Arizona republican., 1892-03-15

ture, alertness to all that was going on about him, forceful gestures all con tributing to the effect which surprised all beholders and delighted his friends. 1t is not often we see in the United States senate or anywhere else man seventy-five years old disporting himself in tho oratorical arena like a man of forty, with all his faculties unimpaired and the fires of his eloquence undimmed by the cloud of age.
 The span of this mans life carries us back to the year 1877. His career has been synchronous with the development of nearly all there is of the American republic. He was almost man grown before the iron horse made its appear ance in the land In his youth the coun- try existed chiefly east of the Alleghany mountains. Through all these seventy five years he has been worker in life's vineyard, in the very thick of the fight ing in war and peace, and yet here he is apparently good for quarter of cen, tury more of activity and usefulness.
 Like so many of the great men who have been sent to the capital by Illinois, Senator Palmer is native of Kentucky and comes of good old Virginia stock. His great-grandfather came from Ire land and was of Scotch ancestry. His grandfather was born on the shores of the Potomac, l00 miles below Washington, and carried a gun in the war of the Rev olution. I have myself heard my grand father tell of the battle of Yorktown" said Senator Palmer day or two ago, "and remember distinctly little joke which he was fond of perpetrating in that connection He always spoke of Lord Cornwallis as Cob-wallis-because weshelled the corn off him at Yorktown" Senator Palmer's father. Lewis D., was a pioneer in Kentucky, cabinet maker at Lexington, whence he removed to the Green river country in that state to be- come farmer. His earthly possessions were wife, two horses and two boys, the younger of them being the present senator. "l was very young then" said the senator in recalling some of the in- cidents of his youth, ''but have been told that father rode one horse with my brother up behind him, while my mother rode the other with me i'll front of her. was so young that all needed to make me happy was plenty of food and sleep, and so far as know have been in the same condition ever since."
 On the Black Jack lands of the Green river country Lewis Palmer acquired more children than riches. Of seven sons he considered John McAuley one of the dullest and least promising. He sent the boy to school to Daniel Boone, who used a hazel switch on the future gov ernor and senator about twice a day dur ing one whole term, and when Palmer senior returned from the Indian wars, where he had served for time under General William Henry Harrison, he gave it as his opinion that young John had deserved all ho had received and more. After time Father Palmer caught the Illinois craze which was then sweeping over Kentucky, and which gave to the state, which is snow the third of the Union, some of the best blood from Ken lucky and Virginia Packing up his few chattels and his seven sons and daugh- ters he removed to Madison county, Ills, firing the imagination of his sons by telling them that on tho prairies they could all have farm for the asking and fill their pockets by simply tickling the virgin soil
 Young John, who was at that time fourteen years old, very soon began to evince an extraordinary desire to secure an education. His father said to him: "John, my son, am a poor man and cannot give you money. The most l can do for you is to give you your time. Go and see what you can do for yourself" In those pioneer days father expected the full benefit of his sons services till he was twenty-one years old, and he was considered very generous who made his son a present of three or four years of his minority. So young John started ont to see what he could do. He worked by the day for neighboring farmers, drove four oxen breaking the prairie sod with big blow, husked corn, planted, cared for stock One day he went to town and saw in tailor's shop cotton suit which tho tailor had had left on his hands. It was worth twelve dollars. Young Palmer eyed it enviously, and the tailor asked him to try it on. As a result the tailor, whose name was Moore, sold the boy the suit on credit. A few months later the Sd day of July found