Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1876-02-05
The Autobiography Of Amos Kendall.

Justify the call upon the public attention.
III is not strange, therefore, that the auto
biography OF a man who figured SO promi-
nently in one OF the most striking chapters
oil American bistory-the administration OF
Andrew Jackson-as Amos Kendall, should
be one of the most interesting and import
ant recent publications. This Autobiogra-
ply published by Lee & Shepherd. Boston,
has been edited with great good Judgement
by his SON in-law, William Stickaey. In
Mr.. kendalrs life, as Mr.. Stickney states in
his admirable introduction, he summed per-
sonal potoriety with sensltiveness re-
markab!e In one so accustomed to public
station and contact with the world. He was
widely known, but it was in his public ca
pacity as an editor, as government official,
S P01clan as the PI0m9t9T Of great
outside world knew but little. The work OF
Mr.. Stickney has been mainly that of selec-
NJ a Kendas carear is ,h mere SOY o,
told IN his own words than which no words
could tell IL better.
THE KENDALL FAMILY
is one OF the oldest in New England and the
genealogy from 1910 down presents an array
Of old men that speaks for the vlgor of the
stock. Amos Kendall was born in 1889.
From early boyhOod he was hsbltuated
to hard work on his fathers farm, and
as i'm the case of Daniel Webster, Hor-
ace Greeley and so many other New
EpglandeTS who have risen from the
soil, tie land he worked was of that barren
character that could only be made 10 yield
a support by the most persistent industry
and fIugality. The same cause OF poverty
lmpeded The efforts OF young Kendall to OBJ
tain an education. Want of means com
PEELED him 10 be absent from college Dart
mOuth) two whole terms aud parts OF
several more. He, indeed, entered college
lines, Them N ~
fOrfeitlDg his connections by absence every
year. Several branches OF study he hal pur-
sued in winter evenings without a teacher
while Keeping school. BE yet struggled on
with that tenacity of purpose that dlstin-
euished him in afLer life, aud up 70 the time
OF graduating had received the first appoint
meHis, both from the class and tue faculty.
He did not take a iploma, partly because
he was Indifferent To- the oauble and partly
because he disliked the President OF the Col
lesc."
PLUCK AND PERSISTENCE.
The history OF his carly life well Illustrates
the manner in whlch an American bog by
pluck and persistence may rise. despite the
most unprOpitious surroundings and, per
haps, because Of the grit aud endurance
created by their drawbacks. In his college
career Mr.. Kendall afforded another instance
showing how great resolution and inLolug-
table courage may exist in "A dalic tc aud
apparently feeble physique. Young Ken
dan was physi ally unable TO bear any graf
strain, and was so pale IN countenance that
he was nick-namcd "GIlcS Scr0cuiD'S
Ghost" but yet be seems 10 have been tore
most in taking 3 decisive stand in college in
all the matters where heated conflicts DC.
CURED, and he generally came out CON
queTOr in the end, however heavy the odds
against him. II is a rather curious fact that
MI Kendall. whose course of life was so emil
nently practical ami vigorous shouli have
set out with
POETIC TASTES
and turn for abstract thought. His in
cinations, we are told, would have led him
TO devote his life to philosophical studies
and practical mechanics embracing q wide
field Of experiments. Even after nc entered
upon the study of the law. he relieved the
mOnotony of Blackstone and Coke by noting
down projects of literary wO:ks ana
plays. He wrote a couple of tragedies and fOT
year, even after he had entered upon his
active political career, ne was q GeyO,et
WCCer OF the poetic muse.
1NvENTS A PERPETUAL MOTION"
AT one time he gave his attention to the
fascinating idea of perpetual motion" and
he invented ard actually constructed ma
chine which he was quite sure would accom-
plish the great GeSideTatum. But like all
other inventors of perpetual motion re found
when the test was made there was certain
something wanting 10 make his machine
work. He at orce threw away his model,
wondering that his mind could have been
so easily deluded." He also had at this
youthful period two or three love affairs,
none OF which, for reasons given, resulted
IN matrimony, though he was subsequently
twice married.
The depression OF business in New Eng
land, caused by the war with Great Britain,
and the absence OF any rich or influential
famlly connections who could aid in his ad-
vance ment, now induced Mr. Kendall to
THINK OF emlgrating to the South or West,
where there was wider held for individual
G&0rtIOn. In carving ont his n
came TO Washington in March, 1914, intend-
ing TO be governed In making plan OF set
tiement by the Information he Ini ght obtain
here. His journal while here contains many
interesting notes concerning the public men
and OF the Washington of that day.
WHITE HOUSE LEvEE IN 1914.
March he attended the Preside leyee
and he says:
ison. felt no awe, although Mrs. Madison
j. noble dignitied person. apparently more
able 10 manage the affairs OF the nation than
her husband. His personal appearance is
very Inferior. There were, presume, near
~ three hundred persons present. who did not
form IN clusters, but illed the whole draw
ing ROOM
Three hundred people would, in 1876, be
considered a rather meager attendance a. a
White House levee! March sth Mr. Kendall
writes:
This forenoon I wandered to the Navy
Yard and through the southern part of the
the FOLLY of attempting TO force a place be-
yond It's natural growth. Whole Blocks OF
DITCH buildings, which were never finished
are now ID ruins. Yet the city increases ra-
pldly, but the buildings are generally erect
ed on the spots which nature has made most
unpleasant. If the country flourish, this
city must become great, for the site is beau
tiful."
OF Lewis Cass, with whom Mr. Kendall
was afterwards associated in General Jack
sons cabinet and of The then attorney gen.
eral, Pinckney, whose fine abilities were dis
figured by his inordinate vanity, Mr.. Ken
dall writes
"Cass seems 10 be possessed oil the genuine
feelings OF a republican as 10 his politics, but
mas contempt for religion and religious
men. His opinion of Plnckney arose from q
slight specimen of his vanity when he first
saw him. IL was at the levee, where Piuck-
ney appeared with his hat under his arm.
This raised Cass's contempt, and he cannot
since see or hear him with the least pa
tience."
GOES WEST.
Mr.. Kendall LEFT Washington for Kentucky
on the 9th OF March, going by stage to the
Ohio river and thence by canoe, fiatboat,
and on horseback to Lexington, reaching