The morning call., 1893-07-16

strong nose and a firm mouth. He is
smooth shaven. and his dress shows that
he keeps a good tailor There are no
fvils and furbeows about him, and he i'm
pressed me as a man physically and In
tellectually sound.
Secretary Smith is one Of the hardest
workers we have had in the Cabinet or
~ 1T him at the Gs,.ar:ment, and am
d that he spends twice as many hours
there as any of his clerks. He gets to the
In Dlsrior Department about o'clock in the
morning, and works away steadily until 3
or in the evening. After dinner he
comes back and his light is often burning
in his Office unit after midnight. Dur
ing my talk with him l no ed no
signs Of overwork on his features, and
I asked him how he managed TO keep In
such good condition and put in SO many
hours. He replied that he did nnt think
that work would hurt any man, and that
he had learned to work without worry.
Said he: Il do my best thin king about
matter when il is before NE. | try TO look
upon all sides of it, and when l have
passed upon it it is settled for good as far
as | am concerned. | think that worry is
largely matter of habit and that concern
tration of Dind can be acquired by train
ing. | never let anything outside Of the
matter at issue bother me- If anything
L
ing note of IL | have fixed time very
day for thinking over the little things that
| ought to do, a d at this time iot them
down. | have trained myself so that | can
go tosleep as soon as | go TO bed. [ never
talk or read in bed and | don't think ex-
cept when | am sitting or standing up. If
my mind seems to run on any one subject
l dismiss it, and the result is l am never
troubled with insomnia. | have worked
right along on legal cases until 3 o'clock
in the morning and then turned in and
slept like baby"
The conversation here turned to law, and
Mr.. Smith spoke very modestly OF himself
as lawyer, saving that be liked the prac-
tice and that be would 90 back TO il as soon
as the present administration WAS over.
He is, you know, one of the ablest lawyers
of the United States, and an Intimate
friend of his told me the other day that his
fees from the law during the past year had
footed up Just about $4,000. he IS tnor-
0ughly grounded in the law, and he has
one of the finest private law libraries in
the United States. His study has been of
the law, not of cases. and he keeps adding
TO his lsgal knowledge by constant applI-
cation. Not long ago he took fancy
to the decisions of Judge Cooley or Mich-
gan and bought all OF the Michigan State
reports In order that he might read these
decisions He annotates his books while
case came up III the Georgia courts and he
was called upon to plead. He had only a
few ours for preparation, and he sur
prlsed every one by his mastery OF the case
In hand. He gave reference after refer
ence to decisions bearing on the subject,
and the court gazed with open mouth o q
what Ii considered an effort of memory.
As he left the court for his office his
brother, who is also good lawyer, asked
him how he was able TO lrepare such a
case in so little time. He replied that he
had just been reading equity cases aud that
hi notes just fitted into this case.
Mr. Smiths early law practice was full
of incident. There was nothing of the
coward about him. and though every inch
of his six feet two is made UP of good
breeding he has shown himself TO be a
brave man. Said one of his friends yes
terday: "Hoke Smith was the first LAWYER
to fight the gamblers of Atlanta. 1t was
when he was 22. when his blood was
hotter than it is now, that he was called
upon to prosecute gambler for shooting
man in the back. The cause was the
improper relations between the mur-
dered man and the gamblers wife. and
Hoke Smith sent the gambler to the peni-
tentiary for life. There were number
of the gambler friends in the courtroom.
and they were all looked upon as dan.
Rerous men. Mr.. Smith defed them. He
toiu .heih luaI tUey Weie SCI vi
scoundreIs, towards and bullies, who went
about shooting men In the back whom they
were afraid to fight face to face. He told
them that he supposed they would AT
tempt 10 shoot him in the back ii he had
not his lace turned toward them. The re-
suit OF this plea was such that this unusual
verdict was given. Alter the case was
over it was currently reported about
Atlanta that these gamblers said they
would shoot Hoke Smith on sight. That
night he concluded to give them chance.
He WAS wearing a sack coat and he put
two pistols in mis- coat pockets and walked
down to Cbsholm's saloon, which was
their chief resort, and ordered at the bar