The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-07-30

times, and which are not liable TO happen
again. However. II get an opportunity
to talk with you I may be able to tell
you what little know in q couple OF
minutes. Yours very truly, George w.
Peck
the Saturday morning specified, and
lost no time In putting on my hat and
walking over TO the fair grounds II was
q fine warm day, and thousands of peo-
pie were scattered about everywhere.
and the pretty Wisconsin Building was
full Of Il pre- ume) Wisconsin folk, the
broad veranda which surrounds II was
crowded and the handsome hall and
rooms were full. This sdifce. unlike
many OF the State buildings, contains no
exhibit of anything pertaining TO the
State, except its taste and its comfort;
and the result is one Of the most attrac-
tive mansions on the grounds. IL is a
combination OF or compromise between
a modern fashionable club and a
Dwelling house. In opposite ends of the
great halls on the ground floor are two
statues. each the work OF young lady,
residents of the State. They are ex-
cellent pieces of imaginative sculpture
aad it would be difficult to praise too
highly the one representing The Spirit Of
Wisconsin, maiden leaning against a
rock with her left arm round the neck
of an eagle. / shall speak more fully OF
this elsewhere, at another time
AS l did not know the Governor ~
sight, ad recourse - a yong eentie-
man writing at a table upstairs Was
the Governor in7 Yes, he was: he had
been in all the morning. Would the young
gentlen an kindly convey my cavd to him?
Yes, he would, II / would wait a little.
l Naited, and IL a few minutes | beheld
my friend apprc aching. and beside him.
a nan OF middle axe. with an alert. capa-
BILE look, whom | OWNED TO be the per-
sonage OF whom | was In search.
The reason 1 OWNED him was that I
remembered TO have heard that there
was a personal resemblance between him
and certain other gentleman OF my
acquaintance. We shook hands and sat
down in the draft Of an open window,
which the Governor seemed not TO mind.
He gave me that slightly uneasy glance
which expresses the emotion one feels
when surrendering himself 10 the in
QUESTION OF a stranger.
Physically he is a compact. brisk figure
OF about FIVE feet eight, with good
shoulders, well-formed hands and feet
a short neck, a ruddy visage. short gray
hair thinning away from the forehead,
and white moustache and imperial.
His head, without being larger than the
average. IS well-balanced and capaCious;
the forehead denotes quick observation
and humor: and the rather full setting
OF the eyes and the twinkle that abode
in them spoke OF love OF fun and readi-
ness of speech. Were l restricted TO two
words to describe him | should say he
was clever and jolly. Not being so con-
4l..t d tc 90 IL
cate good Judgment. spontaneous insight
into men and things, a quick temper,
modified by innate kindness, and by
knowledge of the world and human ma
ture: a faculty of synthesis, OF seeing
things i'm the mass. and certain impa-
thence Of mere detail.
Although / could not question the truth
of the Governors assertion that he could
tell me "all he knew in two minutes,
I am distrustfu Of my own capacity 10
assimilate so much information I'm so
short a time. But. after all, the nys-
terry of the governship was less ahstruse,
when YOU came right down TO II, than IL
appeared at a distance
,If I had known" Mr. Peck observed
In response to my solicitations, that
writing that book would have made me
Governor. l wouldn't have written IT,
But the idea didn't happen 70 occur 10
me-" ~.
"Perhaps." 1 suggested. at was not
entirely the book that did H.
Well" said he, lit was hrs,-iHig
advertisement. no doubt about that.
e,,,ass good many people saw those
articles. When l first began writing
them didn't expect they would turn
ont the way they did. II was just
notion that / thought would dc TO MI
a column or two, and started in on IT,
After a while I found the papers were
copying them. The ones thar weren {
copvlng them were abusing them which
was lust as good for me, and perhaps
better. SO I kept along"
insisted that there was, neverthe-
less. no apparent logical connection be-
tween the book and the governorship
well. you see I'm pretty well known
where I live" quoth Mr. Peck. We
lived there about all my life, though
was born in Jefferson county, New iorh,
and I had a paper over In Kansas before
started "Pecks Sun" But the peo-
pie round IN Wisconsin got TO kno" me
pretty we'll outside Of the book, ana
guess that may have had something 70
do with IT,"
and so you are a Jefferson county
manT
"They say all the statesmen come
from jefferson county" rejoined the Gov
ernor with chuckle. Il was born
there. anyhow; but 1 got out here pretty
young"
II had occurred TO me that possibly
Peck's Bad Boy was a reminiscence OF
the distinguished authors own child
hood; but when / gave an intimation OF
my conjecture, he shifted the RESPONSE
billty.
"I've got two boys" he said. 'and
either Of them might have been the
boy one Of them Is married now ana
has a child eight years old
you must have begun family life
| pretty early" | remarked, glanclng al
| his fresh and rudy face.
I'm fifty-two," he replied. ] made
a rapid mental calculation. Say the
boy was twenty-one when he married.
| Twentv-oue and nine are thirty. Thirty
| from hfty-two leaves twenty-five. Sup
posing the boy 20 have been the eldest
| OF the Governors children. he could not
have been more than twenty when ne
married. It was manifest, at all events,
| that marriage, ia his case, had not been
a failure. He bore about MN every
sign of being a fortunate man, IN DO
nestle as well as public affairs
Il used 70 hang about corner grocery
store when | was boy SAID /
'rV heller your Boy is a portrait or not
4ssss4asE.