Judge Poland had
a good deal of fun in him, and had a stock of anecdotes which
he liked to tell to any listener. It was said, I do not know
how truly, that he could bear any amount of whiskey without
in the slightest degree affecting his intellect. There was
a story that two well-known Senators laid a plot to get the
Judge tipsy. They invited him to a room at Willards, and
privately instructed the waiter, when they ordered whiskey
to put twice as much of the liquid into Poland's glass as
into the others. The order was repeated several times. The
heads of the two hosts had begun to swim, but Poland was not
moved. At last they saw him take the waiter aside and heard
him tell him in a loud whisper: "The next time, make mine
a little stronger, if you please." They concluded on the whole
that Vermont brain would hold its own with Michigan and Illinois.
One of the most amusing scenes I ever witnessed was a call
of the House in the old days, when there was no quorum. The
doors were shut. The Speaker sent officers for the absentees.
They were brought to the bar of the House one after another.
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