Ottumwa weekly courier., 1878-05-22

/ q u
the relatives, who are Jews. DR.
Stern, the lady's brother, is wei
known here, both as filling the plac'
of Consul for the United States, ant
by having translated Shakespeare
"Hamlet" into the Roumanian Ian
guage.
Pen Pictures Of congressman.
Editorial Correspondence Gate City.
There are some Congressman who
are much less than their work; ant
some just equal to it and some supe
rior. For the latter American cul
ture seems to have provided no ade
quate diversion. With the very
strongest men Congress seems to be
tiresome waste of strength. Some ol
our public men seem in less delib
erate degree to share the conforma.
ton of Walpole's mind, by which
"whatever was little seemed to him
great and whatever was great seemed
to him little. Serious business was q
trifle to him and trifles were his aeri.
ous business" Men to whom poll.
tics and government are only an
amusement. This, OF course,is only in
the seeming. To power achievement
is easy. And Bonaparte put as much
gravity in his after dinner talks with
the savans of the Academy on his
trip to Egypt as he did to the plan of
the siege of Acre and the campaign
against the Arch Duke Charles
Conkling, for instance, has not made
q serious business of legislation for
over year. He has found but q
semblance of either employment or
diversion in it. Garfield comes satin-
tering down the aisle to his seat, or
throws his splendid head back upon
his locked hands and yawns, or walks
the lobby with his hands in his pock-
cts in an easy, happy-go-lucky fash
ion. Like tie fellow in Sheridan
Knowles play that wanted somebody
to keep a-rousin' of him, Garfield
keeps negligently on the look out for
something of moment to come up
and arouse him, but it comes but sell
dom. 1t Is the mood in which Web
ster farmed and French King turn
ed lock-smith and Lord Fairfax was
an antiquarian. Possibly Garfield
thinks as he walks the easy master of
his place, of the place at the other
end of the Capitol he maybe gave up
to please the unfulfilled prescience of
of Hayes. If he has regrets they are
without bitterness, for Garfield's is q
great, well-balanced, and genial ma
ture. He looks the incarnation Of
splendid health of body and mind
He is so strong that he in every way
more than fills his place and 80 has to
affect nothing. His is the best phys
ique In the House; the best body and
head. He is impressive but not i'm
posing. Ifof Jovian proportions it's
Jove in the feasting and nectar drink
ing hour. "Then inextinguishabl
laughter arose among the immortal
gods when they saw Vulcan bustling
about through the mansion" He is
doubtless ambitious but also probably
somewhat indoient. We doubt if he
is an indefatigable committeeman
And while he might not thrice reject
the uncrowned Presidency. he will
not worry himself into a fever Of
vexed personal and political unrest
to get it. While his qualities are
scarcely in the highest degree execu-
tive, yet if he he'd been chosen to the
Presidency when Hayes was, the
chair of Lincoln and Grant would
have found an incumbent worthier of
them and the republican party and
the nation than any other Ohio man
we know.
Going back to our theme of n otable
eef, 81 Michigan, who i Is one 3 81 isfsiRs fsiRfss
foremost men in the present House,
He is member of the judiciary COM
mittee; an able lawyer; long q men,
Der of the House; a we'll posted par
Humanitarian man who stands
squarely on his feet and isn't easily
shaken and constant thorn in the
side of Mr.. Speaker and the demo-
cratic majority by his adroit points of
order and his fearless insistence upon
them. His, as we once before refer
red to him, is fine cut face, of min
gled power and querulousness. To
our memory he looks much like Jas.
w. Grimes, as we remember of see
ing and hearing tho great Iowan in
the campaign of 1860. Scarcely so
large, maybe, but much the same con-
formation of head and good deal of
identity in characteristics. Thor
oughly practical, clear in perception,
dogmatic, positive to crsbbedness al
most, fearless, going straight to the
point regardless of ianybody's feel
ings, man who provokes resent
ments and appeals little to sympathy,
devoid of sentimentaiism and frigid
in his bearing, clear and caustic in
speech, which he is not disposed to
invest with ornament or rhetorical
surplusage. A man of warmer ma
ture than he seems; who covers un-
der his frigid and repellant exterior,
good heartedness and more cordial
and gracious qualities than careless
observers would suspect. A man
whom you not only respect but cor
daily like when you get through his
shell and let his apparent crabbedness
go for nothing. He is one of the
fighting champions of republican,
ism on the floor. While his persist
ent partisan vigilance vexes his an
tagonists, his ability compels q hear
ing and the force of his positions and
the clearness and weight Of his argu-
ments always command attention
even from the side which he has set
himself to oppose and which would
be glad to suppress him, He is one
ofthose republican members whose
experience and intellect have kept
the party almost in the ascandcnt in
the House, despite its minority Of
votes.