Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1864-08-04
% Mr. Speaker
From the Chicago Evening Journal.
WASHINGTON, July

w A'HiNniON, OUi u
The beautiful village of South Bend,
Ind, has bit of ancient history. When
the old French father. LaSalle, was
feeling his way TO the West. he drew hi,
canoe ont of the ST. Joseph. one night. and
kindled his camp fires among the oaks OF
a valley, where smiling villages now clasp
each others hands, like row of school
girls on a holiday Chief and loveliest
among them is South Bend. and the first
Christian ffe.:de within is borders was
LaSallc's
Biographies are single pictures; group
them and they are history. Lives are
colored threads; weave them and they
make the impcrishable canvass. And |
rather think this Indiana village will
have. one of those davs--in the silver by
and by-a biz of modern history too.
Fifteen years ago-how .time gall
lops withal!" schoolmaster was
abroad" and some three score and ten OF
him were gathered in that valley. for what
is known as Normal Institute, l speak
generically. for the school ma am was
there also. and the light of forty pairs of
eyes vet looking through the years. recall
the forty HooSeI girls that owned them.
Closed, some of them are | know, and
Others. l fear. are faded. but not to me-
Have you thought of it? The memory Of
an eye is the most deathless Of memories,
because there. if anywhere. voa catch a
glimpse of the visible soul as it sits by
the window.
Well. going there to give them a word
of good cheer and God speed, L met the
Editor Of the village paper. A compact
head covered with bright, brown hair. not
silken, but manly and we'll planted; a
brow not as broad as church door. but
finely moulded; blue, wide-open,
questioning eye; frank, fair face; q
III outh in danger Of smiling at the least
provocation, but full of character; slight,
erect, well knit frame, and altogether
giviag you the impression that there was
good blood in him, whoever he was; that
he bad mind irrepressibly active; that
his leading qualities were candor. energy.
perseverance, endurance, and that he had
a gift so rare Of winning men. as to sug-
gest for him the title OF the friend maker.
Such is the "proof- sheet" impression Of
that village Editor. and when l came to
know him well never changed a syllable.
Certainly the field he had chosen did
not seem brilliant one; away there in the
western wilderness, where hunted dear
yet swan the river under his window.
and a stray bear blundcred into the neigh
boring corn. But he was in the midst of
a vigorous and intelligent people. for all
that; the legal talent of The region was
unusual; the schools were many and excel
lent; the country was fertile and beautiful
and hardly half developed. Come to
think again. it was not so dull field for
Young and earnest man, after all. Cheer
ful, sunny hearted, as l saw him, he had
been child of sorrow. Half an orphan
from birth. for his father had been four
months in the grave, he was the only son
of his mother of seventeen, and she a
willow. He had sister. but she had
faded away, and all that was left of her
was a Eame without an owner. How
shadowy mystery must have clung
around that name to the lonely boy; it
was dimly remembering o dead flower,
and calling it "Mary?"
From New York to Indiana. twenty
eight years ago. was swing of the
pendulum through very broad arc; it
was great deal like going from one
world to another. But the boy was done
with his school days at ten, tho boys
mother had taken new name, and SO
together, in one sure bundle Of life and
love. they followed ''ihe star of empire"
This boy, am told. indnlsed in curious
Congressional Globev'
Indeed. all along up to manhood, the
years were an unbroken term OF self-cul-
tuTe ] said his school days ended at the
age OF ten. when should have said it was
precisely when they begun. Among the
means and appliances, was village club,
called Legislative Assembly. where
Jefsrson's manual was the statute book,