Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-06-18
FER DICK BLAND.
r,any FARMER WHO MAY BE .eesloENTlAL CANDIDATE.

,,...aing About the Home Life of One ''',. s.,.ar,s Aposties-aIrs. Bland and the
 ,,,.oas-His Twenty-two Fears In cosxress'
 12land lives on a beautiful farm '311' sss sonth Of Lebanon, Mo. When at i14'. rica a week Mr. Bland may be t s;gine into Lebanon behind his ~ ,ssck pony, Mollie. When Mrs. 's.d End perhaps several of the chil- ..s,.' .'.. s.eonpany the apostle of silver the s;1v rig is scarcely more aristocratic E. nr Bland's riding nag. The ve- |e , a commodious rockaway, not ot S ssrv latest style, but made for com x It is drawn by one horse, Peter, ho X as fat and lazy as Molhe. But sss,. s a reliable old family horse and srs;a lies his worth. Peter was never ,osrn to shy or get gay and attempt to o',es mon q time Mir. Bland, perhaps aaference to public opinion, or that fbe Younger members of his family, ho have modern ideas, invested i'll an Ante carriage drawn by q bang up sn, hedizened with bright new har- ss with highly polished appurte- 'neps But they did not draw the fam earriage long. Soon after they had zzled the public gaze the team ran vav one day and the lives of Mrs. and and several little Blands were en- ncered. That settled it. Without the |ehfest hesitation the modern turnout ,s sold and Peter and the family rock ,av gere returned to favor.
 IDn bis farm Silver Dick" Bland kes his ease as becomes country gen man and dispenses hospitality in the od old southern style. If one calls on m fhese warm summer days, Mr. anf yill be found fixed for comfort, KS collar, necktie, cuffs and coat, and fh his vest unbuttoned. It must not supposed that MT. Bland presents q venly appearance. His shirt is i'm leulafe ill it's whiteness and his flow | beard conceals what otherwise might can appearance of undress. He looks, | aets, end Is, gentleman under all 4 esI salIcas, but he does not believe making a martyr of himself for fash lzss sake. He goes in for solid comfort. -lhout unnecessary frills. He occupies 3mfortable broad bottomed armchair, yat his ease, with legs crossed, and ws plug tobacco, which he cuts with aolknife.
 aar. Bland has six children, ranging aga from 20 to 31a years old. The est, Miss Frances Bland, was edu' Id d the Holy Cross seminary. i'll shington. Theodorie, youth of 19, student at the Christian Brothers Legein this city. Next come three Is. Ewing, George Vest (named i'll or of Senator Vest) and John, and baby, now 5 1s years old, is girl ginia
 lften MT. Bland piles in as many as
 family rockaway will hold of the ng Blands, and takes them into Leb, Il, or on visits to friends i'll the nty. He IS devoted to his family.
 'or 20 years the Bland family have ded on the farm near Lebanon. Ire all the statesman's children have b nreared. There his heart is at all es. The house is a plain two story brick, with d quaint portico in front
 \ Beautiful lawn shaded with fine -- maple trees, where Mrs. Bland en- alns her neighbors in the summer e and where at almost any time Q of the family may be seen from
 old Missouri state road, which
 es by it. All around are orchards
 fields of waving wheat and growing
 Nh. Bland's farm consists of some
 acres of excellent land. but he has 1I60 acres under cultivation. Sur ding it are 240 acres of virgin for.
 unnSaded by the woodsman's ax, re the trees wave in the summer Ezes, and the squirrel jumps and E, and where the whippoorwill and Eatydld sing their mournful songs yentide.
 ls one of the regrets of Mir. Bland
 lhs22 years i'll congress have pre- 'ed him from making the whole oi uoman blossom as the rose. He
 the farm has not been kept up as il ha haye been. But the cultivated
 sone large garden, and the true Tor nature has no regrets that 6 erpart has been left as nature made -St. Louis Post Dispatch.