Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-09-20
THEY EXPECT TO LIVE.
United States Senators Seem to be q
Tough Lot
DOES SIZE LEND GREATNESS
AncesseRs 0easralIY Loug Lived
Mixed Puritan and Dusch-Reports
From Ingalls,, Aawlcy, Mauderyon,
Teller aud Others.
Written for TIE Rvxxrxe srA,

Il
%teS above their fellows2
| had noticed that almost all men of superior
effectiveness were physically large. There
| have been exceptions, Of course, in such men
~ Napoleon, Stephen A. Douglass, Senator
| Spooner and Jay Gould. but whils exceptions
do not prove any rule they do not disprovo il
unless there are enough Of them. 1t still re-
mains fact that almost all Of the commanding
men Of this last generation have weighed from
225 to 275 pounds piece. Till Fuller was
called here from Chicago there was, I think, but
one or two members OF the Supreme Court who
weighed less than 200 pounds. ohave most Of
| the great Senators and Representatives Of the
decade weighed as much-Blsine. Conkling,
Carlisle, Randall, Reed, Plumb, Hawloy, and
most OF the great business captains, the Van
derbilts, Stanford, Armour, Flower, Norvin
Green, Horace Porter, John q. Moore. Henry
Willard aud Russell Sage, and all Of the great
| orators. without notable exception, Beecher,
| Cough, Talmage, Moody, 10 Cook, Ingersoli-
| all large men.
There is some subtle connection between
| mere bigness and success. ID it that big men
| are able to pass for more than they are worth
by their very size-to impose their deman DIS
on the world by the mere weight OF ponderous
momentum? Or 10 it that large men actually
have, as rule, more vitality than small men
and 30 are able to effect more In a given time?
SIGNIFICANT VITAL srAT1sr1cs.
suspect that the last named might be the
real reason. have made some inquiries con-
| corning the ancestors OF some Of the masterful
men of the Senate and House with results as to
vital statistics which may be regarded as signi-
hcant Probably no man in this Congress, pos
| sibly excepting the Speaker, will appear in his
tory as having done much as Senator John
r. Jones Of Nevada. He is q man over sixty,
with dead white hair aud goatee setting off his
half 90 much "a he to change the mind of Con-
grsss concerning silver. He 10 thoroughly
tired Of the long session. and says he wants to
go homo and see his mOther On inquiry
find that his mother, Welsh woman, II now
eiRhtv-six. His grandmother, who came with
the family from Wales at the age Of seventy
seven, lived TO be ninety-seven.
Judge Taylor OF Ohio, chairman Of the House
judiciary committee, to whom repeated these
facts, remarked: "Well, believe the Jones
| men OF u long-iived family. His mother had
six brothers and sisters, who lived to the aver
age age OF ninety-seven. One OF them, an old
maid, was spry 40 a cricket and used to ride all
over the country on horseback. At the age of
one hundred aud three she went of to Kansas
to take care Of somebody's baby, and haven't
he ard Of her since"
Senator W. D. Washburn Of Minnesota is of
long-iived stock, though his bevy of distin-
guished brothers did not fulfill the promise Of
thoir ancestry, having all diod before they
reached seventy. One Of his grandfathers
reached ninety and two Of his grandmothers
lived to be eighty, so he looks hopefully for
ward. His mother died young, but she could
afford to. having given to tho world two gov
| ernors, four members Of Congress, two United
States Senators, two United States ministers to
foreign nations, one major-general, two edi-
tors, one novelist and one successful inventor.
Judge Field Of the Supreme Court could tell
even more remarkable story. His ancestors
wore long-lived, his father, Rev. David Dud-
ley. dying at ninety or 50. and his mother liv-
ing nearly as long. after giving birth to seven
sons. like the mother OF the Gracchi, all OF
whom became eminent Timothy became an
officer of the navy, Matthew o noted civil engi-
neer, Jonathan president Of the Massachuse
senate, Cyrus the protector Of the Atlantic
cable and millionaire, Stephen q justice Of
| the highest court in the land, Henry a famous
preacher, editor and author. and David Dudley
the most distinguished American jurist. The
last named and eldest is now eghty-six, aud
the three other surviving boys are trotting
along toward the same mark. But they tire eli
sturdy and vigorous. bearing in gait. voice and
demeanor few Of the marks OF age and some
OF them will very likely see the one hundredth
mile stone.
SENATOR INGALLS, GOOD CHANCE.
Some men who have felt his tongue Iashings
will be sorry to hear that Senator Ingalls, has
| chance to live long. His father il still living
| and hearty at eighty-six and his mother at
eighty-two. Some OF his grandsires passed
the same age. The name was borne as Lngall
by his ancestors who came to Boston in 1928
and founded the city Of Lynn. The visible
Ingalls, line reaches back five hundred years
previous to William the Norman. his folks hay
ing come with the Saxons to England under
Hengis. and Horsa-though the Senator admits
that the eirc1mambient fogs some what obscure
the family tree.
Senator Cush. X. Davis Of Minnesota has
fine ancestral guaranty Of life. His mother is
living at seventy-hve and his father. aged
seventy-nine goes about the streets Of Wash
ington about rs lively rs any young fellow of
NIFTY. Il ought to have good grip on life,"
said the Senator In reply to my question, for
my first American ancestor, Cushmau. landed
at Plymouth, Mass, IN 1922 eight generations
ago, and adding up the combined ages OF the
interesting persons to whom I am indebted for
seventy-seven years." From curiosity sought
the Cushman family book from the library
and asce-tained that Senator Daviss ancestor,
Robert Cushman. was born in 1880, and that he
served the first Plymouth colony as q quarter
master and general provider. He was the
business man OF the concern and helped the
various expeditions to fit out and get of. He
| also preached sometimes, az all those men did,
and the first published sermon preached on
this continent was his.
GEN. HAWLErs LoNo-LIvED ANCESTORS.
asked Gen. Hawlsy, Senator from Connec-
ticut, what sort Of chance he had for . long
life. "a good chance 1 think" he said I'm
| three generations have had fourteen ances-
tors and am unable TO hear of more than one
who died at less than seventy-two. All the
other thirteen seem to have gone to heaven
between that age and the age of ninety-six
And that the vital statisticians have set the
chance Of life forward, and they assure us
that the average mans life il three years
longer than it was half century ago--the in
creased tendency to nervous disorders being
more thdl offset by the better food and the in
ventions and contrivances for mans comfort"
/ asked Senator Sherman what the figures
Of his family mortality indicated. Nothing"
he said, 80 far a. I Gun see. Ny father died ct
forty-ons OF an acute disease, but my mother
| and other ancestors generally lived longer.
The general seems to have q gooOd hold ON
| life, but my brother Charles appeared to have,
| too, 20 We cannot toll am exceedingly we'll,
but the story OF my ancestors gives me neither
hope nor apprehension"
Il seem to come from . loug-lived stock"
| said Senator Casey Of North Dakota MY
| mother died ct sevsnty-three and my father at
seventy-nine, but my grsndfathers lived to
ninety and the family seem generally TO have
6rst-rats constitutions. Yes, expect TO live
| 70 come back" he said, with laugh.
| called on Senator Teller He II the semi
torial reservoir Of information about the In
terror Department, and I recently heard Gen.
Noble BAy that the individual who should ac-
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