The herald., 1896-08-09
ThumbnaH Sketch
ae Tom Watson, Populisf

| physically an atom or q man. his frame is
small; he is meagre in flesh. and what there
is seems laid on grudgingly as If nature
hesitated to make the man at ALL The en-
tire individual won't weigh 120 pounds.
X. But slight though he be almost to the
Fpoint Of feeble. Watson has the vivacity
Eand heat of fire. No one in Georgia can
cope with him before a crowd. unless it is
Crisp. whom he bitterly hates. Watsons
face is smooth; no mustache. no beard.
| Watson has eyes Of gray, with yellow
hair-long this last. and of the sort that
hangs in straight locks and faunts defiance.
| 1t is divided we'll over on the left side, this
hair, and combed smoothly back and over
| without any flourish or effect toward the
beautiful. AS he talks. Watson has Dan
tonian trick of gesture and whirls his arms,
sways his small body, tosses his head like
| racer. This sets a lock of hair to wav-
ing, and hanging low across his forehead
it takes part in his disputes, and fall
| Ing and floating like pony name punctu-
ates his periods with loppy emphasis Ever
| and again as he talks, his thin, nervous
right hand will recover this disputatious
.forelock and with one motion furl it
Fsmoothly away back of his ear where 1t is
| prisoner. however, only moment.
Watson's face is fine and sensitive; a
rather bony face hungry and drawn with
The reading of many books. His forehead
is broad, but retreating; and gives one the
| impression that Watson sees more things
then he thinks. This is true. Watson is
not so much an originator as a perceiver.
| He sees things, he reads things he hears
things; he is not so apt to think them.
Consistent with these latter attributes, is
the hawkish tendency OF Watson. His face.
of the hatchet, beakish kind. and has de-
| cidedly falcon effect. And that's what
phy@wihich / much misdoubt-that' $ what
Watson was.-a falcon. He has the shrill
Fraspy voice: tho power of strong, high
Aeraf f1a mi lon he toll ha hnn O M
withal the swoop of the hawk. He thinks
Aercely, too. and while Watson may have
others, one may. be sure BY beak. or claw
he'll set the subject bleeding before he's
When Watson was in the house few men
cared for contest with him. He fears no
| one. His record is pure. his character with
Soub to the pont of
| work, with an indomitable bent to labor and
dig, ok-fed to degree. Watson is always
his subject. He has. moreover. a lancet-like
incisiveness that cuts. And If interfered
Watson can taR er IKE the thrust Of So%e
knife: his rhetoric stabs. For all these rea-
sons most members preferred to give the
a wide berth in debate. They got no vic
tory. no honor and only wounds from colis-
lon with him.
Watson dresses well. but not nodishly.
His garb is not new.fashioned. But he has
all of cats scrupes to be neat. He has
|
struggle with him. His sense of honor is
not only high, but acute. and he is painfully
| faithful to principle friend. AS you
look at him you realize after bit that
Watson is one who would ride on a tumbr;l
and give his head to the guilotine for a
| conviction. When the north produces
John Brown. the south puts forth Wat
son. They are alike to their regions. Yet
Watson has no tact. no talent. for per-
Tss qna lseny whe
of his environment. believes in the duello
and the personal responsibility of men for
erai very satisfactory holes in a fellow at
torney who invaded his sensibilities as they
When Watson came to congress in De-
cember 1891, one or two thought to bully
him. Livingston, giant, physically, was
and the trouble arose out of Watson's re-
fusal to support Crisp for speaker. Iiv-
ingston used language tinctured rather
The latter to use cant phrase, called
the big Georgian with such verve and
hm agan Prompt to9t to
affront Watson is on his part a man of
singular genteness and care ,s,3 for What What
any more than he'll brook outrage from
them
Alabama, in his book. and made that slow
statesman famous for his unsteady inquiry
offered on the floor of the house, ''Mr.
: Wheeler and others Of Alabama had cast
, the first stone. Cobb was not at all grace
full on the occasion adverted to: It was
D during the debate on the report to unseat
Rockwell. of Elmra-Hill's man-and put
e a Republican, Noyes. in his place. This
9 Cleveland, as a move against Hill at a
d time when both were candidates for the
:, presidency. Cobb was on the Hill side o. O.
e to. say vacuous, in debate. he suddenly
d rolled his eye on the speaker, and after
audted dsedR Mr speake where sm
Watson had it in his book two weeks
: later, and it created a good deal @ of heat IN
: a house strongly Democratic. The Demo
= Gratis attempted censure or some other
4 form of house torture. and in the debate
n ali over them. He fought the majority to a
Z standstfll and eyinced such thirsty
$ ferocity for it all that his assailants wers
h sense. who Inadvertently have caught a
r Tartar. :. ot noor roor. for his 70.
: gio,a he is rich. He has farms which pay
: q law practice which pays and paper
o which does not lose much. ne
: held a seat only in. the Fifty-second con.
II gress. He has been candidate who failed
d twice since then:
Watson is self-made-every splinter, q
+ as he was at the time the war wrecked
e Watson's early prospects and al there i
IS he is a better American and better mar
3 than either Hobart or Mckinley. thinks
~ less of himself and more or the people ans
e a syndicate could no more buy Watson o'
own Watson than 1t could buy or own Z
r star No Hannas go with the horoscopes
ri of such as Watson. Between us, the Popu
q i;st nominee for vice-president is the sor
=. of person one would not hesitate to nam'
|, as executor of an estate. One would fee
J. reasonably sure as one dreamed In hi
h grave that his widow and orphans wer'
n getting their dues; One might 60 Ions
n summers day and meet no better man
u aid of Thoreau-it exactly states case
l. in response to an inquiry: while we low
I. Thoreau, we don't like him.-A. II. L., il
y New York Journal.
:, She viii Never Understand
sr "Hes a chump" said the high schoo
IL boy scornfuly.