day following, when the House was in the process of
organization, the name of James D. Williams of Indiana being called,
my sleeping-car acquaintance, still attired in blue jeans, stepped
forward with his colleagues to the Speaker's desk and was duly
sworn in as a member of Congress. This was his first term, but he
soon became quite well known to the country. As chairman of the
Committee of Accounts, having to do with small expenditures, he
closely scrutinized every claim presented, and scaled to the lowest
many pet measures. His determination to economize, as well as his
peculiarity of dress and appearance, soon made him an especial
object of amusement to newspaper correspondents. He was the butt of
many cheap jokes; one being his alleged complaint that hundreds of
towels were being daily used by members at the Capitol, at the
public expense, while at his home, on his farm, one towel would
last a week, with eleven in the family. Despite, however, all
jokes and gibes, he soon became the most popular man in his State.
"Blue Jeans Williams" became a name to conjure with; and in the
celebrated campaign of 1876, after an exciting contest, he was
elected Governor, defeating an able and popular leader, who, twelve
years later, was himself elected President of the United States.

No sketch of "the American Commons" during the last fifty years
would be in any measure complete that failed to make mention of
the man who was nineteen times elected a Representative, the
Hon. William S. Holman, of Indiana. Whatever the ups and downs of
party supremacy, despite all attempts by gerrymandering to relegate
him to the shades of private life, Judge Holman, with unruffled
front, "a mien at once kindly, persuasive, and patient," held
sturdily on his way. Amid political upheavals that overwhelmed
all his associates upon the ticket, his name, like that of Abou Ben
Adhem, led all the rest. From Pierce to McKinley--whatever the
issues, and howsoever determined--at each successive organization of
the House "the gentleman from Indiana" was an unfailing respondent
to the opening roll-call. An old English stanza comes to mind:

"And this is law, that I'll maintain
Until my dying day, sir,
That whatsoever King shall reign,
Still I'll be vicar of Bray, sir."

His integrity was unquestioned; his knowledge of public business,
phenomenal. With no brilliancy, little in the way of oratory, Judge
Holman was nevertheless one of the mo