The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-01-08
THE lola REGISTER.
FRIDAY. JANUARY 8. 1892.
Facts Which May Interest Even Those
Who Knew Him Well.
SENATOR PLTMB.

SENATOR PLUMB.
Facts which May Interest Even Those
Who Knew Him Well.
The Washington correspondent of
the st. Louis GiObc-DcmOcrdt, who
knew Senator Plumb well and famil-
iarly, wrote for his paper last sunday
three columns of nOnpareil Of reminis-
ces. all of which are extremely inter
esting but few of which wehave space
to reproduce, but we make room for
the following:
THE LATCH STRING ALWAYS OFT.
Senator Plumb was the most ac-
cessible man in public life. You
rang the bell at the house on Thir-
teenth street and asked:
ais the Senator in?''
The formula of reply was the same
every time. The maid who answered
the bell glanced at the door of the
Senator's parlor. If the key was in
the lock she nodded. If the key was
not in sight. she looked behind the
door to see if it was hanging on the
a ccustomed nail If it was there she
knew the Senator was not in and
shook her head. If she nodded you
stepped to the Senator's door and
knocked. y genuine Western "come
in!'' followed. And that was the
whole ceremony of admission To Sena-
tor Plumbs presence. Nobody ever
sent i'm a card the second time. If the
Senator was "in'' was in to every
body. If he was "OUtn he was out in
fact. For business or begging. for
social call or curiosity, the latchstring
hung on the outside.
The Senator's methods of work rem
dered this accessibility possible. He
could not have made himself so utter
" free to callers if he had been in the
habit of doing one thing at a time.
He did two. three and four things at
one time. Often and often he sat die
tating letters TO his stenographer,
CHANGING over newspapers and trans
acting business with callers. Was it
any wonder the tissues of the cells III
the brain gave way under that kind
of mental strain? There was no Ordi-
nary stenogTapher who could keep up
with him. so he would dictate three or
four sentences like a flash, turn in con-
versation ten or fifteen seconds to his
visitor and at the same time keep on
opening and scanning newspapers.
And here was this wonderful thing
about his minds operation. In the
gap between dictatiOn he carried the
thread of what he wanted to say in
the letter. He carried the thread of
the conversation at the same time.
Perhaps the latest remark of the WISH
tor was made after the senator had
resumed dictation. The trained ear
and busy mind caught it. When the
dictatiOn stopped the Senator went
right on with his conversation. He
did not repeat to his stenOgrapher
He didn't ask his visitor what he had
just said. And the opening and read
ing of newspapers continued. The
mind had triple capacity seemingly.
This statement may be called incred-
ible. Those who knew the Senator
will verify it. Mr.. Plumb's fellow
Senators often remarked upon this
peculiar faculty or activity of mind.
1t was this which enabled him to car
ry so long "as much work as six men
could have done and preserved their
lives" to quote the words of Senator
Henderson. OF Napoleon historians
say that he could read with one eye
and write with the other That is he
could carry two trains of thought in
his mind at the same time This eX-
traordinary faculty Senator Plumb
possessed. Often he arose to address
the Senate and as he did so would
pick up from the desk in front of him
paper after paper. The casual Obser-
yer thought they were notes of what
the Senator wanted to say. They
were not. They were the letters of
the mornings mail which he had
gathered up and brought into the
Senate chamber with him. He was
actually addressing the Senate and at
the same time going through his cor
respOndence.
He took a thousand periodicals, and
he bought more books than any other
member of the Senate. Most of his
periodicals were weekly papers. For
the purchase of books he had a pecul-
lar arrangement, which he explained
not long while ago. One of the larg-
est book dealing houses in New York
sent him monty or oftener a descrip-
tive list. On this list the Senator
checked all that aroused his interest
The list was returned and the box of
goods came. He went through his
books in the same steam-engine way
he did everything.
HIS ANGER KINDLED SLOWLY.
His intensely practical nature en-
abled him to see the folly of anger,
and il was very seldom that his tenn
per got the better of him. There are
not many people in Washington who
ever saw Senator Plumb really angry.