The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1895-12-14
FISHED AT BEAVER DAM A
An Interesting Story for Every
Youth to Study for His .
Own Advancement.
Early Struggles of Senator John
NJ. Thurston ON the Farm
and Elsewhere.
Won the Two Ambitions OF His Life
to Be a Lawyer and United
States Senator.
Won the Two Ambitions OF His Life

States Senator.
Gas a boy had two ambitions. One
was to be "a lawyer, and the other was to
be a member of the United States SEN
ate"
These we're the words of John NJ
Thurston, the man who takes General
Mandersons place at Washington this
week as the new senator from Nebraska.
! They were uttered last night during g,
long chat which I had with him at his
rooms at the Arlington Hotel. J had asked
him number of questions about his life
and he had told me how starting as 81
poor boy he had worked his way lir the
ladder of fame and fortune. lie is now,
you know one Of the most prominent
men Of the West For years he has been
legal income has run into the tens OF
thousands Of dollars a year, and he has
for years been the chief counsel OF the
Union Pacific Railroad His first ambi-
for the first time realized his second am
hilton, as the representative OF one OF oa1r
greatest states in the United States SEN
ate, writes Frank G. Carpenter from
Washington.
Before J. give you the story Of his life
as he told it to me let me describe his
looks. Picture to yourself a slender, stu
dious-looking mann Of about six feet. Lat
him be we'll dressed and we'll grooned.
His black silk hat is Of the latest block.
His Prince Albert coat was evidently cut
by a Broadway tailor, and his pantalopns
show a decided crease. His hair is as
black as his polished boots. 1t is cnt long,
and is comhed rather carefully across mis-
scalp above a high, full forehead, with
Just q si1spicion of badness. Let this
mani have eyes of the deepest blue and let
his long thin face be intellectual in Its
cast. Let his complexion: he dark ana
rosy, and let the face make you think
more OF a college professor than OF a great
lawyer and Of the chief representative OF
the politicians Of one OF the lvei1est ana
roughest states of the Union. and you
have a fairly good idea Of john M.
I'h1lrston, the new United States senator
from Nebraska. If you could chat with
him you would fnd him a man of 1nuch
personal magnetism. He has a gnelodious
voice and good. healthy laugh. He talks
freely and he tells good story. He is &
man Of ideas, and after he has passed
through the apprenticeship which the
older senators make all young senators
undergo before they are permitted 10 DO
much i'm the senate chamber, he will
probably show himself to be one OF the
abIest, and most influential men of that
body.
7 asked Senator T'bl1rstUn to tell nne
something about his ancestry and es-
pecialiy as to where the name Thur5ton
| came from.
He replied: 81 don't care mich about
genealogy. l think it is more important
to know what a man is than his ancestors
have. been AS for Thurston, the name Is
Scandina Wan. 1t originally meant Thofs-
ten, which, translated, is, | believe, the
sou Of Thor My ancestors came from
Scandinavia to England. They emigrated
T., America about 1886 in the little ship
Mary Anne ard the first Thurstons land
ed at Newburyport. Some Of the family
took part in the revolutionary war, and
they were, believe, very respectable peo~
ple. BY the time my father appeared on
the scene they had drifted as far west as
Vermont, and it was in that state that l
was born.
"Wha.t did your father do, senator?" l
asked
~He was a farmer as his father and
grandfather had been before him There
we're in fact> seven generations OF farm.
cr; in my line before my father tried to
make a living out of the poor Land on
the Vermont mountains. He added.
however, the tanning OF leather to the
til3ing of the soil, and in time he saved
few thousand dollars. This he took
with him and went West to invest it in
real estate and grow up with the country.
I was Just years old at tnetime we left
Vermont. We first settled in Madison,
Wis. and thence went to Beaver Dam,
where by series Of unsuccessful invest
nent my father lost all he had, 5#
'Where did you go to school, sen
ator?" .>
q had a hard time to get an educa-
tic1,,'' replied Senator Thurston. Y
went to the conlmon schools at Madison
and Beaver Dam, and afterward worked
my way through a small college in WIS
consin. The most of my schooling was
during the spring and fall. -ay sum-
n1srs and winters were devoted to work.
"What kind of work, SENATOR"
.4An kinds" was the reply. Il did
ANYTHING I could get to do. / worked
With my father OF the farm, and re-
member that / once made a lot OF money.
making fence. I got 10 cents 9 rod,
and have made as high as forty rods il1
day, which any fence maker Will tell
you is pretty good work. The fence
wss of boards. The posts had to 5bes
sunkerl into the ground and four boards
nailed onto tnen, and another board on
ton. The posts must be OF an even.
length and most of.Fthenl had to be
sawed off after they. were set. anade
considerable in this way, but the Chief
part Of my income came from hunting
and fishing, which ! carried on in the tstl'
winter" 8 s.,> ,5 B. .,.s .:.5
& .How could you fish in the winter ! ?''F IL
/ asked. s. ssssg .ftl:5 ~
1--WE dshed through the ice, 9 was the
reply. / There is q large lake laear the
town Of Beaver Dam, and at the time sL
Iyed there M was full of lsll:s Il,nr,T2 3T!2
dreds Of ton we're caught ever vinfer
and I* remsmbe ber one ssnilrte 5ssa
shipped 100 of7 fish Snaysel
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