ark, were placed conspicuously on the desks or cocked on the backs of the heads of the honourable members. Some wore the coarse clothes of the field, stained with red mud.
Old Aleck, he noted, had a red woolen comforter wound round his neck in place of a shirt or collar. He had tried to go barefooted, but the Speaker had issued a rule that members should come shod. He was easing his feet by placing his brogans under the desk, wearing only his red socks.
Each member had his name painted in enormous gold letters on his desk, and had placed beside it a sixty-dollar French imported spittoon. Even the Congress of the United States, under the inspiration of Oakes Ames and Speaker Colfax, could only afford one of domestic make, which cost a dollar.
The uproar was deafening. From four to six negroes were trying to speak at the same time. Aleck's majestic mouth with blue gums and projecting teeth led the chorus, as he ambled down the aisle, his bow-legs flying their redsock ensigns.
The Speaker singled him out—his voice was something which simply could not be ignored—rapped and yelled:
"De gemman from Ulster set down!"
Aleck turned crestfallen and resumed his seat, throwing his big flat feet in their red woollens up on his desk and hiding his face behind their enormous spread.
He had barely settled in his chair before a new idea flashed through his head and up he jumped again:
"Mistah Speaker!" he bawled.
