Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-10-05
A MASTER IN HIS DAY.
Something About the Character and
Career of Thad. Stevens.
HIS FIGHT FOR FREE SCHOOLS.
As Tyrannical Ruler in Legislative Halls
as Speaker Reed.
TRIBUTES TO HIS MOTHERS WORTH
iup1rrrH .roR THE DISPATCH. 1

| Stevens, by whose strenuous eHorts It's pub
lie schools were established. He appre-
ciated the advantages of knowledge to the
poor. He had come up from the depth of
poverty himself, and owed his education to
the free schools of Vermont, where he grew
up amid the straits and struggles of mar
row home in which the mother was the
bread winner and care taker of a family of
| four boys.
OF his father little is known, save that he
shouldered his musket and went to the waf
| in 1872, when he was killed in battle. His
mother, who sacrificed herself for her chill
dren, VINO toiled early and late for their well
| fare, who raised their ambition and melted
them to good and yirtuous lives, must have
been woman of uncommon ability and
! notable energy. Thaddeus all his life testi-
| fed to her nobility OF nature, and her am
| pie powers of mind. When he had become
| man and could look back upon his youth
with experienced eyes and knowledge of
mankind, he did not hesitate to solemnly
record that what he was and whatever good
fortune and reputation he had secured in
his career in life was due to her and to her
counsels.
| HONORED HER MEMORY.
1t is pleasing to know from his biography
that as he grew prosperous he made ample
| provision for her comfort, gave a liberal be-
! quest to the church she loved and left a
fund to provide that her last resting place
should be carefully guarded and that "roses
and other cheerful flowers" should be
planted around her grave every summer.
| Such love many men feel, but there are
also many who fail to express their appre-
| - & . ba,,, 4
| which year in and year out guarded them
from evil, and paved the wav for their sue
cess in life, until the clods cover the cold
| form which, when alive, had an eve and a
heart single and alone to their interests.
When life is gone they acknowledge the
debt, but of what avail when the loving
heart, which so longed for appreciation
when living, is silent in the grave. 1t is a
lesson all children might be the better for
learning that the father of the public
schools in this State held his mother in
highest honor, and in his last will testified
that he owed all his good fortune and sue
cess in life to her teachings.
STEVENS WORKED HARD.
In his early days Stevens was lame and
delicate in health. To this fact perhaps
NAV be assigned the devotion of his mother,
and the turn of his mind for books. For
tunately for him Vermont had public
schools ara colleges where students who
self for the sake of knowledge could be
graduated. In the college of Dartmouth
Thaddeus Stevens finished his course of
study.
His entrance into Pennsylvania was as a
teacher of an academy in York. Here he
read law, and when he hung out his shingle
as full-hedged lawyer it was at Gettys-
burg, made so memorable by one of the
great battles Of the Civil War. Here we are
caught wondering as to why young man
of great ability should settle at Gettysburg
when so many more attractive points were
presented for the achievement of success in
his chosen pursuit. Fancy wanders and
wonders if the afterward famous bachelor
had a love affair that drew him to this
obscure town. History tells nothing of such,
but most young men have their romances,
and it may be that some fair maiden had an
influence about this time concerning whom
biographers seem to know nothing.
AN ELEMENT oE LUCK.
But, while what led him to Gettysburg
has not been made clear the fact remains
that luck seemed to be with him. He grew
famous and made large fortune for those
davs. In court he was lawyer who was
brief forcible and convincing. He wasted
no words, but his plain speaking was power
full with a jury. He had u ready wit and
great knack of bringing the opposition
into ridicule by potent sarcasm. This abil-
ity to raise laugh is held to be most val
liable quality in a lawyer, since with the
ordinary jury, reason-snd for that matter
justice-are liable any time to be swamped
by emotional gush, or touch of sympathy.
But while he was terror to his brother
lawyers in the court room and during a
trial, he was genial and affable at other
times, and was especially kind to young
lawyers just beginning their career. His
fine library was placed at their disposal, and
he was never chary of giving them advice
and assistance.
When he first took up his residence in
Pennsylvania there were no free schools.
Only those who could pay for it, or whose
parents were competent to teach their chill
dren received an education. Those were the
days when citizens were not taxed for edu-
cation and when there was no disputing
about whether they were "godless" or not
nor whether they were immoral or not.
A HARD FIGHT.
Knowing the value of the public schools
in his native State, Stevens was determined
to have free schools in Pennsylvania, though
they were most bitterly opposed. Certain
classes were persistent in the old argument,
"Let every man take care of his own chill
dren," but Stevens fought the battle bravely
and perslstently, and won.
He even voted against the positive in
structions OF his electors at home, and by |
dint of persuasion aud bulldozing the mem |
bers of the Legislature, he changed the ma
jority against the measure into its |
favor. But while his memory will |
always be connected with the pub |
lie schools in Pennsylvania, he |
by his opposition to slavery and disunion. |
in the days when Sumner and Zach Chandler,
and "Galoosh" Grow, and Ben Wade and |
John Sherman filled the places of Reed and |
Cannon and Mckinley ct al. He s'said to |
have been a firm believer in the old saying |
that "the end justifes the MEANS" and he |
ruled the House with despotic sway.
A TERROR IN CONGRESS.
As the stories 60, he was master hand at
speaking daggers and in the use of censor |
ious criticism, and woe to the person that |
incurred his wrath. As is the custom to- |
day, his abuse OF his colleagues did not fud |
place in the official records; but while he |
showed temper on occasion, and had no |
scruples as to calling a spade a spade,
whether parliamentary or not, he was un- |
compromisngly opposed to slavery, and |
worked zealously and perhaps fanatically |
against the so-called ''diyine institution"
Like Ingalls,, he probably thought the |
worst Republican that ever lived was better |
than the finest and best Democrat. Party |
with him was first, and politics was war.