the ante-chamber of the Press Gallery, armed with a copy of the _Times_
report of the day, with the "turns" all marked with the name of the man
who had written them. He genially spent the morning in reading the
prodigious collocation in search of errors. When found, these were made
a note of, the guilty person was sent for and had a more or less
pleasant quarter of an hour. This was called being "on the gridiron."

I had only one experience of the process. Seated one day by command
beside this terrible old gentleman, he produced the marked passage
containing one of my turns, and pointing to the name, Mr. Ward Hunt,
fixed a glowering eye on me and said, with his slow intonation:--

"Who is 'Mr. Ward Hunt'?"

"He is the member for North Northamptonshire," I timidly replied.

"Oh!" he said, witheringly, "that's whom you mean. 'Ward Hunt'! Let me
tell you, sir, Ward Hunt may do very well for the penny papers, but in
the _Times_ report we write 'Mr. W. Hunt.'"

I don't know why this should have been, since the burly gentleman, who
in the next Parliament was Chancellor of the Exchequer, was invariably
called by his full style. But then, as I have said, nobody knew why old
"Charlie" Ross dubbed Wright Smith, and pronounced it Smeeth.

Gentlemen of the Press Gallery who now live at Westminster at ease, with
their library, their smoking-room, their choice of writing-out rooms,
their admirably-appointed and self-administered commissariat department,
little know the state of things that existed twenty years ago. Committee
Room No. 18 had then recently been appointed to their use as a
writing-room, providing it were not, when the House met, still in the
occupation of a Committee. But the writing-out rooms originally
apportioned, and then still in constant use, were two dark,
ill-ventilated dens which served as ante-chambers from the Press
Gallery. The _Times_ staff appropriated the room to the right, still
occupied by their telephonic service; the corresponding room to the left
being for general use. The room at the top of the stairs--where Wright
still presides and entrances the telegraph messengers with sententious
remarks on political, social, and philosophic affairs--was also used for
writing-out purposes, if a man could find a corner at the table at which
to sit.

[Illustration: SMEETH.]

This was difficult, since this closet, not bigger than a boot-room in an
ordinary household, was also sole dining-room attached to t