The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-10-13

sort of thing after q guest has been
announced to him and been invited to his
study. But Senator Sherman is not built
on tuose cheap lines. When you enter his
study you meet a polite gentleman who
courteOusly invites you to be seated and is
in no rude haste to have you hurry up and
tell your business and clear out. He makes
you feel easy first and relies on you to come
70 the object Of your visit in your own way.
In the meantime you have his undivided at
tention. There Is nothing to chill
the most sensitive person. There
are no hints to hurt you, and none
of the petty rudeneSses which
are practiced by So many men who feel the
strength Of their positions or the weakness
Of yours. Senator Sherman is simply a
very earnest man, a bard worker, a close
student and a gentleman. Long experience
in affairs has made him quick to see the
motives of mems actions, aud a lofty sin
oerity Of purpose makes him quick to resent
any attempt to pull tho wool over his eyes,
but his calpness Of mind is not GOODNESS of
heart and his directness of speech is not
bluntness.
Senator Edmunds is 50 far from beinR
cold that he Is genial, convivial even His
wrinkles are not between the eyes. They
are merry wrinkles-crows' feet with the
toes toward the temples. He has in his ma
ture a hundred times as many smiles as
frowns. Nobody has keener appreciation of
good joke and nobody more manifestly en-
joys one. How he got and why he retains the
reputation for austerity are incomprehepsi-
BILE problems TO those who know HIM. Why.
one of his roguish winks is a sufficient
answer to all the charges of coldness ever
brought against him and the mis-
chievous twinkle that 50 often lights
his expressive eye ought long ago to
have gained for him the reputation of a
hnp rtoN
Indeed, 1t Is an open question whether seri-
BUSINESS actually preponderates in his nature.
Notwithstanding the careful attention he
gives to nearly every matter that comes
before the Senate, one is sometimes COM
PEELED to think he regards statecraft as a
capital joke and the Democratic party as an
organization formed for his special amuse-
ment. Lincoln was in this same lofty sense
a humorist. Henry Ward Beecher was
another. 1t seems to be essentially neces-
sary to the equability of great men engaged
In great works that they have these humors.
ToPass an hour with Senator Edmunds in
his house on Massachusetts, avenue is a great
treat If you are admitted at all, and you
are sure to be If there is no good reason
why you should not be-you are at once
made aware that you are welcome; and IL
you have the tact to lead the conversation
to subjects in which your host is inter
ested, the hour will pass before you know
it Senator Edmunds not only has a mar
velous store of information, but his MEM
ory so carefully labels and pigeon
holes and indexes everything it laws
hold on that exactly the right thing
is at hand at exacLly the right
instant; and his mind is so constituted that
it does not seem to require any art on his
part to arrange ideas In their most pleasing
combinations. A steuographic report OF
one OF his hours Of mere c1at might be pub
lished without rev isio.l and would make as
pleasant an hours reading as anyone could
care for. The charm of it all is that Sena-
tor Edmunds is apparently careless of repu-
tation, dignity and all those vain considera-
tions, which make most men in high
position strive to seem to be what
they are not. He has no bee in his
bonnet-of that you are soon con-
vinced; and he appears to give no
thought to what other men will think
OF what he says. In fact he talks and acts
like man whose thought and conscience
are in so close harmony that the one does
not know Of the existence of the other. But
he must be a shallow observer who does not
note the difference between this lofty sim
plicity-this simple innocency-and that
aristocratic GOODNESS which merely does not
fear the i'll opinion of the multitu le. Sena-
tor Edmunds would no doubt like to have
the good opinion of every member of his
race, but he would not condescend to get it
by false declarations This Is about as near
TO perfect honesty as human beings are per-
mitted to approach.
imagine one reason why these and other
very busy senators are charged with cold
ness an with upishness or bluntness is that
those who make the charges have met the
senators only at the capitol. Really that is
the poorest place to meet them il you wish
TO form Judgment Of their characters.
There they are beset by all sorts of distrac-
tions. The buster the senator the more
likely his influence is to be sought by every
Tom, Dick and Harry who has private
interest in some public measure. At
the capitol the senator has to be
constantly on guard. If he pokes
his buttonhole outside the chamber some
body is sure to jab thumb into it and If
he once takes down his shield he ia likely
TO be struck in a fatal spot. The re-
suit Is that at the capitol you see the sena-
tor, but seldom see the man. The home is
the place to find the character. In this
sanctuary the man feels that sense of
security which makes him lay aside his
armor. The capitol is also bad place
tensibly it is where the law-maker transacts
all his public business. theoretically he
lays aide his robes of office and thoughts OF
public business when he goes from under the
great dome on the hill. But really and
practically the homes of senator's and rep
resentatives are the places where the legis-
laton of our land Is formulated. The most
successful lobbyists know this and their
faces are seldom seen about the capitol
WILLIS B. HAWKINS.