Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-09
THINGS HEARD AND SEEN

There is a man who Is well known in
Washington, where he has occupied promi-
| nent official positions, although out of poll
| tics, he says, now. He is social favorite
and a few days ago mutual friend said to
| me that it was strange the brilliant jurist
and statesman had never married. I said
| nothing, for it could do no good but it took
| my mind back to the time l first met the
man whom every one delights to honor, and
| it is story with a moral somewhere that
I won't attempt to point out. He was a
| struggling law student then, and those who
knew him used to rid:cule his uncouth, gro
| tesque appearance, for he had been raised
| upon a rented farm and had neither money
| nor culture. There was one, however, who
recognized his brilliancy and she was the
belle of the town. Her face was beautiful
and her heart true, although her brain per-
haps as not strong as his.
They married, and it was very hard fer the
brides friends to congratulate her, they
| felt as though she was taking up a life of
hardship. She had little money, and with
1t the young man opened land office, but
chents were scarce. and in few months
| the wife had to take boarders in order to
earn a living. Then, in addition to that,
| she opened a dressmaking establishment
and worked night and day Then he was
nominated for judge by the minority party,
and none were more surprised than he when
| one OF those unexplainable political revolu-
tons resulted in his election. Upon the
bench aN1 subsequently in Congress he
showed himself possessed of unexpected tai
ent, and today he is revered for his intellect
HIS wife still lives, but she is with her par
ents in the little town where she was mar
RED and they rarely see each other. Her
beauty is gone, and the years of hard, l.nrc-
| lenting toll have untitled her for society
Ihey have grown apart and neither ever
mentions the other, although the marriage
ties have Lot been severed And so his
wonder brill
| mains single ~
In Northwest Washington, where the
most exclusive aristocracy live, is an in
teresting family, consisting, as the neigh.
bors suppose, of father and mother and tn 0
children, but there are three The head of
the household is dignified to a degree that
appears aussere. He is pl bud OF the patrl-
clan blood that flows in his veins if IL is
! proper to call blood patrician in democra tic
America. And yet how little his friends
know him. Could they see the self-possess-
ed man as he walks the floor at right
holding in his arms a son, now almost
grown, they could scarcely believe their
own vision. For years the boy has not had
more than the intelligence of a little child
He was not born SO. but a nervous disease
has Slapped the brain until it is gone. and
the heart of the father goes out toward
the helpless son as it does not toward any
one Is not asleep he goes to the boys room
and rocks and croors over him as he did
when the child was an infant:
1 was walking along the canal the other
day when my attention was attracted by
novel funeral procession. Four little boys,
the Oldest about ten years of age, and the
youngest a toddler of two or three sum-
mers, were crying as though their little
hearts were broken. The Oldest was draw
ing a small hand wagon. which contained
| bundle. Following this were the other
three boys in line. Each had upon his arm,
a strip of black calico. while the wagon
was decorated with the same material l
stopped them and asked what the matter
was. It's funeral, SIR said the Oldest
boy, "our little dog died yesterday" Then
lifting the little bundle from the wagon he
| threw 1t INTO the canal, and the four BROTH
ers put their arms around each other, gave
way to grief as real as any they will
ever know, for the dog was their playmate
and they loved him as they did each other.
back home. could see that there would
be but little play for them that day.
I learned by accident that one of the
street car conductors in Washington was
formerly known to me as member of the
state senate of Illinois. I hunted until 1
found him. and he begged SO hard not to
have the matter made known, as it would
| injure him in his old home, that promised,
and then he told me hts experiences, which
| could be made into a column or more of
very interesting reading. He came to
Washington soon after the Inauguration of
President Cleveland in 1899. Supplied with
strong letters of Endorsement. he first ap-
piled for consulate, believing that he
would enjoy foreign travel. Possessed of
a little money and a sangIfn. tempera-
n a frCt-claSS
made himself popular as he believed. with
every one supposed to have political in
| f1uence. 1t took several months for him to
realize that he was not going to obtain
| consulate, and then he concluded to accept a
position in one of the departments. The
only one obtainable was that of messenger.
But too many of his old friends visited the
department and he resigned, obtaining a
situation street car conductor. 1t took
several months to learn how to save any
thing out of his small wages, but now he
has nearly enough to buy suit of clothes
and return to Illinois. when he will resign
his conduo torship and open a law office at
his old home, trying to tell no more to his
friends than that he has had position in
Washington without going into particu-
lars.
was talking to a lawyer from Springfield,
| Ill. the other day, and he told me that the
grave Of .'Bilr' Herndon was to be oppro-
priately marked with neat stone, presented
by the bar. The story of Bill Herndon is a
| pathetic one. He was law partner of Abra-
ham Lincoln, and did not suffer very great
ly when compared with his illustrious asso-
ciate, so far as legal attachments were cen
cerned. AS result of his practice he ac-
| CURED competency, although not a large
fortune, and purchasing a farm, retired
| from the profession and devoted himself to
fancy farming. His attempts at this were
ludicrous. There was no crop about which
he did not possess some pet theory, which he
would argue out to his friends as being the
only philosophical way. While as rural
philosopher he was very able, as a farmer
| for profit he was SO complete failure that
| in few years he was without q dollar.
Then he tried to practice law again. but his
mind was not what it once was, and he
drank to excess. Then the once gifted iurist
went to the county almshouse, where he
died. Members of the bar gave him a re-
spectacle burial, but his grave has been
neglected. Now, 1 am informed, his mem
DRY will he perpetuated with a suitable tab
| let. for Herndon did much for the turis
prudence of Illinois. and was SO CLOSELY as
ISOLATED with Abraham Lincoln for MANY
years that the misfortunes and mistakes
OF his later years are obliterated and only
his successes remembered
The mention Of Senator Cullom for the