The Portland daily press., 1894-03-29
A SENATOR'S BOOKS.
John Sherman's Workshop and His
Collection of Scraps.

Some of His Favorite AUTHORSHIP Likes
Novels and Studies the Classics-Some
Instances of His Nerve.
IF. G. Carpenter in Washington Start
I spent an evening recently in looking
over the''scrap books, of a United States
Senator. In them I found large part
of the history of the United States for
the last thirty weight years. They covered
the whole of the exciting six years be-
fore the,war. They embraced speeches,
interviews and stories gathered at Wash
ington at the time ofs.the great rebellion.
They covered the days of reconstruction,
and coming on down told the story of
one noted mans life as it ran in and
out, affecting the leading events of our
history from that time to this They
were the scrap books OF Senator John
Sherman, member of Congress, Senator
of the United States, Secretary of the
Treasury, presidential candidate and
famous financier.
Senator Sherman's New House.
1t is interesting to study the intellec-
tua1 life of public man. 1t is more in
teresting when the man has for thirty
eight years been at the head of affairs OF
a great nation, and it is most interest
ing when the man has so decided mem
tai individuality as John Sherman OF
Ohio. You can get some idea of him
by a peep into his workshop. He lives
you know. IN his new, white stone man
sion facing Franklin Square.
The Senator's library on the first floor
is, l Judge, at least twenty-five feet long
and about twenty feet in width. 1t is
walled with books, and it represents the
accumulation of lifetime. Senator
Sherman has been a book buyer from
his boyhood. He once told me that ne
began to buy books when he was a boy
of fourteen, carrying rod and cnalnsln
surveying party on the MusklngIm
canal. He has now, all told, ABOUT la,Uoo
volumes, and among these are many hDe
editions. He likes good type, good paper
and good binding, and his books EN-
brace nearly every branch of literature.
All of the famous novelists have places
on his shelves, and he finds part of
his intellectual rest in novel reading.
He is fond of Dickens and Scott, and
he keeps himself thoroughly versed in
the magazine literature of the day. He
large part of his cases are filled with
scientific works. He is up in biology
and astronomy, and one of the last
books he has read is the "New Astrono-
my ;" by Prof. Langley, the head of the
Smithsonian Institution. He is reader
of French and German, as we'll as Eng
lish, ssand among hisssvolumes I noted the
library.of financial -authorities is large,
and he has everything worth owning
which rela'es to the history of this
country. In thesback of the library there
is a.great vault, where his private papers
are Kept, and here is now packed away
the correspondence of his lifetime. He
has been keeping his letters since he was
fifteen. and everything of value has been
saved. This vault is packed full of I'M
written history, and there is scarcely a
prominent man in-the world today who
has notswritten something that is treas
ured in it's collection. Among others
there are about score of volumes of
autographs, each as big as dictionary.
ard these contain personal letters from
all sorts of distinguished people. The
Senator's acquaintance has been very
wide, and his friendships embrace the
prominent men of nearly every country,
and they have extended over more than
a generation. The most of these letters
will never be published. number of
them are personal and private, sand some
of the most interesting relate to theSena-
tor and his family. Those between MIN
and his brother have been partially pub
lished. They covered, you know, the
time from Gen. .Sherman's entrance to
West Point to that OF his death, and they
were given by the Senator to the gen
erals family shortly after that. They
form most valuable addition to the
history of this country. and have added
to the reputation of Sherman the states.
man as we'll as Sherman the general.
A Senator's Workshop.
1t is in this library that John Sher-
man receives his friends. You may find
him at home almost any evening, and
there is no red tape in getting to him.
He is charming aconversationalist, can
alks.interestingly on almost any subject,
and is not backward in saying what he
thinks. AS you sit with him in this
room, surrounded by his books, you
would imagine him more of a leisurely
student than a Woodworking statesman,
aud for the time you would be right.
The real work of his day is not done on
this floor. He has a workshop bigger
than his library at the head OF. the stairs
and it is in this that he writes his
speeches, dictates his letters and does
the really hard labor of his life. He has
a similar den atssMansfeld, Ohio, and it
is in these rooms.that he,ordinary caller
seldom goes 1t is here that his scrap
books are kept, and here you find any of
the books which would be out of place
on the ground floor. This workshop of
Senator Sherman is hung with the photo
graphs of the famous statesmen with
whom he has been associated. President
Hayes, Chief Justice Chase and other
great Ohioans look down upon you
from these walls. Book cases stand un-
der these, and government reports and
financial authorities stare at you from
every side. One set of shelves. is filled
with books labelled Speeches in Con-
gress." There are score and more Of
these and each OF. the books is as large
YOU have ever seen. These are scrap
books in which are pasted the .spheches
and addresses which Senator Sherman
has delivered during the last thirty-eight
and are made of heavy MANILA paper.
The speeches are pasted only on one. side
of the page, and they include, in ali,