The morning call., 1894-03-25

ing when the man has for thirty-eght
years been at the head of affairs of great
nation, and it is most interesting when the
man has so decided mental Individuality
as John Sherman OF Ohio. You can get
some idea of him by a pep into his work
shop. He lives, you know, 10 his new
white stone mansion facing franklin
square. His house stands on the site of
the old brick which he built when this
famous park was little more than COW
pasture. and when he was still poor
member of Congress.
The Senator's library, on the first floor,
is. judge, at LEAST % feet long and about
20 ieet in width. 1t is walled with books
and it represents the accumulation of
lifetime. Senator Sherman has been a
book buYer from his tOyhond. He once
told me that he began to buy books when
he was boy of IA. carrying a rod and
chain IN a surveying party on the Muskin-
gum Canal. He has now, all told, about
$4,000 volumes. and among these are many
fine editions.
great vault where his private papers are
kept, and here is kept the correspondence
of his lifetime. He has been keeping bis
letters since he was 10, aud everything of
value has been saved. This vault is packed
full OF unwrltten history, and there is
scarcely prominent man in the world to-
day who has not written something that is
treasured in its collection. Among others
there are about score of volumes of auto
graphs, each as big aS dictionary, and
these contain personal letters from all sorts
of distinguished teople. The Senator's
acquaintance has been very wide, and his
friendships embrac ce The prominent mel oi
nearly every country, and they have ex-
tended over more than generation. The
most OF these letters will never be pub
llshed. A number of them are personal
and private. and some of the most inter-
n fo flu
Those between him and his brother have
been partially pub ished. They covered,
you know, the time from General Shrr-
mans entrance 10 West Point to that of
his death, and they were gwen by the Sem
atur to the generals family shortly after
that. They form most valuable addition
10 the history of this country and have
added 10 the reputation of Sherman the
statesman as we'll as Sherman the general.
1t is in this library that John Sherman
receives his friends. You may fud him at
nome aimC st any evening, and there is no
red tape in getting to him. He is a charm
ing conversationaist, can talk re-tingly
Oh almost any subject and is not backward
in saying what he thinks. AS you sit with
him In this room, surr0 0unded by his hooks,
you would imagine him more of a leisureiy
student than hard-working statesman,
and for the time you would be right. The
real work OF his day is not done on this
floor He has 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 la Dor
of his life. He has similar den at Mans
fell, Ohio. and it is in these rooms that the
ord nary caller seldom gues.
1t is here tHat his scrapbooks are kept
and here you iDd many ut the books
which would be out Of place on the ground
floor. This workshop of Senator Sherman
Is hung with the photographs of the
famous sta tesmen with whom be has been
associated. President Hayes. Chief
Justice Chase and other great Ohioans
look down upon you from these walls.
Bookcases stand under these and Govern
ment reports aud financial authorities
stare at you from every side. One set of
shelves is filled with books labeled
Speeches in Congress." There are a
score and more OF these, anc each of the
books Is as large as family Bible or the
largest ledger you have ever seen. These
are scrapbooks in which are pasted the
speeches and addresses which Senator
Sherman has delivered during the last
thirty-eight years. They are bound in
green leather and are made of heavy ma
nilla naper. The speeches are pasted only
on one side of the page, and they include
10 all thousands OF pages of closely printed
matter.
Here in volume first is John Sherman's
first sreech in Congress, delivered when
Frank Pierce was President and as | look
al II remember story which the Sena-
tor told me about it. He said: "It was
IN the Kansas n braskn debate. and
number of other young Congressman had
just made heir first speeches. l sat next
10 an old Congressman named Day. who
rather desDised sophomuric oratory. He
was slightly deaf, and he would listen to
these young men with his hand at his ear.
md the moment one of them had finished
he would say with gruni of satisfaction,
Another dead cock in the pitt At last l
saw where l thought 1 Gould make good
ooint. / jumped 10 my feet, got the
Speakers eye. and said my say. When
vas through [ sat down beside the old
man and said. Here is another dead cock