Omaha daily bee., 1891-09-27
TALKS WITH A STATESMAN.
"oarp's' Interesting Interview With sena-
tor John Sherman,
BEFORE THE PUBLIC FOR FIFTY YEARS.
Prominent Men Sherman Has Known
Intimateiy-His Position Upon
the Great Problems Now
Before the People.

MANSFIELD. o., Sept. 25.-fSpecial Core.
spondence OF The BEE.I-l came from Wash
linton 10 Ohio 10 ask for a talk with Senator
Sherman and / have had two interviews
with him during the past three days. me
greater part Of our conversation was in the
way Of chattv commissioners and this covered
the senator's public career running back TO
the days Of President Frank Pierce. On my
FIRST call, | left u list Of questions as TO some
OF the leading public issues before the coun-
try today, aud the answer to these which
constitute the latter part Of this article were
dictated by the senator to his stenographer
for me and are authentic IN every particular.
Tho remainder was rather a CHAT than a hxed
interview. II extended over several hours
and | can only give u portion of the interest
ing things which the senator said.
Senator Sherman's Home.
Mansfield, Senator Sherman's home, is sit
uated on the highest point in Ohio. It's a
beautiful town Of about fifteen hundred peo-
pie, with streets crossing each other at right
angles, and running out from a public park
flied with old forest trees. The town covers
n half dozen hills and the rich farming coun-
try surrounding it is picturesque and rolling.
The best street Of Mansfield runs from the
park directly westward. 1t is lined with
green lawns and avenues Of maple trees and
about a mile from the park, stands the resi-
dence OF Senator Sherman. This is right in
the city, but it has twenty acres of velvety
lawn about it, and great pine, elm and chest
nut trees interlock their branches about the
house and make the semi-circular roadway
which leads up to it a wooded drive. Tho
half-moon OF lawn W hich lies in front Of the
house is, ] Judge, at least two hundred feet
deep, and Mansfield people use this as a sort
OF PARK, and visitors drive into the senator's
yard round the house and out again ad libi-
tum. Back of the house are orchards of vari-
GUS kinds, and the pear trees aud peach trees
gre propped up least their branches be
broken by the rich yield of the present year.
To the left of the house as you go in and some
distance away is the new barn which Soma
tor Sherman said he was going to build
when he came homo 10 Ohio this summer.
The expression was used in an interview at
Pittsburg, and was taken up by the newspa-
per photographers in much tho same way as
the expression he used before a former sena-
torial election. Then he said he was coming
homo to fix his fences, and now he came to
build n barn. He has built the barn in real
AbJs IL tObI F-,OOV hiN 10 " liNbby Nbe'S
like house about fifty feet long and forty feet
deep, fitted out with all the best stable re-
q%uirements. In it l found three or four car
riages and half a dozen good horses which
the senator told me were of his own rails
ing. In the old barn near by were a number
Of Jersey cows and these are Mrs. Sherman's
pets. They produce the finest of milk and
cream and Mrs. Sherman has her butter
,,-ln, Ia, n,,, ,,,na,yi,,pn Shn &c thnr-
ougbly domestic in her tastes md, not long
ago, she was so proud of her butter that she
had some of it entered at the county fair, but
left her name out Of the list OF exhibitors ana
the butter was displayed as anony-
nous The Judges in making
another butter maker and passed Mrs. Sher-
mans buttor on the charge that it was so
yellow that IL must have been artiticially
colored. Mrs. Sherman was naturally very
indignant at the charge and she cut the roll
Of butter up and sent a slice of it TO each Of
the judges with her compliments.
Tho Sherman Residence.
Senator S%herman's house is an almost ideal
home for a great statesman. 1t is n big two
story and mausard brick, so feet long and
perhaps 60 feet deep, and 1t has big porches,
big windows and beautiful views. IL is by
no means a grand house nor a gorgeous one.
Every part of it is simplicity personified. but
~ III '1N y w 80 oSAh - ~ ~
homo. The brick is painted drab and the
windows, steps and front doors are finished
in a peculiar old red sandstone, streaked with
golden yellow, in all the variations of the
onyx or agate. Passing over a porch about
fifteen feet wide, you enter through the front
door into a generous hall which, in the shape
of a capital l., makes, in fact, two good sit
ting rooms. At your right on the wall hangs
n pair of antlers which Senator Sherman got
in his trip over the Canadian Pacific, and at
the right and left are doors opening into
parlors. Around at the other END of the hall
is the dining room, which is, | judge, about
twenty-five feet square, and back of this
through u buffers pantry, is n big kitchen
lighted by many windows and finished in the
%cleanest Georgia pine. | found Mrs. Sher-
mar with q great sunshade on her head peel
ing luscious peaches for canning, in the din
ing room, and as we looked at the kitchen, she
SAID she hoped il ! was going to make u do
scription OF tho house that | would notice the
trees and describe the interior of the house
as il was. Said she:
Our home has been described as a grand
mansion and l often find orr visitors dlsap-
pointed when they come here expecting q
palace. Tho house is, rs you see, very plain,
but it is u comfortable home ana we like it,"
During my stay, | visited the other por-
tions OF it. II contains, | should say twenty
rooms, and all the rooms are largo and airy:
The windows give fine views over miles of
rolling country, and In one of the libraries |
noted Il telescope, ana asked Senator Sher-
man II he used this IN studying tho stars.
He replied with a laugh that no now and
then looked ut the moon and ut Venus and
Mars through II, but that the chief use OF 1t
within the past few weeks had been in turn
ing 1t on tho races which were going on two
miles away, and which, through II, could be
as plainly seen as on tho grand stand. "
The Senator'S Books.
Senator Sherman's library is scattered
throughout the whole house. The fact that
he is a student Is written all over it. The
moment you enter the front door you see in
tho hall n wall of books and on the second
and third stories you find the halls filled with
book cases, ana at tho southeast corner of
the mansard, there Is u reference library of
several thousand volumes. The lower libra
ry contains thousands more ana when | asked
Senator Sherman lhow many books he had
here and ut Washington, he said ne thought
he must have in the noighborhood
OF 1900 volumes. The mansard library is
largely given up to Americana. IL contains
all OF the public documents since 1850 and tho
debates of congress back TO the beginning OF
should judge, about eighteen feet wide and
walnut cases and Mr.. BaScock, the senator's
private secretary, tolls me that Mr.. sherman
will have no more books placed on thus floor,
on account OF their weight. Those already
In the mansard will weigh many tons and the
floors, though strong, might give way under
the pressure, The library on the ground
floor is twenty-five feet square and tho books
here are OF all kinds from science to fiction.
Two large cases are taken up with volumes
relating to the war. One Is devoted To mod
ern science and Mill and Spencer here STAND