I doubt that
he is always conscious of the element of humor and I suspect that
if he realized that his observations were to evoke laughter he
would deliberately choose a less satirical or flippant method of
expression.
This temperamental characteristic was illustrated by an episode in
the Senate chamber not long ago. Penrose, entering, found his chair
occupied by a Democratic colleague who had overestimated his
capacity for the doubtful stuff that is purveyed in these days of
Volsteadism and whose condition was apparent to everyone on the
floor and in the galleries. Penrose is, perhaps, the most widely
known personage in the Senate. His towering figure makes him
conspicuous. But the most of the myriads of trippers who visit the
Capitol do not know one senator from another. They rely for
identification upon little charts showing the arrangements of the
seats on the floor each one of which is labeled with a senator's
name.
Now Penrose, might or might not have suspected that these trippers
following their charts, would pick out the snoring recumbent figure
as his own. He decided to remove all possibility of error and
addressing the chair with usual solemnity said, "Mr. President, I
desire the chair to record the fact that the seat of the senior
Senator from Pennsylvania has not been occupied by himself at the
present session.
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