St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-08-06

may remain over Sunday. You say
t'lat you want story out of me-some-
hing about how | became governor. !
10 not KNOW that | could furnish any
hing that wonld be of interest to the
public. L hardly know myself how |
became governor. 1t was one of those
'hings that happen sometimes. aud
which are mt liable to happen again.
However. If | get an opportunity to talk
with you. may be able to tell you what
little know III couple of minutes.
Yours very truly.
GEORGE w. PECK"
This communication came to hand on
the Saturday morning specified. and |
lost no time in putting OH my hat and
walking over to the fair grounds. 1t
was fine warm day and thousands of
people were scattered about every
where, and the pretty Wisconsin build
ing were full of Il presume) Wisconsin
folk, the broad veranda which surrounds
it was crowded, and the handsome hall
and rooms were full. This edifice, I'M
like many of the state buildings, con-
tains no exhibit of anything pertaining
to the state except its taste and its COM
fort; and the result is one of the most
attractive mansions OH the grounds. 1t
Is combination of or compromise be-
tween 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 a young
lady, resident of the state. They are
excellent pieces Of imaginative scuipt-
ure, and il would be difficult to praise
too highly the one representing the
shirt of WiscOnSln-a maiden leaning
against rock, with her left arm round
the neck of an eagle.
AS | did not know the governor by
sight, had recourse to young gentle
man writing at a table upstairs. Was
the governor in? Yes, he was; he had
been in all the morning. Would the
young gentleman kindly convey my
card to him? Yes. lie would, if | would
wait a little. / waited, and in a few
minutes l beheld my friend approach
ing, and beside him man of middle
age, with ala alert, capable look. whom
OWNED to be the parsonage of whom l
was in search.
The reason | OWNED him was that l
remembered to have heard that there
was personal resemblance between
him and Certain other gentleman of
my acquaintance. We shook hands and
sat down in the draught OF an open
window. which the governor seemed
not TO mind. He gave me that slightly
uneasy glance which expresses the emo
ton one feels when Surrenderlng him
self to the inqdisition of a stranger.
Physically lie is compact. brisk
figure of about five feet eight, with
good shoulders, weil-fOrmed hands and
feet, short neck, a ruddy vlsage, short
gray hair, thinning away from the fore
head, and q white muStache and i'm
perial. His head, without being larger
n nlot, "a nd
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 readiness of speech. Were | re-
tSricted to two words to describe him, L
should say he was clever and jolly. Not
being so confined, | will add that his
features indicate good Judgment. spOn-
taneouS insight into men and things, a
quick temper, modified by innate kind
ness, and by knowledge of the world
and of human nature; faculty OF SYN
thesis, of seeing things in the mass, and
a certain Impotence of mere detail.
Although l could not question the
truth of the governors assertion that he
could tell me ."all he knew in two min
utes," l an distrustful of my own
capacity to aSSimilate so much infOrlna-
ton in so short time, But, after all,
the mystery of the gOvernOrShip was
less abStruSe, when you came right
down to it, than it appeared at dis
lance
"If | had known" Mr.. Peck observed
in response to my solicitation, that
writing that book would have mace me
governor, [ wouldn't have written it.
But the idea didn't happen to occur to
me-"
Perhaps" | suggested, "it was not
entirely the book that did it,"
We'll" said he, ''it was first-rate
advertisement, no doubt about that.
guess good many people saw those
articles. When l first began writing
them l didn't expect they would turn
out the way they did. 1t was just a
notion that thought would do TO fill a
column or two, and | started i'll Oh ii.
After while found the papers were
copying them. The ones that weren't
copying them were abusing them. which
was just as good for me, and perhaps
better. So | kept along"
[ insisted that there was, neverthe
less. no apparent logical connection be-
tween the book and the governorshlp.
"WeIl, you see Pm pretty well known
where | live" ouo,h Mr.. Peck. "Tve
lived there about all my life, though l
was born in Jefferson county. New
York, and l hau paper over in Kansas
before [ started Peck's Sun. But the
people round i'll Wisconsin got to know
me pretty We'll outside of the book, and
| guess that may have had something OF
do with it,;
And 50 you are Jefferson county
map?"
They say all the statesmen come
from Jefferson county," rejoined the
governor with chuckle. II was born
there, anyhow; but 1 got out here
pretty young"