West Basement Corridor, S. to N.: In lunettes above the two entrances to the Interstate Commerce Committee Room (formerly Indian Affairs) are frescoes representing: 1. Columbus and an Indian maiden; 2. Las Casas, missionary to the Indians. Opposite (W. side), in lunette above door to Committee on Rules, Authority consults the Written Law, while Justice holds the Scales. Beyond, above door to Committee on Appropriations, lunette showing America surrounded with cannon and stacked arms. At intervals along the walls are medallion portraits, including John Hancock, Francis Hopkinson, Robert R. Livingston, John Jay, Roger Sherman, Charles Thomson, Robert Morris and Charles Carroll.

The room of the Committee on Appropriations (originally Military Affairs) contains five historic frescoes: W. wall, 1. The Boston massacre, 1770; S. wall, 2. The Battle of Lexington, 1775; 3. Washington at Valley Forge, 1778; E. wall, 4. The Storming of Stony Point by Anthony Wayne, 1779; N. wall, 5. The Death of General Wooster during the British Invasion of Connecticut, 1777.

The northern end of the west corridor has come to be known as the Pompeiian Corridor, because here Brumidi imitated, not only the designs, but the distinctive coloring of Pompeiian frescoes. The visitor should note the undimmed brilliance of the deep reds and blues.

I.

North Corridor, W. to E. The wall medallions in this corridor include: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Richard Montgomery, Joseph Warren, Thomas Mifflin, Silas Deane, Horatio Gates, Israel Putnam, Jonathan Trumbull and Daniel Webster. On N. side are two lunettes: Above entrance to Committee on Patents (originally Territories Room) represents: Negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase (April 30th, 1803); 2. Over last door on L. (originally Committee on Foreign Relations) fresco copied from West's painting, "Signing the Articles of Peace, 1782," containing portraits of Richard Oswald, signer for Great Britain; John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay and Henry Laurens, for the United States.

The north corridor is intersected midway by a central corridor, at the N. end of which are fresco portraits of Kent, Livingston and Story.

The north corridor opens at E. end into a small pavilion. Over the door of Committee on Foreign Relations (formerly Post Offices and Post Roads) is Benjamin Franklin, father of the postal system, seated in his laboratory.

Above second door is Fulton, inventor of the steamboat; and diagonally opposite is John Fitch, a forerunner of Fulton, working on a model of a steamboat.

The above form the more noteworthy details in these frescoed passages, in which every wall-space is overlaid with arabesques, traceries of vines, foliage and fruit; animals and birds; allegorical figures and landscapes. From the northern corridor, private staircases ascend to the Senate Lobby. The richly wrought bronze stair-rails, and the corresponding ones in the House basement, were modeled by Charles Baudin, a French sculptor. Some details, such as the eagles, deer and cherubs, were designed by Brumidi. They were cast by Archer, Warner, Miskey & Co. at a cost of over $22,000.

Returning to the central corridor, we may proceed S., passing, on L., the public restaurant (p. 7). To the E. of the small rotunda (p. 64) is the entrance to the Senate Law Library, containing a bas-relief group by Franzoni, and a marble bust of Justice Story, by W. W. Story (181995).

Continuing S., we enter, directly beneath the great Rotunda, the so-called Crypt, a circular chamber with a colonnade of forty Doric columns, modeled after the Temple at Paestum. These columns are surmounted by groined arches supporting the floor above. The exact center of the Capitol building is indicated by a star in the pavement. To the east is the Suffrage Group presented by American women: A rough marble pedestal surmounted by busts of Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the work of Adelaide Johnson. The sub-basement, below this crypt, was originally planned to contain the tomb of George Washington. Since 1865 it has been the receptacle of the bier used to sustain the coffin of Abraham Lincoln and other notable Americans who have lain in state in the Capitol.

Immediately S. of the crypt are the offices of the Chief Clerk of the House. In the N. E. room of this suite was situated the Washington terminus of Morse's first telegraph line, connecting Washington with the Railway station on Pratt St., Baltimore. Here, on May 24th, 1842, Miss Annie G. Ellsworth, daughter of Henry L. Ellsworth, then Commissioner of Patents, sent the first telegraphic message, "What hath God wrought!" The strip of paper on which the telegraphic characters of this message were printed is now in the Athenaeum, Hartford, Conn.

The basement of the House Wing is traversed by a noble hallway, flanked by thirty monolithic Corinthian columns, the capitols of which are said to have been modeled from those of the Temple of the Winds, at Athens, with this modifica

tion, that the upper order of acanthus leaves has been replaced by American tobacco.

