The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1876-01-23
SENATOR'S AT HOME.

-Chdmters's Journal.
SENATOR'S AT HOME
LITERARY PEcULIARIrIEs OF CERTAIN 'FRONT.'
NENT POLITICIANS.
Washington Correspondence of the Cincin natl
Enquirer.
There is Bayard Of Delaware. Bayard is an
Unsuitable devourer of the literature of the do
main of Spofford; he reads everything that
comes recommended as being dull, dry and
profound. His best hold is constitutional law
There is probably not q treatise upon this sub
ject, from Burke and De Tocqueville down to
the speeches Of Roscoe Cooking, with which
he is unfamiliar. In fact, Senator Bayard's or
ganism may be said to be the con-
stitution incarnate. Bsyard dreams about
the constitution; if he swallows too
much terrapin, and, as q consequence,
metaphoricalIy mounts the nocturnal
mare in his slumbers, his most common Wis
ion of horror is the hallucination that the
organic law of his beloved country is about to
be torn up and used for waste paper. Since
the death of the late lamented A. j., Senator
Bayard, by natural inheritance, has become
the defender of the Constitution. The Sena-
tor from Delaware is also q close student of
history, ancient, modern. sacred and profane.
say, constitutional law and standard history
constitute the greater portion Of Senator Bay
ards patronage of the library. Other Sena-
tors, indeed, draw a greater number of books
than he does; but few of them return the
books they do draw, bearing greater evidences
of close application and devoted research.
Continuing in the list of presidential candi-
dates, let US examine the literary proclivities
of Senator Thurman. To look ut Thurman
A. L:
was "Fox's Book of the Martyrs" and '.Bax-
ter's Saints Rest" for Humans face GER
tainly carries heavier pressure of solemnity
to the square inch than any face ever saw.
Moreover, there is in the Senator's manner q
deep and abiding gravity, which would sug-
gest that he fed on almost any sort of intel
lectual pabulum. rather than that which does
ia fact delight him most. Thurman is IN
doubleday the best French scholar in the
Senate. A large portion of his reading is
made up Of French literature, and that not of
the most solemn character either. I don't
mean to say that in his fondness for tho vola-
tile lore of the country of Voltaire, Chateau
BRAND and Renan, Senator Thurman neglects
the more necessary studies of English litera-
ture.
merely mention his peculiar fondness for
French literature to show how utterly at vari-
ance with the appearance of and manner OF
man his tastes and predictions in literature
may often be- For certainly any one would
as soon suspect an elephant OF iondness tor
the minuet as to imagine that Senator Thur
man was devotee Of the lighter varieties of
French books
Next in the list of patrons OF the library
comes Senator Edmunds, of Vermont
Though one Of the youngest in years, Ed
munds is one of the oldest appearing men in
the Senate, tall, slim, angular and dried up
Edmunds looks like the last man IN the world
whose literary proclivities would lead him
almost exclusively among the poets and more
exalted classes of fiction writer's. This pecu-
liar taste Of Senator Edmunds is probably
due to the fact that his legal reading IN earlier
life has been SO close, and his application to
the dry and iuiceless themes Of Vermont law
practice SO dense that he found it necessary
to resort to the literary aperients above alluded
to to keep his mental bowels open, SO to
speak.
speeches of Senator Edmunds, both in and
ont of the Senate, and they are models OF
drv terse. contentious and undramatic Eng
Iish. they are invariably stripped of every
ornament and shorn of all oratorical surplus
aOe. Such thing as poetical quotation in
one of Senator Edmunds's speeches would
seem as much out Of place as would one OF
Araene Houssaye's epigrams in the midst Of q
chapter Of Revelations. And yet the man who
delivered these speeches has at his tongue
end an exhaustive repertoire OF political quo
fations, and in the course OF an evening
social converse will quote more scraps OF
noatrv and apply them more charmlngiy 10
the subject Of discourse than any o'nei u"u
Senator McCreery, of Kentucky, is another
deyotee of Spoford's muses.; but then oio
Mack looks as if he might be poet himself.
At all events, if not poet. the Old hentucK-
ION 10 very much of humorist. bis read
mo I am told by those who attend TO MS Or
ders for books from the library Is merely
confined to poetry and humorous Writers.
Unlike Senator Edmuads. however, Mcoree!y
makes liberal use Of his favorite ntefa'uie -
his speeches. ,.,. If the
national library are Senators Gordon, o.
Gaoroia. and Ransom, Of North Cafohna'
whose tastes are very similar IN that ootn run
largely to Columbian oratcry. Senator uol-
don Il particularly fond Of the works OF me
rraat Enelish orators-a devotion that can DC
EASILY traced in his own oratorical style, winch
ia yery elaborate, and betrays the evidences -
q constant struggle for elegance. senators
Gordon and Ransom are also Gloss hls. .n .t
s,uden ts and are reasonably familiar with the
records Of the past. h
senator Conkling, of New York, though
oro of the most cultivated men IN the Senate,
1 is v Very light patron Of the Congressional
i;hrorv In TACT, the Senator is not an haoi1-
nal drawer of books, and rarely has dealings
18th Mr. Spotford except when he is looking
M ms some particular authority on some point
w P S he finds necessary to elucidate in the
current debates and practical Legislation OF .ne
senate and yet sal. adra Dsl0 enn nsns and
nf General
n as wide and varied as that Of any
81 lis colleagues.