iness of the
House is done practically under special rules; in other words, the
Committee on Rules selects out of the mass of business presented a small
portion which the House shall consider, and to that small selection all
the time of the House is devoted.

Imagine, then, that the House as you watch it from the gallery has come
to the end of the morning hour, and has taken up the special order of
the day made for it by its Committee on Rules. If it is the first time
the subject has come up, the chairman of the committee making the report
opens the debate. In any event, when the business of the day is thus
laid before the House the debate begins. To any one who comes into the
House gallery for the first time, the scene on the floor is one of
apparently hopeless confusion. Members are reading, writing, talking,
and moving about the chamber. There is an incessant murmur and buzz of
conversation along the aisles and in the galleries. You who are looking
on see a member rise and begin to talk, sometimes quietly, more often
with great violence and excitement, not because he is really excited,
but because he wishes to be heard above the din. Your ears are not
accustomed to the noise, and you do not hear what is said. Still less
can you guess what it is all about, and yet business is not proceeding
by chance, and there are men on that confused floor who know exactly
what is happening, and how the business is going on. You may have been
unlucky in your day, and no measure of great interest being up, it may
seem as if it were useless to stay, but if you will be patient, and bear
with the confusion for the time, or perhaps come back another day, you
will have your reward. You will see the House reach an exciting point in
a debate, or some subject of great popular interest will come up, and
then a sharp contest will follow between different members, which will
be full of interest.

[Illustration: AN EXCITING MOMENT IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.]

Instead of reading and writing and talking and moving about, you will
see the members gather about the man who is speaking and those who are
debating with him. Silence will come on the floor and in the galleries,
broken by bursts of applause, as one member makes a sharp point or
retorts quickly on his opponent. Nothing is more interesting than good
debate of this kind, when men who are fencing or sparring with their
wits instead of their hands. You will be surprised to see how easy