Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1876-10-19
ROBERT INGERS0LL.
Sketch OF the Life Of the Illinois Orator

kOBERT iNGERSOLL.
Sketch Of the Life Of the Illinois Orator.
z l4 ICor. Bloomington Pantagraph.I
| Ell PAso, Oct 81 WhenI promised
to give you a sketch Of the early life
! fof Robert G. Ingersoll,s the orator par
excellence, 1 had no idea that the
task OF gathering materials would be
Fdifficult. Great men are usually will
] ing enoughlto lend an ear to the
! scribe who gives TO the world the
minuti@ of their lives. /. Nay, they
themselves in most instances, will
4 furnish the data, from which the
sketch can bewritten, Mr. Ingersoll
is. however, so little, an egotist that
not only has he on all occasions re-
fused to give any ymemoranda for this
purpose, but he will not even talk on
the subjet to his best friends. Many
an attempt has been made to obtain
the materials for anisttiele. but to all
the biography hunters he has invari-
ably responded with some question
that led to, an anecdote, and from
that to. one Of his own sinimitable
talks that beguiled the listener and
insensibly led him away from the
main point until he forgot the object
Of his visit The reason for this reti-
cence. he has himself confessed, is
that too2 - stis stl 11 s haa1
HIS CHILDHOOD WAS HARD AND BITTER,
and he never liked to recall it, even
to his own memory. His father was
Congregational minister, and to
him were born five children-John,
Ruth, Mary, Clark and Robert. The
youngest OF the family, he was born
in Dresden, a small town in Northern
New York, on the 18th Of August,
1888; consequently he is now a little
over 43 years OF age. His father
seems to have been more 4peripatetic
than even the majority of his class.
Robert was baptized when he was g.
years old in a. theatre in New. York
City. His father was then preaching
in the city and in this theatre, his
church having been destroyed by the
great fire. His father, II seems in !
clined towards liberalism, and his
strlfes and the. annoyances he was
subjected to from the. narrow belief
of his flock early embittered the pre-
cocious youth and filed him with the
utmost hatred Of the gloomy spirit Of
Calvinism. boz a;oy seosi7ra 4
The father died in, 1859, but when
Robert uttered that famous lecture
on -Heretics and Heresies,' and in
which occurs that rai,4l oi4 ~ - ).
GRAPHIC PICTURE OF JOHN CALVIN,
he said, when he returned to his
home, Father, I've paid back anoth-
er OF the insults they heaped upon
you" The elder brother, John, was
destined for the ministry. I. He was
sent to Yale College, and from there
to a theological seminary. He is now
physician in Wisconsin. He is a
devout Old School, believer. This
seems to have exhausted the means
Of the household. and Clark and
Robert received only.ia common
school education. This must have
been meagre, because. they moved
about a good deal. When Robert was
10 they came West. In q year or two
they moved back. eThsp they .returnfi
ed 70 the West, and settled in Wis
consin, and, IN o short time they
moved into the southern part OF Illi-
nois,, near, il not in, Shawneetown.
Robert was a precocious boy. He
was a great reader, and at this period |
Of his life his favorite author was
Robert Burns he had, committed
the works. OF that poet to memory,
and it is probable that 1t was from
that fountain that he first imbibed
that glowing, fiery hate for tyranny.
and contempt for sham Of every sort,
that forms such an effective part OF |
his character. He and his brother
Clark were inseparable., The latter
is some two years the elder. and,
though he has been overshadowed by
the commanding genius OF Robert.
they are cast in much the same mold.
Between them there exists 30 soibe |
uo A WARM AFFECTION 1ru !
that has been manifested on more
than one occasionat Robert refused
to take any Office in the district when
Clark was running for Congress, and
when he was talked Of for Governor
and his chances looked bright he
went to Chicago and had personal
alteration with Horace White. Of the
Chicago Tribune on account Of an
article that appeared in relation to
Clark's course lin Congress. His
friends endeayoredr 10 restrain him,
but he told the Tribune manager
that he would rather remain Q private
individual and have the privilege OF
saying what he thought, than to be
Governor Of Illinois. He was assured
that all might be secured il ne would
allow Hesing to manage his appoint
ments, He proudly said, 1@No man,
Hesing, nor White, nor Medill, nor
anybody else, could run him, and he
let the Governorship go rather than
recede from his position, though at
that time 1t seemed to him to be ruin
OF all his politi ,aI hopes. There are
several errors in the above paragraph
We do not believe that Mr.. Ingersoll
ever had apersonal alteration with
Mr.. White; we certainly never heard
of il before. The next statement |
that she was assured that all might
he secured IL he would allow Hesing
to manage his appointments" is a
silly absurdity rs well as apreposters
GUS assertion. 1t is curious how such
nonsensical stories will get started
and float around the country as bar
room gossip, growing larger as they
travel, and becoming more absurd
with age.-ED. Tribunal When
Doho~< ,vaa at;Il ,xpdar aoo he haJ