Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-01-16

Adams showed remarkable maturity in his
Early years and commended himself to
Washington that he was appointed minister to
England and the Netherlands when he was but
twenty-seven. At thirty-six he entered the
senate. Madison was Congressman q. twenty
eight and the Madison papers were written be-
fore he was thirty-fve. Henry A. Wise. whose
iurid rhetoric and errratic politics made him
the John James ingalls, of his tine, was but
twenty-six when he entered the Twenty-first
Congress, and he had earned national reputa-
ton by his eccentricity that NOWADAYS would
make him worth S2o0 a night on the
lyceum platform. Webster when he came to
the Twelfth Congress, was thirty. After an in
teryal OF ten years he again came to the House.
and at forty-five. youthful age even now, he
entered the Senate. He was forty EIGHT when
he made the famous reply to Hayne.
Tom Benton began his illustrioas thirty years
In tie Senate when he was thirty-eight.
John N. Clayton had just passed his thirty-
third golden milestone in life when he
took the oath of a Senator, and when he died,
twenty-seven years later he was still a Sena-
tor, though in the interval he had for
a short time been chief justice OF the blue
hen state and also Secretary of State for Prcsi-
dent Taylor, In that capacity acc omp!ishing the
Clayton-Bulwer treaty. Calhoun WIS twenty
nine when first sent 10 Congress and but thirty
five when he entered on his seven years adj
ministration OF the War Depar tnent under
President Monroe. which, with one exception.
history OF the government
Calhoun had shown his aptitude fo- public
life long before coming to Congress by his
service at the age OF twenty-five in the South
Carolina legislature
HENRY CLAYs EARLY TR-UMPHs
Henry Clay was remarkable in all things and
in nothing more than in the confidence and en-
thusiasm he inspired when q very Young man.
The history OF American politics can show no
parallel He was appointed to the Senate first
at twentv-nlne, before he was of the cops.itu-
tional age. At thirty-four be entered .he
House to be elected Speaker on the first ,lay of
his appearance in that body. Els farno as
speaker in The Kentucky legislature had pre-
ceGed him. And five times he was reelected
young mon to congratulated Living
ston and W. Il. King to the Senate at
thirty-one and thirty-three, respectively, Viii
liam C. Johnston o: Maryland, who pre-
sided over the first body that nominated CLAY
for the presidency. was but txenty-six when he
entered Congress John Tyler was thirty-scven
when elected to the Senate. Natharie! Macon.
who was in Congress thirty-sevcn years from
Georgia. and was for nearly a quarter of a GEN.
fury called the father Of Congress, was but
thirty-four when he was sent to the Second
Congress in 1871. Keitt of South Carolina. who
achieved fame in the ante-bellum Congresses
and fell bravely fighting for the lost cause, was
but twenty eight when he took his seat IN the
House.
Fernando Wood. the self-made man. who
rose from the cigarmaker's bench to the lead
ership Of great party in Congress, was but
twenty-nine when he entered the House in lS4I
PREcocIoUs PENNsYLvANIANs.
Wilmot Of proviso fame was thirty-one when
he appeared on the scene where he was to play
SO great part His successor was Galusha A.
Grow, also known to fame, and he was but
twenty-seven in 1850. when he first took the
oath as an NJ. c. The precocity Of this Penn
sylvania congressional district reasserted itself
in the Forty eighth Congress, when George A.
Post Of Susquehanna Depot appeared as the
youngest member Of the House, being but
twenty-n:ne.
Andrew Jackson lived so long and so well
that we forget what was a most notable thing
in his career. He was revolutionary soldier
trudging along the march or pacing sentinel
duty, or charging in battle with his old flint
lock musket when he was but fourteen years
old. At twenty-three Washington made him
district attorney for Tennessee. At twenty
nino he was United States Senator.
THE YOUNGEST VICE PRESIDENT.
John C. Breckenridge was the youngest Vice
President this country ever had. He came to
Congress at thirty, and at thirty-fiye was
elected on the ticket with Buchanan and was
installed as President OF the Senate. Caleb
Cushing, who carved out a great name for
himself as lawyer and statesman, was thirty
when he entered Congress. So, too. was
Robert G. Winthrop. who, when elected Speaker
of the Thirtieth Congress in lS47, was but thir-
ty-eight Charles Sumner was a young Senator
when at forty he took the seat Of Daniel Web
ster. Abraham Lincoln, when he was chosen
President, had concluded that he was an old
man and that he was soon to be crowded off
the political stage. He wrote one of his
friends that he felt at forty-nine as il he was an
old man and he could have no expectation Of
political prcferment because in q pioneer
country men became old at fifty and vet he
believed that he had . work to do. He was
twenty-five when first chosen to the Illinois
Legislature, thirty eight when he entered Con-
gress and ffty-one when elected President.
being among the youngest of the Presidents.
Gen. Grant was the youngest Of all the chief
magistrates. being but forty-six when elected.
It il interesting to note that Lincoln, il living
now, would be an old man nearly eighty-three
and Grant would be nearly seventy. Andrew
johnson, the tailor, was in Congress ut thirty
i've.
Roscoe Conkling, when he threw his castor
into the political arena, was twenty-nin and
the last republican to represent the old Utica
district, which IVES Coukling's 90 loag-young
Jim 6herman-vas bat thirty-oue when he
took his seat in the Fiftisth Oongrssa
N RECENT TIMES.
Hannibal Hamlin long public career baesn