Séance

“ And I tell you, Gentlemen,—and every heart here responds to it,—every heart out of this hall would respond to it, if the lips would speak the language of the heart,—I tell you, Gentlemen, we want men in the Halls of Congress, in the House of Representatives, and, above and beyond all, in the Senate Chamber, who will attend to those interests, and not be continually, as they have been, Sir, attending to mere wild speculations and sentimental theories. ”

“ After a society is properly organized, its regular business meetings are conducted as follows : When the hour fixed for the meeting to begin arrives, the presiding officer takes the chair and calls the meeting to order and directs the secretary to read the minutes of the last meeting. ”

“ Any meeting which is not an adjournment of another meeting commences a new session. In the case of a permanent society, whose by-laws provide for regular meetings every week, month, or year, for example, each meeting constitutes a separate session of the society, which session, however, can be prolonged by adjourning to another day. ”

“ A conference has been asked after the first reading of a bill.—1 Grey, 194. This is a singular instance. During the time of a conference, the House can do no business. As soon as the names of the managers are called over, and they are gone to the conference, the Speaker leaves the chair, without any question, and resumes it in the return of the managers. It is the same while the managers of an impeachment are at the House of Lords.—4 Hats. ”

“ When any person is examined before a committee, or at the bar of the House, any member wishing to ask the person a question, must address it to the Speaker or chairman, who repeats the question to the person, or says to him, "You hear the question, answer it." But if the propriety of the question be objected to, the Speaker directs the witness, counsel, and parties to withdraw; for no question can be moved, or put, or debated, while they are there.—2 Hats. ”

“ A Session of an assembly is a meeting which, though it may last for days, is virtually one meeting, as a session of a convention; or even months, as a session of Congress; it terminates by an "adjournment sine die (without day) ." The intermediate adjournments from day to day, or the recesses taken during the day, do not destroy the continuity of the meetings, which in reality constitute one session. ”

“ Never was more dignity manifest in any deliberative assembly. A single glance at the council in session, from one of the side galleries, would at once impress the beholder not only with the majesty of the spectacle, but also with the mutual respect which the members exhibit toward each other, and the patient attention with which the speakers are listened to, often under a trying ordeal of several hours' continuous session. ”

“ In meetings consisting of a half dozen or more people, it has been found advisable to have, in addition to a chairman and a secretary, more rules and more formality than in a meeting of three or four persons. ”

“ Each conference committee between the Senate and the House of Representatives shall be open to the public except when managers of either the Senate or the House of Representatives in open session determine by a rollcall vote of a majority of those managers present, that all or part of the remainder of the meeting on the day of the vote shall be closed to the public. ”

“ For the purpose of illustrating by practice some of the questions that may arise in any assembly, let us suppose a meeting has been called to discuss some of the current topics or political questions of the day. Shortly after the time for which the meeting was called some member will rise, face the assembly, and say: “The meeting will please come to order.” ”

“ Any society is competent to decide what shall constitute one of its sessions, but, where there is no rule on the subject, the common parliamentary law would make each of its regular or special meetings a separate session, as they are regarded in this Manual.
The disadvantages of a rule making a session include all the meetings of an ordinary society, held during a long time, as one year, are very great. ”

“ Every man that belongs to these quorums should be on hand at the time appointed, and not say, "I will work to the last minute, before I start for the meeting." Take time, prepare yourselves, be at the place of gathering promptly, to the minute, that you may hear the first word, then you will hear every word that is spoken and every counsel that is given. ”

“ We have twelve regular members, all ladies. The president opens the meeting by reading a chapter from the Bible, then the secretary reports, after which the program for the evening is taken up. The reading for the next week is assigned by the president, and our aim at each meeting is to review the reading of the past week. This is done by papers relating to the reading, or a synopsis of the readings. Questions are assigned and answered, and we spend considerable time in discussion. Our meetings are always informal, and are conducted in the conversational style. ”

“ Where the meetings are only quarterly or annual, the society should be properly represented at each meeting, and their best interests are subserved by following the practice of Congress, and letting the effect of the reconsideration terminate with the session. ”

“ I felt much relieved on learning from him that I had no competitor. He at once called a meeting of the committee and presented me to them. They asked no questions at all and engaged me on the spot, with expressions of great satisfaction. ”

“ When I had got the pledge from him I told the people that Thursday’s meeting would only be a prayer meeting. But after this some of the people went to him and he turned round again, and said it was a business meeting. I know that he said no business should be done at that meeting, and afterwards said it should be a business meeting. I then saw that this was a deep and cunning plan laid to divide the best people that ever lived. ”

“ The place of meeting, and rules of the society, shall be established, revoked or altered, and new members admitted, at any of the stated meetings, by a majority of the attending members, if they be a majority of those present, not being less than one-fourth of the whole. ”

“ We sauntered into the Assembly Chamber, surveyed and learned all the particulars of that, peered into the side-rooms, closets, &c., and then came to the Senate Chamber. This you know is something finer than the country meeting house, or circus-looking Assembly Chamber, where the "fresh-men," or green members from Hard-Scrabble, Hull, Squantum, etc.,—incipient Demostheneses, and sucking Ciceros, first tap their gasometers "in the haouse." ”

“ Each elder gives in a report of all that occurs in the chorus to the Conference, as this is the chief board of management in the society. There is, therefore, nothing which transpires in the life of any individual that is not brought before this tribunal. ”

