Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1856-10-16
From the Chicago Daily Times.
Governor Willard. of Indiana.

II
This youthful but invincible champion Of
the Democracy of Indiana in the present
struggle, is a noble example of talent and
energy combined. His success and his char
acter are worthy the study Of every young
man in the party. Any man, who, at the
age of thirty-six, reaches the position he has
won, merits more than passing attention.
Governor Willard was born in the town of
Vernon, Oneida county, New York. His
father, whose beautiful farm fronted on the
high road, settled in Vernon while Oneida
county still belonged TO the "Far West"-
Uneducated, but a man of extraordinary
mind he first became the Democratic leader
of his school district, then of the town, and
soon of the entire county, of which he was
elected Sheriff eight times in succession
and up to the time of his death, was an equal
among equals with such men as Beardsley,
Foster, Bronson, DEMO, and the rest of that
galaxy of able men who have made Oneida
county memorable, and who cheerfully re-
cognized the energy and abilities of the bluff
and determined, but unpretending Vernon
farmer, whose foresight and sagacity, and
hold upon the people, could make or mar
their political fortunes in an hour.
The writer of this brief sketch remembers
wildly the first time he saw both father and
son-the one stout brawny, frank, deep
voiced, hearty looking man of forty, talking
politics on the Court House steps-the other
a slender, fair-haired, large-eyed, rosy-cheek-
ed boy of fourteen, sighting theodolite and
correcting an error in the field-notes of the
Professor of Mathematics, who, with his
class, was out practicing on the village green.
Young Willard was at that time attending
the junior department of the Institute" at
Whitesboro' but was already acknowledged
as the best mathematician in the whole
academy.
Already the boy foreshadowed the man.
The manly love of independence even then
distinguished him. He paid his tuition bills
himself. His books, his clothing, and every
day expenses came out of his own pocket
He even paid for his own board. And to his
fathers credit be it said, that in no instance
did he repress this manliness in his son. AT
times he would enjoy hearty laugh over it;
but in the laugh there was encouragement
not ridicule. From eight years old, this noble
boy had been paying his own way. The pet
of the court, the bar, and the officers of the
county under his father, he found Thousand
little ways of making himself useful-and
at the age of thirteen, had saved enough of
his little earnings to set up miniature livery
stable on his own account. To be sure, his
stock in trade was only one open buggy and
harness, and one little Canadian pony but
these were good, strong and serviceable.-I
Every body, from the Judge down to the
Constable, hired "Pars," Wizards "Kanuck;"
and by the time he was sixteen, he had laid
by fund sufficient for thorough education
Leaving the law Office of Judge Baker,
where he had been a year or so as a vacation
student, he entered the Liberal Institute" at
Clinton, to prepare for college fitted there
in Greek and Latin 4; and entered Hamilton |
College, N Y, in the fall of 1888
Here he at once distinguished himself, not |
only in mathematics, but as an exact general
scholar. He was the best speaker, bearing
off every prize for which he competed the
best debater the best practical chemist, and |
as such was selected as assistant in the labo-
ratory the best tacticisn in college politics,
and elected, almost unanimously, President |
of the "Unlon'' Society the best parliament
tartan the best cricket-player the best
wrestler; the heetest runner the best swim |
mer and skater the best ball-player; the
boldest planner of class enterprises, and the
and whist-player; the ablest political talker
and speech-maker the most popular; and
last not least, the strongest Democrat in his
class or in college With all this, he was
rarely seen with book in his hand-unless
it were "John Shows Bible" as Willard
termed it-and that was not a book, but the
old Albany Argus.
His room was always open and full of
friends until ten or eleven in the evening,
and then was locked and barred till morning
How late or how early he retired, few could
discover; but that some time during the
night he did his studying, was apparent from
next days recitation, and on Commencement
Day, when he bore off the highest "honor'
by an average scholarship, head AMI should
ers above that of any former graduate of the
institution, Albert Barnes, we believe, ex-
cepted.
Just before Willard graduated, college
honors," by vote of the trustees, were abol-
ished, but from memorial of the faculty and
students and the outside pressure of the lead
ing men of the county, in young Wizards
favor. were restored for one year, in order that
the prize which was already his own by four
years. struggle, might not be snatched from
his grasp. at is" he said to his friends,
"not that 1 value the thing for itself know
that l have deserved it. and all my friends
know it. But want to preserve the anthem
ticated proof of this little success, for my
children after me. may die before | have
made my mark in the world, and l wish my
children to know that my youth was one of
honest ambition"
Midnight study had paled the rose of his
cheek and the robustness of his frame, so that
when he graduated he was on the brink of
the grave. That fall, 1912, he went to settle
up the estates of two elder brothers, in Mar
shall, Michigan. Remaining there year or
two, in precarious health, he finally tried
horseback excursion through the valley of
the Mississippi; and after four months riding,
full of adventure, he found himself in the Vi
cinity of New Albany, Indiana, with pre-
cisely twenty-five dollars, the price of his
poor horse broken down Just as health had
returned to his rider.
Here he taught school; first in a private
family, and then in an Academy, endowed
for him by the inhabitants, until, by chance,
he happened at political mass meeting
where he was invited to speak, and so sur
prised the assemblage by his eloquence and
of public affairs that from that time
the Democrats of his District took the school,
master into their own keeping, and have so
kept him ever since. He was elected at once
to the House of Representatives Of the State,
and then reelected, and at the close of his
second term, in 1852, had so won the general
confidence of the whole State that he was
put in nomination for 1t Governor, and tri-
elected for the term of four years.
In this position, as President of the Senate,
by every excellence which the post demands,
he won still higher confidence and admiration,
and is now in nomination for the Office of
Governor, and will be overwhelmingly
elected.
Willard is no ordinary man. He is en-
phatically great man. Great because the
deep foundations of his reputation are under
laid by the solid rock of independence of
character On this hacic ha hos built M, ond