Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1872-06-20

pTOpnellc III Inelf dppucdIIOn 10 0uUl-
ner, when be said;
His path, then, has been a path of
accusation; it has been a path Of fault
finding it has been path of rat,
gnawing to get nibbe at the public
cheese, and nothing else"
Henry Wilson.
Henry Wilson, Republican candidate
for President, was born at Farm
ington, New Hampshire, Feb. l6, 1912.
His parents being extremely poor, he
was apprenticed at 10 years of age to q
neighboring farmer, with whom he re
manned patiently until he was of age,
going to a district school meantime, for
twelve months IN the aggregate. But
his sight schooling was by no means a
measure of his progress. He had ac-
CURED an appetite for books, and had
managed to borrow, within a circle of
ten miles around, about all that were
owned. Nights and Sundays, by fire
light and moonlight, he had read
thousand volumes, largely history and
theology. He had also learned to use
his tongue ghbly in the debating So
clety that Yankee institution to
which 50 many poor boys are indebted.
At the end of his eleven years, he
took all his property in pack on his
back and walked to Natick, where he
hired to a shoemaker, and devoted two
years faithfully to learning the trade
In the meantime, he accumulated two
hundred dollars in money, by extreme
frugality, and with this, at the age of
%, he began TO go TO school III the
academies at Stafford and Concord.
The man TO whom he had lent the 5000,
failed in q few months, and the ambi-
tious student returned again, disap-
pointed but plucky, to the shoe bench
at Natick. Now he began to speak at
the ward meetings and at
the country school-houses, espe-
cially in the advocacy Of
nbolitionism. In 1910 he made a vieor-
Gus canvass for Harrison, delivering
upward OF sixty speeches. and at the
end of the campaign was elected to the
Legislature as the representative of the
laboring men of Natick. During the
next five years he was thrice reelected
to the House, and twice sent to the
State Senate, and in both offices he was
chiefly known az Jealous foe of
slavery and a Jealous friend of the
workingmen. In 1915 he made in the
Legislature notable speech against
the extension and continued eX-
lstence of slavery, declaring in favor of
all constitutional resistance to it. In
As he was a delegate to the Wing
National Convention, and on the reJec-
ton Of the anti-slavery resolutions he
withdrew from it and took a prominent
part in organizing the Free Soil party.
In '50-'5l he was President of the State
Senate. In 80 he was made President
of the Free Soil National Convention,
and Chairman of its National Commit
tee. In the same year he was Free
Soil candidate for Congress in the
Eighth District, where, with a major
ity against his party of $500, he came
within % votes of being elected. He
was member of the Constitutional
Convention. In 80, by Il coalition
between the Americans and the Free
Sellers, he was elected to the United
States Senate to succeed Edward
Everett, and shortly after taking
his seat made most effective
speech advocating the repeal of the
fugitive slave law. Being challenged
TO tight duel by Bully Brooks, he
declined on the ground that dueling
was an illegal and barbarous practice
During the suct eedlng four years he
IA very prominent part in debate. His
speech in defense of free labor, IN reply
=, To- nf Snnt h Caro-
lima, attained an immense circulation
throughout the North Being re-
elected he was III 81, made Chair
man of the Military Committee
of the Senate His labor during
the war was quite enormous, and the
value Of his services incalculable. 1t
was declared 10y Gen. Scott that he d d
more work in the first session than all
the other committees had done IN twenty
wears. and Secretary Cameron in pub
hshed letter said OF him, in 60, No
man. in my opinion, il the whole coun-
try has done more to aid the War
Department III preparing the mighty
army new under arms Alter the
close Of the war Mr. Wilson published
three volumes, detailing recent anti
slavery and reconstruction history, and
during the present year has issued his
first volume on the Rise end Fall OF
the Slave Power Though he has
been in pubhc life for thirty years, he
Is still almost rs poor MS when, in 80,
he made shoes at Natiek. He has oc-
cupiel positions of the highest trust,
where Il was easy for an office NOT
quite scrupulous, II get mca, hur his
reputation tor perfect honesty Is as
elem SIS Abraham Lineolu's WIS. Ne
mau lu America u more Justly es.eem-
ed nr more highly respected taa
Hs.rv g. SCR