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National Geographic : 1964 Jan
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KODACHROMEBY NATIONALGEOGRAPHICPHOTOGRAPHERGEORGEF. MOBLEY© U. S. CAPITOL HISTORICAL SOCIETY recreations, Congress's library was a popu lar spot for visiting and flirting. The Rotunda resembled a county fair, with merchants sell ing wares and inventors exhibiting models for Congressional attention. Church services and funerals were long held in the House Chamber. It was also the scene of a wedding between two members of a choir that often performed there. After the ceremony, the bride sang "The Star-Spangled Banner." A building janitress gave birth to a son in the Capitol in 1947, and a story persists that another boy was born to a visitor 60 years earlier. And employees still recall the ex newspaperman who set up housekeeping in the sub-basement while cataloguing old rec ords. He entertained guests, and often at 58 tended summer band concerts in CapitolPlaza. But for most Americans, Congress itself is the heart of the matter. Not all of the 10,000 men (and since 1916, a few dozen women) sent here by their constituents could be giants of oratory and makers of history. Yet each in his way represents the workings of democracy. When I think of the descriptive nicknames attached to certain grass-roots Congressmen of the past-"Sockless Jerry" Simpson, for instance, "Cyclone" Davis of breezy speeches, and "Pig-iron" Kelley, defender of industry I recall what Alexander Hamilton said of the Congress that would sit here: "After all, sir... the true principle of a republic is, that the people shall choose whom they please to govern them." THE END
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