"Well, then, see here. The Governor's tried for other men and can't
get them. Now the next thing I want to know is--What's the matter
with us?"

They didn't get it for a minute, and then everybody laughed.

"It's no joke! You've all put down carpets at home; what's the use
of pretending you don't know how to do it? Oh yes--I know, bigger
building, and all that, but there are more of us, and the principle
of carpet-tacking is the same, big building or little one. Now my
scheme is this--Every fellow his own carpet-tacker! The Governor's
office puts down the Governor's carpet; the Secretary's office puts
down the Secretary's carpet; the Senate puts down the Senate
carpet--and we'll look after our little patch in the House!"

"But you've got more fellows than anybody else," cried a member of
the Senate.

"Right you are, and we'll have an over-flow meeting in the corridors
and stairways. The House, as usual, stands ready to do her
part,"--that brought a laugh for the Senators, and from them.

"Now get it out of your heads this is a joke. The carpets are here;
the building is full of able-bodied men; the Prince is coming at
four--by his own request, and the proposition is just this: Are we
going to receive him in a barn or in a palace? Let's hear what
Senator Arnold thinks about it."

That was a good way of getting away from the idea of its being a