The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1882-09-15
Sill LAS WI. CLARK.

comes up from the ranks OF the people,
from parentage and family which is
highly respectable but of humble pre-.
tensions. He acquired the elementary
part of his knowledge in the Common
Schools, but at the age of fourteen
years he entered the Indiana Academy,
where he began the course of study
whiSt developed his capacity for sue
cess. Whist he attended the Acade
my, he laborcd ut times upon the farm,
and for one year carried the mail be
tween Indiana and Blairsville reciting
/ at the Academy one day and serving
as mail carrier the next. alternately.
1t was matter OF some curiosity
and surprise to some of the students of
the Bairsvile Academy on one occa-
sion when they found that the mail car
rier boy from Indiana carried copy
of Iorace's odes in his pocket to while
away the time of his delay in BARS
vile. In rather rude llnglagi they
twitted the frcndlcss lad about his
Latin, and in defiant manner challeng-
ed him To measure his knowledge with
theirs full of pluck, the little post
boy accepted, and he proved more than
a match for the most proficient Latin
scholar among them. And, perhaps,
the worthy preceptor of the Blairsville
| Academy was not less surprised when
the same mail boy in 1881, came to old
Jefferson College at Canonsburg, Pa
and upon examination by the faculty
was passed into the Junior class as a
classmate. Mr.. Clark graduated from
this excellent and then most prosper
ous institution in the class of 1852. He
had enjoyed very meagre advantages
compared with the rich mans sons who
were his class mates, but he graduated
fifth in a class Of sixty members. He
was a clear thinker, strong reasoner
aud II good speaker whose efforts gen.
orally excelled in the college literary
organizations. For this reason he was
elected by the Philo Society to deliver
IT, valedictory at the semi centennial
annivereary of the organization of the
college
For two years young Clark served rs
instructor in the same academy in
which he himself attended prior to en-
tering college He taught forty-five
Young men, most Of whom were older
than himself He was kind and sue.
cessful instrrc II, and from that time
he proved mself to be Jealous and
faithful friend of popular education /;
for twelve successive years he was a
director in the public schools, His
own trials and disadvantages had
taught him the value of good schools,
and he threw his whole energy into the
work, and was the kind of man, above
all others, to guard the school interests.
To his judgment and energy are the
public schools of the pretty little bor-
ough largely indebted for their present
prosperity. In 1851 the first Teachers
Institute of Indiana county was organ
lied. Silas NJ. Clark was present to
lend encouragement and give counsel
In 1872 the State Normal School at In
diana was organized. Mr.. Clark was
a subscriber to the project, and one OF
the most active and most successful
canvassers for other subscriptions. He
was elected a member of the first Board
of Trustees, and after the dta.h of Mr.
John Sutton was chosen President OF
that Board, which position he still oc
cupies In the sad trials Of the insti
tuition. Mr.. Clark was its staunchest sup
porter, and to his work more than tC
that Of any other man is due the pres
ent success of the Indiana State Nor
NAL School. His friendly aid and warn
encouragement to officer, teacher anC
pupils was like "bread cast upon tn,
waters, that will return to him at Tn,
November elections for not a mal
ever connected with the institution, anC
not a person in Indiana county iutcres
ted in popular education, but is mum
bered among his warmest friends.
THE LAWYER AND ADVOCATE.
A man of forty-eight years, practis
ing attorney for twenty-five years, Mr.
Clark has never been sued and ha
never sued anybody, Though law
yet, he believes in stunning litiga
tiOn
Mr.. Clark read law with VIM, NJ
Stewart, Esq, distinguished and abl
advocate. Mr.. Stewart was defeate,
for Congress in 1862 by the late ,JohI
l.. Dawson, father-in-law of Chaunce,
+. Black, Democrotic candidate TO
Lieutenant Governor Mr.. Clark wa
admitted to the Indiana bar in Sept
1857, After clerkship of one yea
he was admitted into partnership wit
his instructor, and for sixteen years tn
firm as Stewart S Clark had much th
largest and most lucrative practice il
Indiana county, and indeed one of tn
largest in Western Pennsylvania, |
1874, after Mr.. Clark's return from tn
Constitutional Convention, the fir
was dissolved. Mr., Stewart remove
to Philadelphia, where he resides o
present, member of the well know
banking firm b. X. Jamison IL Co., G
that city, The firm of Stewart 4
Clark never had a written agreemeu
and never a disagreement. Their larg
business was settled up without htc
or dispute. Since 1874, Mr. Clark ha
continued in the law, practising b
himself, and in the past decade ther
has not been single suit of magnitud
in this county in which he was not el
gagged as counsel, His profess ioni
honor and integrity, and ability, al
wcll known to all citizens of Wester
Pennsylvania Few lawyers west {