“ In addition to our elective officers, we have a committee on work, consisting of five members, appointed by the president, whose duty it is to arrange the work of the circle, make a sub-division of the required readings, and assign topics in advance to the several members, whose duty it is to present the same at the next stated meeting of the circle in the form of an essay, lecture, or recitation as each may deem proper. By this method each member has his or her share of work to perform, and all become interested and active working members. ”

“ At each meeting, after the program of the previous meeting has been carried out, the leader requests one or two members to prepare essays on a certain part of the work, one or two members to bring a stated number of questions on a certain subject, another member to read a short article from The Chautauquan. Very often the leader asks for the opinion of various members of a character or an article met with in the reading. At our last meeting the circle authorized the secretary to appoint at each meeting—which occurs each alternate week—a critic, also what might be called an orthoëpist. ”

“ The Chairman: In the absence of a special rule, or of custom of the assembly of such length of standing as to acquire the force of law, when a question is laid on the table it goes to the table only until such time, sooner or later, as the assembly decides to take it from the table. The chair rules the point not well taken. The question before the assembly is on taking the resolution on civil service examinations from the table. Are you ready for the question? (Undebatable.) As many as favor taking the resolution from the table say aye. ”

“ The meeting was very orderly conducted, and the business managed in much harmony and condescension. The public meetings have been very large, favoured seasons, and all the meetings we have attended in our passing along have been generally very large. Seldom any houses were found large enough to contain the people. Often hundreds were under the necessity of standing out doors. Many of the people without came a great way to be at our meeting. ”

“ Just before 8.15 p.m. you stagger into the Chamber. To your excited fancy it seems to have grown very large. The seat on which you are accustomed to sit, seems an immense distance from the Speaker’s Chair. But, as the House is practically empty, you sneak into somebody’s corner seat, and hope for the best. The one encouraging factor in the whole proceedings is that, in spite of the ghastly hash that the mover of the resolution seems to be making, the patient [Pg 184] House is attentively listening in silence. ”

“ The social intermission is generally occupied in discussing the books read by members of the C. L. S. C. The rest of the evening’s exercises is under the control of the committee on program, and is varied from evening to evening. We had at the last meeting, and will have at the next, what we call a sentiment roll. The roll of the circle is called and each person, as his or her name is called, responds with a short sentiment selected to suit the taste of the person selecting. ”

“ This is dangerous, however, in large meetings, where an incompetent person may be nominated and elected chairman. In large assemblies, the member who nominates, with one other member, frequently conducts the presiding officer to the chair, and the chairman makes a short speech, thanking the assembly for the honor conferred on him. ”

“ The old chairman will retain his seat until the new one is elected. When it is intended to have performances of different kinds, as essays, orations, debates, etc., it is well to appoint a committee to draw up a regular order in which these will be called for. The society being now organized, may proceed to business, or fix the time for next meeting and adjourn.
WARD, DISTRICT, OR TOWNSHIP MEETINGS. When one or more persons desire to call a meeting for any purpose, there is often great confusion and uncertainty as to the mode of procedure. ”

“ And whoever attends service in a Meeting-house, when he has the opportunity of going to the Parish Church, does by so doing give his silent approbation to the principle of Dissent, and shows that at least he does not disapprove the opinions of the particular body, to whose Meeting he goes. ”

“ If a certain lecture is a great success, and everybody feels pleased, as sometimes happens, in the universal satisfaction it is quite easy to forget that it was the secretary’s choice, pressed against the inertia of the committee. ”

“ So it quickly came about that if nothing was announced for a given meeting little or nothing was offered, and the council was thus compelled to provide a stated program for each meeting, which contributed to cut out the last remnant of spontaneity in offering the many small things which go to make up the daily life of the teacher, investigator or reader, and which, fresh from his own life, are of greatest interest to his associates. ”

“ At those oratorical sessions which are rapidly increasing under the name of conferences, sessions at which so many distinguished men take the floor, you have been told in elegant terms, often in eloquent terms, of the sciences, of their application and of their progress. You have listened to discourses upon art, its primitive purity, its supposed principles, its decadence, its renaissance, its multifarious changes ”

“ This meeting is not mentioned in all localities, though it is clear from Fox’s statements that he recognized this as a part of the organization, for in a letter of 1669 he writes concerning the representatives of the quarterly meetings that,
none that are raw or weak and are not able to give a testimony of the affairs of the church and Truth, may go on behalf of the particular meetings to the quarterly meetings, but may be nursed up in your monthly meetings. ”

“ Special meetings are those called by the officers or members of a society,—through proper notice to each member in some regular way as set forth in the by-laws or by rule of the organization,—for the transaction of some special business. ”

“ A secretary shall be elected annually, at the first meeting after the session of the Annual Conference. He shall make a record of the proceedings, and shall keep in a book, and return to the Quarterly Conference, all statistics which the Discipline requires to be reported to an Annual Conference. ”

“ I now enclose the proceedings of this town at a meeting appointed to receive the report of the committee, which is attested by the town-clerk, and published by order of the town.
Our enemies are taking all imaginable pains to disparage the proceedings, and prevent their having any effect in the country. They are particularly endeavouring to have it believed, that the vote was carried at a very thin meeting ”

“ When a standing committee considers it necessary to meet with another standing committee to consider a matter, a meeting shall be held, comprising representatives of the committees, in the manner agreed upon by the committees. ”