These caged ones of the House are never regarded and but seldom heard.

The best that one of them may gain is "Leave to print"; which is a kind of consent to be fraudulent, and permits a member to pretend through the Congressional Record that he made a speech (which he never made) and was overwhelmed by applause (which he did not receive) which swept down in thunderous peals (during moments utterly silent) from crowded galleries (as empty as a church).
Senator Hanway, when he decided to pick out a House Speaker favorable to his hopes, had plenty of time wherein to lay his plans.

The personnel of a coming House is known for over a year; the members are elected nearly thirteen months before they take their seats.

These thirteen months of grace are granted the new member by the Constitution on a hopeful theory that he will devote them to a study of his country's needs.

In this instance, as in many another, theory and practice wander wide apart; the new member gives those thirteen months to a profound study of his own needs, and concerns himself no more over the nation's than over wine-pressing in far-away Bordeaux.