The only Committee room of special interest in the House basement is that of the *Committee on Agriculture, S. of the W. public staircase. The frescoes in this room (1855) constitute the first work done by Brumidi in the Capitol. On the ceiling are the Four Seasons: Spring symbolized by Flora, Summer by Ceres, Autumn by Bacchus, Winter by Boreas. On E. wall: Cincinnatus called from the Plough to become Dictator of Rome. W. wall: Putnam called from the Plough to join the Revolution. S. wall: Above, medallion of Washington; below, Harvest Scene in Olden Times. N. wall: Above, medallion of Jefferson; below, Harvest Scene with Modern Implements.

g. The House Wing

Ascending the western staircase to the main floor of the House of Representatives, we reach a series of corridors similar to those in the Senate Wing (p. 69), with doors on the outer sides opening upon Committee rooms, and those on the inner sides giving access to the floor of the House. As in the case of the Senate, the floor is now closed to visitors, unless accompanied by a member (a description of the House as seen from the Visitors' Gallery is given on p. 85).

Proceeding S., on W. corridor, we reach, on L., what is collectively known as the Speaker's Lobby. It consists of a spacious and ornamental parlor, extending along the S. side of the House Wing, together with the corridor separating it from the House. This corridor contains a collection of portraits of former Speakers of the House, as follows:

South Wall (west vestibule), 1. Nathaniel Macon, N. C. (1758-1837), Speaker, 7th, 8th, and 9th Congresses, by R. D. Gauley; 2. Michael C. Kerr, Ind. (1827-76), Speaker, 44th Congress, by Charles A. Gray (1857

South Wall (Lobby corridor), 3. James G. Blaine, Me. (1830-93), Speaker, 41st, 42d and 43d Congresses, by Freeman Thorp (1844- ); 4. Schuyler Colfax, Ind. (1823-85), Speaker, 38th, 39th and 40th Congresses, by Freeman Thorp; 5. William Pennington (1796-1862), Speaker, 36th Congress, by Joseph Lauber (1885- -); 6. James L. Orr, S. C. (182272), Speaker 35th Congress, by Esther Edmonds (1888); 7. Linn Boyd, Ky. (1800-59), Speaker 32d and 33d Congresses, by Stanley Grant Middleton (1852-); 8. Howell

Cobb, Ga. (1815-68), Speaker 31st Congress, by Lucy Stanton (1875); 9. John W. Davis, Ind. (1799-1859), Speaker 29th Congress, by William D. Murphy (1834); 10. John Winston Jones, Va. (1791-1848), Speaker 28th Congress, by James B. Sword (1839-); 11. John White, Ky. (1805-45), Speaker, 27th Congress, by Gerard Barry (1864- -); 12. Robert M. T. Hunter, Va. (1809-87), Speaker, 26th Congress, by Richard N. Brooks (1865-1920); 13. James K. Polk, Tenn. (1795-1849), Speaker, 24th and 25th Congresses, by Rebecca Polk; 14. John Bell, Tenn. (1797-1869), Speaker, 24th Congress, first Session, by Willie Betty Newman; 15. Andrew Stevenson, Va. (1784-1857), Speaker, 21st, 22d and 23d Congresses, by Spencer Baird Nichols; 16. Philip P. Barbour, Va. (1782-1841), Speaker, 17th Congress, by Kate Flournoy Edwards (1877——).

South Wall (E. vestibule): 17. Langdon Cheeves, S. C. (1776-1857), Speaker, 13th Congress, by Hal Morrison.

North Wall (E. vestibule): 18. Jonathan Dayton, N. J. (1760-1824), Speaker, 4th Congress, by Henry Harrison (1844-).

North Wall (Lobby corridor): 19. Henry Clay, Ky. (1777-1852), Speaker 12th-18th Congresses, by Giuseppe Fagnani (1819-73); 20. John G. Carlisle, Ky. (1835-1910), Speaker, 48th, 49th and 50th Congresses, by Ellen Day Hale (1855- ; 21. Robert C. Winthrop, Mass. (1809-94), Speaker, 30th Congress, by Daniel Huntington (1816-1906); 22. John W. Taylor, N. Y. (1784-1854), Speaker, 16th (second Session) and 17th Congresses, by Caroline L. Ransom (18381910); 23. Thomas B. Reed (1839-1902), Speaker, 54th and 55th Congresses, by John S. Sargent (1856); 24. Nathaniel P. Banks, Mass. (1816-94), Speaker, 34th Congress, by Robert William Vonnoh (1858); 25. Charles F. Crisp, Ga. (1845-96), Speaker 53d Congress, by Robert Hinckley; 26. Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, Penn. (1750-1841), Speaker 1st and 3d Congresses, by Samuel B. Waugh (181485); 27. Samuel J. Randall, Penn. (1828-90), Speaker 44th (second Session), 45th and 46th Congresses, by William A. Greaves (1847-1900); 28. Galusha A. Grow, Penn. (1823-1907). Speaker, 37th Congress, by Greaves; 29. David Bremner Henderson, Iowa (1840-1906), Speaker, 56th and 57th Congress, by Freeman Thorp; 30. Warren Kiefer, Ohio (1836), Speaker, 47th Congress, by Charles A. Gray; 31. Joseph B. Varnum, Mass. (1750-1821), Speaker, 10th and 11th Congresses, by Charles L. Elliott (1812-68); 32. Jonathan Trumbull, Conn. (1710-85), Speaker 2d Congress,