“Then,” Mrs. Calvert pointed out, “there follows the group of Revolutionary pictures. Beside each picture of this group is an outline key which gives the names of the people shown. The first is ‘The Signing of the Declaration of Independence’ in the old hall in Philadelphia in 1776. The second one is the ‘Surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga’ to General Gates. This picture was made from sketches made on the very spot by Colonel Trumbull, who was a close friend of Washington. He was present at the scene of the next picture also, ‘The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis.’ The British are seen marching between the lines of the Americans and their French allies.
“The fourth is the ‘Resignation of Washington’ as commander-in-chief of his well-tried army, always a rather pathetic scene, it seems to me.”
“How interesting. I could spend hours here, but suppose we must not.”
“Where next?” inquired Dorothy.
“We will go through this door and into what was the original Hall of Representatives, and is now the Statuary Hall,” answered Mrs. Calvert.
The room which they now entered was semi-circular in shape, and whose ceiling is half a dome beneath which is a spacious gallery now filled with a library.
“The House of Representatives used this hall quite generally for fifty years, from 1808 on,” said Mr. Ludlow. “Here Clay, Webster, Adams, Calhoun, Randolph, Cass, and many others won world-wide fame, and made the walls ring with their fiery eloquence. Here were many fierce and bitter wrangles over vexed questions, turbulent scenes, displays of sectional feelings. Too bad they had no talking machines in those days to deal out impassioned oratory for future generations.”
“What is that star set in the floor for?” inquired Ruth; whose interest in oratory of past ages was limited.
“That marks the spot where John Quincy Adams, then a representative from his home, Massachusetts, was prostrated at his desk. See, the date is February 1, 1848,” read Dorothy.
“Where did all these statues come from?” questioned Alfaretta.