previous
Speaker 1: question that hated gag was moved and carried. All debate
Speaker 1: came to a sudden end of course, triumph number one.
Speaker 1: Then the vote was taken on the adoption of the report,
Speaker 1: and it carried by a surprising majority. Mister Buckstone got
Speaker 1: the floor again and moved that the rules be suspended
Speaker 1: and the bill read a first time. Mister Trollip, second
Speaker 1: the motion the speaker. It is moved, and clamor of
Speaker 1: voices move, we adjourn. Second the motion, adjourn, adjourn order
Speaker 1: order the speaker, after using his gavel vigorously, it is
Speaker 1: moved and seconded. That the House do now adjourn all
Speaker 1: those in favor voices Division, division, Hazeen, Nays, haze and nays.
Speaker 1: It was decided to vote upon the adjournment by a's
Speaker 1: and nays. This was in earnest. The excitement was furious.
Speaker 1: The galleries were in commotion in an instant. The reporters
Speaker 1: swarmed their places, Idling members of the House flocked to
Speaker 1: their seats. Nervous gentlemen sprang to their feet. Pages flew
Speaker 1: hither and thither. Life and animation were visible everywhere. All
Speaker 1: the long ranks of faces in the building were kindled.
Speaker 1: This thing decides, it, thought mister Buckstone. But let the
Speaker 1: fight proceed. The voting began, and every sound ceased, but
Speaker 1: the calling of the names, and the eye no no
Speaker 1: I of the responses. There was not a movement in
Speaker 1: the house. The people seemed to hold their breath. The
Speaker 1: voting ceased, and then there was an interval of dead
Speaker 1: silence while the clerk made up his count. There was
Speaker 1: a two thirds vote on the university side and two
Speaker 1: over the speaker. The rules are suspended. The motion is
Speaker 1: carried first reading of the bill by one impulse. The
Speaker 1: galleries broke forth into stormy applause, and even some of
Speaker 1: the members of the house were not wholly able to
Speaker 1: restrain their feelings. The speaker's gavel came to the rescue,
Speaker 1: and his clear voice followed, order, gentlemen, the house will
Speaker 1: come to order. If spectators offend again, the sergeant at
Speaker 1: arms will clear the galleries. Then he cast his eyes
Speaker 1: aloft and gazed at some object attentively. For a moment,
Speaker 1: all eyes followed the direction of the speakers, and then
Speaker 1: there was a general titter. The speaker said, let the
Speaker 1: Sergeant at arms inform the gentleman that his conduct is
Speaker 1: an infringement of the dignity of the house, and one
Speaker 1: which is not warranted by the state of the weather.
Speaker 1: Poor Sellars was the culprit. He sat in the front
Speaker 1: seat of the gallery, with his arms and his tired
Speaker 1: body overflowing the balustrade, sound asleep, dead to all excitements,
Speaker 1: all disturbances. The fluctuations of the Washington weather had influenced
Speaker 1: his dreams, perhaps, for during the recent tempest of applause,
Speaker 1: he had hoisted his Gingham umbrella and calmly gone on
Speaker 1: with his slumbers. Washington Hawkins had seen the act, but
Speaker 1: was not near enough at hand to save his friend,
Speaker 1: and no one who was near enough desired to spoil
Speaker 1: the effect. But a neighbor stirred up the colonel now
Speaker 1: that the house had its eye upon him, and the
Speaker 1: great spectacular furled his tent like the Arab. He said,
Speaker 1: bless my soul, I'm so absent minded when I get
Speaker 1: to thinking, I never wear an umbrella in the house.
Speaker 1: Did anybody notice it? What asleep? Indeed? And did you
Speaker 1: wake me? Sir? Thank you, thank you very much. Indeed,
Speaker 1: it might have fallen out of my hands and been injured.
Speaker 1: Admirable article, sir, present from a friend in Hong Kong.
Speaker 1: One doesn't come across silk like that in this country.
Speaker 1: It's the real young Heysen, I'm told. By this time
Speaker 1: the incident was forgotten, for the house was at war again.
