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WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1858
CONCERNING OBITUARY ADDRESSES 1
March 24, 1858. Mr. President, I regret exceedingly to be compelled to make any remarks on this, or any other subject, but it .does seem to me that when it has been the custom heretofore up to this time to notice, in a particular way, events connected with the death of members of this body, it would be as ·well to continue the practice, and if it is proper that it should cease, a resolu- tion to this body expressive of its purpose to end them should operate prospectively and not retroactively. From various quar- ters of the country-not confined to my own State, but from other States-I have received applications for the obituary notices of the decease of my late estimable and valued col- league, and I should be extremely gratified if it were in my power to respond pleasantly to those applications by furnishing them with the obituaries requested. [The Vice President spoke.] Mr. Houston. I had just stepped into the Chamber. I was not aware that the question was not on the adoption of the report.
1 Cong1·essional Globe, Part 2, 1st Sess., 35th Cong., 1857-1858, p. 1296.
REMARKS CONCERNING THE REMODELING AND DECORATION OF THE CAPITOL, MARCH 28, 1858 1 Mr. President, I am not acquainted with the details of extend- ing the wings of the Capitol; but there is one circumstance to which my attention has been drawn, and on which I should like to obtain information; and that is, who are the sculptors that are · employed in the shanties out here, in preparing the different statues for their different appropriate places in the new Capitol? I have observed some of them; and the Goddess of Liberty, I believe, is one. I am an admirer of statuary, but I cannot say that I am a competent critic, or even an amateur, in t.hat depart- ment of art. It does seem to me, however, that the figure makes rather a queer display in the Capitol. In the first place, I object to its attitude. It appears to me to be in anguish-drawn back in the most ungraceful and ungainly attitude for a lady. [Laugh- ter.] It appears to be in torment; and had it been physical, I could imagine that it had a boil under the arm. [Laughter.] Take it all in all, take the tout ensernble-I have seen nothing resembling it. Instead of the bare feet with sandals, it is repre- sented with a very formidable pair of russet brogans, that would
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