We have time to notice here some of the mechanical details of the great dome on which we stand. It is formed, we find, of a series of ribs, to which sheets of iron are securely bolted, the whole being painted white every year to prevent rusting. Four thousand tons of iron, and eight years' time were required to construct it. It was designed by Thomas U. Walter, who in 1860-63 was architect of the Capitol, and was built under the direction of Charles F. Thomas. Nice engineering skill was required to provide for the expansion and contraction of the iron by heat and cold, and to withstand the tremendous force of the wind in gales. For the dome moves perceptibly in furious storms. In the great gale of December 10, 1864, for instance, it was observed to sway several inches. Mr. Walter, the designer, was also the author of a novel device for marking the expansion and contraction. From the tholus of the dome he suspended a wire which reached to the pavement of the Rotunda. At the end of this wire he arranged a delicate mechanism in such a way that the point of a pencil was carried over a sheet of paper exactly as far as the tholus moved under the expansion and contraction of summer and winter. In the American Journal of Science and Art for May, 1870, may be found a curious diagram showing the erratic movements of the pencil. At this point, too, the great statue of Freedom is directly overhead, and may be studied more critically than from below. It is certainly a creditable work of art and we are proud that an American produced it. The goddess stands upon a globe whose motto, E pluribus unum, is the motto of the States. Her head is bound about with a circlet of stars and crowned with eagle's plumes. In the artist's original design the crown was a liberty cap, but when it was submitted to Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, he objected to it for the reason that it implied that Americans had once been slaves; the eagle feathers were therefore substituted. The statue was finally placed in position December 2, 1863. A vast multitude with eyes fixed upon the dome filled the avenues and open spaces. As the statue settled into place it was saluted by a park of artillery stationed in the East Capitol grounds, which was answered by a general salute from the forts around the city. Descending to the floor of the Rotunda we will first visit the House of Representatives, the firstborn of the Constitution. Passing south through the main corridor, jostling and being jostled by throngs of visitors from every section and of various nationalities, we enter presently the Hall of Statuary, which from 1808 to 1857-with a brief interregnum of three years from 1814 to 1817-was the Hall of the House of Representatives. It is a magnificent chamber, semicircular in form, and set with marble columns, copied in some respects from the famous theatres of the Athenian Acropolis. Its extreme length is ninety-five feet, and the domed ceiling rises fifty-seven feet above our heads. The floor is paved with mosaic. The Hall is one of the historic chambers of the Capitol. Here the battles of the giants were fought, and the great questions which convulsed the nation from 1808 to 1857 were debated, and some settled. If these old walls were phonographs what a charivari might they not produce for us-eloquence of Clay, Webster, Adams, Calhoun, Randolph, Wise, Corwin, Marshall, Lincoln, Davis, and others; questions of public policy that are ancient history now-embargoes, non-intercourse, slavery, Missouri compromise, tariff, nullification, United States Bank, internal improvements, fierce partisan wrangles, and strains of the purest patriotism, all mixed and woven together. It was a happy thought of Congress to preserve the character of the old Hall by making it a Pantheon for the statues of the great and good men of the nation. That body in 1864 authorized the President to invite each State to contribute "the effigies of two of her chosen sons in marble or in bronze, to be placed permanently here." But seven States have thus far accepted the invitation. Rhode Island was the first, selecting as her two greatest men Roger Williams and General Nathaniel Greene; Connecticut came next, presenting the statues of Governor Jonathan Trumbull and Roger Sherman; New York chose Governor George Clinton and Chancellor Robert R. Livingston; Massachusetts, Governor John Winthrop and Samuel Adams; Vermont, Colonel Ethan Allen and Jacob Collamer; Maine, Governor William King; Pennsylvania, Robert Fulton and William Muhlenburg. Eleven of the statues are of marble and two of bronze; all, as compared with the earlier works of art exhibited here, show a creditable advance in taste and culture. When the remaining States have contributed their quota we shall have a National Hall of Statuary of which no American need be ashamed. Here also there are statues and works of art contributed by the national government worthy of mention. These comprise Vinne Ream Hoxie's marble statue of Lincoln, executed in 1870; a plaster copy of Houdon's statue of Washington; Horatio Stone's marble statue of Hamilton; and a bronze statue of Jefferson by D'Angers. There are also busts of Lincoln, Kosciuski, and Crawford; portraits of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Carroll of Carrollton, and others. From the Hall of Statuary we pass through the corridor before mentioned, connecting the House extension with the main Capitol, and are at the door of the House of Representatives. If the House is in session we shall find here an official-the Doorkeeper, who permits no one to enter except he be a member, or one of the privileged few who have the entrée of the House. If it is not in session, however, we can enter and study the chamber at our leisure. It is a spacious and beautiful auditorium, one hundred and thirty-nine feet long, ninety-three feet wide, and thirty-six feet high. The walls and ceiling are painted and decorated in gold and buff, and the glass panels bear the coats-of-arms of the States. Most of the floor space is covered by the desks and chairs of members, which are arranged in a semicircle around the Speaker's desk. This desk or table is of white marble, and is placed on a platform elevated about four feet above the floor. On the right of the desk is a pedestal, which, when the House is in session and under the Speaker's command, bears the famous mace, the symbol of author |