Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-01-19
OUR BACHELOR CONGREssMAN.


OUR BACHELOR cONGREssMAN.
Hon. A. Herr smith Photographed by a Lad
Correspondent.
s'Olivia" writesfrom Washington spic.
letter to the Philadelphia Times, in whicl
she pays her respects to the bachelor mem
bers of Congress, sketching their genera
characters from a fashionable standpoint
Handsome Charlie O'Neill, Of Philadel
phia, is described as modern Don Quix
ote, who is endeavoring to carry by storm
the citadel of the hearts of all the maids,
matrons and widows of the capital. Ack-
len. of Louisiana, who has been in as many
love scrapes as Don Juan and happily got
out of them all, is sketched as lady killer
whose past misdeeds arc being lived
down. by his present unexceptionable con-
duct
Hon. Hester Clymer, of Berks, and Hon.
A. Herr Smith. of Lancaster, are thus
sketched
"Hiester Clymer is here, apparently cold,
hard and indestructible as Allegheny
granite and he strikes those with whom
he is brou ,ht in contact by the same feel
ing awakened at the touch of rugged sub
Unity. The grandeur of the mountain!
The so!emnity Of the sea! Who would
dare to laugh and jest in his presence The
writer has been informed by some of his
brother members that he has remarkably
sweet and winning manner to the few
privileged to occupy the chambers of his
soul; and we should remember the rough,
brown husk of the nut is no indication of
the kernel. Heightened and kingly
in manner on the floor, always the
right word in the right place. For
nearly if not quite a dozen years, for we
write from memory only, his stalwart form
has been a landmark in the Pennsylvania
delegation, or a sort of Democratic warf
against which the spray and foam of the |
Republican ocean has madly dashed in
vain. In reputation, SO far as women |
arc concerned, his character is the reverse |
OF Congressman Acklen but suppose he
had been contrived ON d sugar plantation,
done up in creole skin, forged as it were,
under the eyelids of the tropics? What
then? Shouldn't Pennsylvania get down
or her stony old knees and thank heaven
that her Congressman are not made like
Southern men?
''As if to correct tho acidity of the delega-
ton Congressman Herr Smith is added on,
just as the last lump of sugar is put in to
perfect the coffee cup. Whilst having all the
virtues he is believed to have none of the
vices, and his moral character at the CAPT
tai is always quoted No. 1; risks few and
readily taken. Society knows little or
nothing about him, but the quantity,
small as it is, may be set down to his de-
cided advantage. He has the reputation
of being rich, but there is little show or
sostentation. He is always in his seat,
always at work, apparently with nothing
but his constitu ents' interests at heart. 1t
would he better for our sex if it were other
wise, but no delicate-minded woman would
think of disturbing the serenity of his
soul, and he keeps so far away from the
other kind that an accident never can
happen. No one doubts but ut some
period of his life the ocean of sentiment in
his bosom has been traversed by gulf
streams of romance, and he, too, like
Whittier can sing: The saddest of all
it might have BEEN Blessed be the
spiritual hand that touches the human
heart-strings only to awaken the divinest
melody, and thrice blessed is he who
knows how to avoid those pits in the soul
wllese black depths reflect bitterness, satire
and irony. Side by side in every great
mind the Creator has ranged the awful
cauldrons of good and evil. Congressman
Smith knows how to thread the May way
with pleasure to himself and honor to all
concerned