Speaker 1: Victory was almost in sight now, and the friends of
Speaker 1: the bill threw themselves into their work with enthusiasm. They
Speaker 1: soon moved and carried its second reading, and after a
Speaker 1: strong sharp fight, carried a motion to go into committee
Speaker 1: of the whole. The speaker left his place, of course,
Speaker 1: and a chairman was appointed. Now the contest raged hotter
Speaker 1: than ever, for the authority that compels order when the
Speaker 1: House sits as a house is greatly diminished when it
Speaker 1: sits as committee. The main fight came upon the filling
Speaker 1: of the blanks with a sum to be appropriated for
Speaker 1: the purchase of land. Of course, Buckstone, mister chairman, I move, you, sir,
Speaker 1: that the words three millions of be inserted, mister Hadley,
Speaker 1: mister chairman, I move that the words two and a
Speaker 1: half dollars be inserted. Mister Clawson. Mister Chairman, I move
Speaker 1: the insertion of the words five and twenty cents as
Speaker 1: representing the true value of this barren and isolated tract
Speaker 1: of desolation. Question, according to rule, was taken upon the
Speaker 1: smallest sum. First it was lost, then upon the next
Speaker 1: smallest sum lost also, then upon the three millions. After
Speaker 1: a vigorous battle that lasted a considerable time, this motion
Speaker 1: was carried. Then, clause by clause, the bill was read, discussed,
Speaker 1: and amended in trifling particulars. And now the Committee rose
Speaker 1: and reported. The moment the House had resumed its functions
Speaker 1: and received the report, mister Buckstone moved and carried the
Speaker 1: third reading of the bill. The same bitter war over
Speaker 1: the sum to be paid was fought over again, and
Speaker 1: now that the a's and nays could be called and
Speaker 1: placed on record, every man was compelled to vote by
Speaker 1: name on the three millions, and indeed on every paragraph
Speaker 1: of the bill, from enacting clause straight through. But as before,
Speaker 1: the friends of the measure stood firm and voted in
Speaker 1: a solid body every time, and so did its enemies.
Speaker 1: The supreme moment was come now, but so sure was
Speaker 1: the result that not even a voice was raised to
Speaker 1: interpose an adjournment. The enemy were totally demoralized. The bill
Speaker 1: was put upon its final passage almost without dissent, and
Speaker 1: the calling of the a's and AA's began. When it
Speaker 1: was ended, the triumph was complete, two thirds vote held good,
Speaker 1: and a veto was impossible as far as the House
Speaker 1: was concerned. Mister Buckstone resolved that now that the nail
Speaker 1: was driven home, he would clinch it on the other
Speaker 1: side and make it stay forever. He moved a reconsideration
Speaker 1: of the vote by which the bill had passed. The
Speaker 1: motion was lost, of course, and the Great Industrial University
Speaker 1: Act was an accomplished fact as far as it was
Speaker 1: in the power of the House of Representatives to make
Speaker 1: it so. There was no need to move an adjournment.
Speaker 1: The instant the last motion was decided. The enemies of
Speaker 1: the university rose and flocked out of the hall, talking angrily,
Speaker 1: and its friends flocked after them, jubilant and congratulatory. The
Speaker 1: Galleries disgorged their burden, and presently the house was silent
Speaker 1: and deserted. When Colonel Sellars and Washington stepped out of
Speaker 1: the building, they were surprised to find that the daylight
Speaker 1: was old and the sun well up, said the colonel,
Speaker 1: give me your hand. My boy, you're all right at last.
Speaker 1: You're a millionaire. At least you're going to be. The
Speaker 1: thing is dead. Sure, don't you bother about the Senate.
Speaker 1: Leave me and Dilworthy to take care of that. Run
Speaker 1: along home now and tell Laura Lord, it's magnificent news,
Speaker 1: perfectly magnificent. Run now. I'll telegraph my wife. She must
Speaker 1: come here and help me build a house. Everything's all
Speaker 1: right now. Washington was so dazed by his good fortune,
Speaker 1: and so bewildered by the gaudy pageant of dreams that
Speaker 1: was already trailing its long ranks through his brain, that
Speaker 1: he wandered. He knew not where, and so loitered by
Speaker 1: the way that when at last he reached home, he
Speaker 1: woke to a sudden annoyance in the fact that his
Speaker 1: news must be old to Laura now, For of course
Speaker 1: Senator Dilworthy must have already been home and told her
Speaker 1: an hour before he knocked at her door. But there
Speaker 1: was no answer. That is, like the Duchess said, he
Speaker 1: always cool. A body can't excite her, can't keep her
Speaker 1: excited anyway. Now she has gone off to sleep again,
Speaker 1: as comfortably as if she were used to picking up
Speaker 1: a million dollars every day or two. Then he went
Speaker 1: to bed, but he could not sleep. So he got
Speaker 1: up and wrote a long, rapturous letter to Louise and
Speaker 1: another to his mother, and he closed both to much
Speaker 1: the same effect. Laura will be Queen of America now,
Speaker 1: and she will be applauded and honored and petted by
Speaker 1: the whole nation. Her name will be in every one's
Speaker 1: mouth more than ever. And how they will court her
Speaker 1: and quote her bright speeches, and mine too, I suppose,
Speaker 1: though they do that more already than they really seem
Speaker 1: to deserve. Oh, the world is so bright now and
Speaker 1: so cheery. The clouds are all gone. Our long struggle
Speaker 1: is ended. Our troubles are all over. Nothing can ever
Speaker 1: make us unhappy any more. You, dear faithful ones, will
Speaker 1: have the reward of your patient waiting. Now. How Father's
Speaker 1: wisdom is proven at last, And how I repent me
Speaker 1: that there have been times when I lost faith and
Speaker 1: said the blessing he stored up for us a tedious
Speaker 1: generation ago was but a long drawn curse, a blight
Speaker 1: upon us all. But everything is well now. We are
Speaker 1: done with poverty, sad toil, weariness, and heart break. All
Speaker 1: the world is filled with sunshine. End of chapter forty five.