s front. Addressing them one day,
he said: "It seems strange, indeed, that we three cousins--one
from Illinois, one from Florida, and one from Kentucky--are all
here together in Congress"; and then added, with apparent gravity,
"and _ours not an office-seeking family either!"_

As the session drew near its close, he made repeated efforts to
obtain unanimous consent for the consideration of a bill for the
erection of a Government building in the principal city of his
district. The interposition of the stereotyped "I object" had,
however, in each instance, proved fatal. During a night session, near
the close of the Congress, requests for recognition came to the
Speaker from all parts of the chamber. In the midst of the tumult
Mr. McKenzie arose and, addressing the Chair, stated with great
solemnity of manner that he arose to a question of personal
privilege. This at once arrested the attention of the Speaker,
and he requested the gentleman from Kentucky to state his question
of privilege. "I rise, Mr. Speaker," said McKenzie, "to a question
of the _highest_ privilege, one pertaining to the right of a member
to a seat upon this floor--_in the next Congress._ If I don't get
that post-office bill through now, my seat will be imperilled.
I beg the House for unanimous consent for its immediate consideration."
The House was convulsed; no objection was interposed, the bill was
considered and passed, and McKenzie's seat was safe for many years
to come.

Has there ever been a more feeling two-minutes' speech, than that of
McKenzie in the National Convention of 1892, when he arose to second
the nomination of Cleveland? After a night of intense excitement,
the convention was still in session at three o'clock in the morning.
A storm was raging without, while within, thousands in the great
hall were impatiently and loudly demanding an immediate vote. More
than one of the chief orators of the party,--men well known to the
country--had in vain attempted to be heard. Chaos seemed to
have come again at the crucial moment that McKenzie, standing upon
his chair in the centre of the vast enclosure, began: "If I speak
longer than two minutes, I hope that some honest half-drowned
Democrat will suspend my carcass from one of the cross-beams of
this highly artistic, but terribly leaky auditorium. Cleveland
needs no nomination from this convention. He has already been
nominated by the people all along the line--all the way from