The Rock Island Argus., 1883-04-20
ALEXANDER HAMILToa STEPHENS.
A Few Ansodotss Told in tia City of His
Nativity,

| Governor Stephens had an especial
fondness for Young folks. says the At
lanta Constitution, and he was particu-
| larly kind to reporters who dealt fairly
with him One thing that he always
| insisted on was that he alone should sup
| ply the news of the executive office.
| Soon after he went into office, the Con-
stitutt0n's young men noticed things re-
| markably dry about the executive office,
and after O few queries learned that the
Governor had ordered no news to. be Civ
en- to the press. That night the Con-
| stitsttaoas' $ young man was in the office
at the mansion. The young man was
| feeling a little blue. because an impor-
tant source of news had been taken
away, and in voice that showed his
anxiety, remarked:
.sGovernor, | believe YOU have in
structed the secretaries and clerks in the
Executive Office to tell me nothingP"
Il have" was the reply. ''My first
| order is that no person connected with
the Office shall mention anything that is
said or done there -
sBut, Governor" asked the reporter,
show am to get my department newsP'
Turning around to the young man, the
face of the Governor lighted up with
smile as he answered almost with a Shout:
"Come to me; I'm boss.
He was AS good as his word. After
supper the reporters would drop around
and the Governor always kept them well
up with the news. Sometimes he would
throw in good story for their amuse-
ment as O'clock was his leisure hour.
One night three of the .'boys" were
there. They were scattered around-the
room, one young fellow leaned on the
chair, and third sat over by the secre-
tary's desk. The Governor told them
the news of the day, and as they linger-
ed he began to talk of times that were
before the reporters knew of this land
and cline. Said Mr. Stephens:
II shall never forget my first trip
away from home, nor the Impressions
it made on me. / was quite a. young
man, and some business fell into my
hands that carried me north | had
never been as far as Washington before,
and of course / wanted to see what was
there to be seen. l went into the Senate
gallery and took my seat could easily
pick out the prominent men by the pict-
ures that | had seen of them. Pretty
soon a question came up and the Presi-
dent of the Senate announced that Mr..
Webster was entitled to the floor. OF
COURSE WAS very IIIuCH IL
was to hear him. He arose and began
speaking in an ordinary conversational !
way L think he took his snuff occasion
ally. He never made a gesture from
the time he opened until he closed. |
thought it was all sound doctrine, but I
was convinced that l knew a dozen col
lege boys who could have beaten him
speaking. The next morning l picked
up paper. There was bis speech,
headed Mr.. Webster's Great Speech on
the Finances, Pshaw, thought, they
don't call that great speech, do they?
/ saw anotherpaper. There ii was again,
headed Mr. Webster's great speech on
the finances. woatto Baltimore. There
they had Mr. Webster's great speech on
the finances. | reached Philadelphia
and everybody was talking about MIR.
Webster's 8 great speech on the finances.
got to New York. There everything
was in fermeht over Mr.. Webster's
great speech on the finances. 1t was
the same way in Boston. So eonclud-
ed that it must indeed be great speech.
1t put me TO thinking. and | made up
my mind that it was not the way man
said anything, but what he said that
made him an orator.
1t was with such stories as the above
that the Governor entertained the re-
porters whenthey had moment to spare.