Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1867-08-17
A Personal Sketch, Of Senator
NAdr.

A correspondent ot the Cincinnati Conn.
mercidl gives the following interesting per-
sonal sketch of Senator. Wudei
Ills parents were among the poorest peo.
pie in Massachusetts,, and lie never ahaG but
seven days schooling !; yet at the age of
twenty-one he had read great number of
books. He read the Bible through in sin
gle winter by the light of pine torches in
his wood chopping cabin. His grandfather
on his mothers side was minister, and had
Il small but well-selccted library, and to this
he was indebted in his early youth for much
valuable information. Mr.. Wade is still a
hard student. and what lie studies is tho
roughly mastered before he lays it down.
"rhe habits of the Senator are peculiar
He rises at daylight summer and winter, and
makes up the fires in the house then he
goes to his Office, makes the fire, sweeps it
out, dusts off the furniture, and goes to the
stable to look after his horses. When he
returns be wakes up the family, ana then
goes to his study and reads until called to
breakfast. After breakfast, he takes a walk
of two miles, and returns to his study and
reads until three O'Clock in the afternoon,
when the mail comes in He goes to the
the postoilice, gets his own mail, and opens
and reads it. All letters to be answered at
once are laid on his table, and the rest tied
in bunch and put into she drawer "requi-
ring attention." He gets over fifty papers
and periodicals.. His wife. who is great
reader, and a most intelligent and accom-
plished lady, generally reads one or two
hours to him every night. .srIaG. 3.aA /
"Mr. Wade is very fond of Nasty, and all
his letters are read at night, so the whole
family can laugh with him, for he says he
don't like to laugh alone. Comical books
are often read to him, and amuse him i'm
mensely His wife, being asked for Christ
mas gilt, bought him old Mother Goose,
and he was so greatly pleased with her taste
that, to convince her he appreciated her gift,
he learned every line by heart and insisted
on repeating it to her almost daily. OF pc
riodicals, the Westminster RecieD, the atlantic
Monthly, and Harper he reads himself, and
the rest are sent to the family to be marked
and read as the papers.
"At o'clock each day Mr.. Wade finishes
reading his papers and goes to his supper
He has not eaten dinner for twenty years,
contending that two meals day are enough
for any one to eat, and that he always feels
better when he only eats twice. The rest of
the family eat three times per day. MIR.
Wade cannot eat anything cooked in grease.
to his office, which he locks up at dusk and
then joins his family. He retires early, sell
dom sitting up, even in summer, later than
ten o'clock. For more than twenty years
Mr. Wade has taken his daily walk of four
miles, and it is this habit that enables him
to walk so much when in Washington. He
Always visits the Departments on foot.
"Tbe Senator is not II rich man, but has a
competence, which he made by hard toll at
his profession, and by saving each year u
part of his salary. His income os seven or
eight thousand year is all he wants, as it
enables him to live comfortably and enter
tain his friends.
"Mr. Wade was born at Feeding Hills,
Massachusetts, in 1900, and is, therefore,
sixty seven years of age, he can still shoot
a rifle with almost any man in the State
He frequently goes hunting and fishing,
and is very fond of the society of sportsmen.
He is a strictly temperate man, and has never
been known In his whole life to he under
the influence of liquor. He has been Sen
ator at Washington tor seventeen years, and
was four years State Senator, and several
wears State Judge"