Some of us went into the gallery at 5
a.m. after a dance, to see the end of a long and stormy sitting.
The House was very uproarious. Some member had brought in a
cricket-ball, and they were throwing each other catches across the
House. To the credit of Canadian M.P.'s, I must say that we never
saw a single catch missed. When Sir John rose to close the debate,
there were loud cries of, "You have talked enough, John A. Give us
a song instead." "All right," cried Sir John, "I will give you
'God save the Queen.'" And he forthwith started it in a lusty
voice, all the members joining in. The introduction of a cricket-
ball might brighten all-night sittings in our own Parliament,
though somehow I cannot quite picture to myself Mr. Asquith
throwing catches to Sir Frederick Banbury across the floor of the
House of Commons.
I was once in the gallery of the South African Parliament at
Capetown, after the House had been sitting continuously for twenty
hours. The Speaker had had a stool brought him to rest his legs
on, and was fast asleep in his chair, with his wig all awry.
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