k, long known as one of the ablest jurists
of his State, and recently an eminent member of the Senate's Judiciary
Committee, directed attention to his favorite field of legislative
labor by introducing "a bill to reoerganize the Judiciary of the United
States."

While the Senate was thus actively entering upon the labors of the
session, a somewhat different scene was transpiring in the other end
of the Capitol.

Long before the hour for the assembling of Congress, the halls, the
galleries, and corridors of the House of Representatives were thronged
with such crowds as had never before been seen at the opening of a
session. The absorbing interest felt throughout the entire country in
the great questions to be decided by Congress had drawn great numbers
to the Capitol from every quarter of the Union. Eligible positions,
usually held in reserve for certain privileged or official persons,
and rarely occupied by a spectator, were now filled to their utmost
capacity. The Diplomatic Gallery was occupied by many unskilled in the
mysteries of diplomacy; the Reporters' Gallery held many listeners and
lookers on who had no connection with newspapers, save as readers. The
"floor" was held not only by the "members," who made the hall vocal
with their greetings and congratulations, but by a great crowd of
pages, office-seekers, office-holders, and unambitious citizens, who
thronged over the new carpet and among the desks.

The hour having arrived for the assembling of Congress, Edward
McPherson, Clerk of the last House of Representatives, brought down
the gavel on the Speaker's desk, and called the House to order. The
members found their seats, and the crowd surged back up the aisles,
and stood in a compact mass in the rear of the last row of desks.

Edward McPherson, who at that moment occupied the most prominent and
responsible place in the nation, had come to his position through a
series of steps, which afforded the country an opportunity of knowing
his material and capacity. A graduate of Pennsylvania College in 1848,
editor, author, twice a Congressman, and Clerk of the House of
Representatives in the Thirty-eighth Congress, he had given evidence
that he was reliable. Having shown himself a thoroughly conscientious
man in the performance of all his public duties, the great interests
of the nation were safe in his hands.

The country had been greatly concerned to know how the Clerk would
make up the Roll of the House, and