The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-05-15
'COOL|DGE'S VIEW.
He Paints a Fine
Pen Picture Of
Senator Hoar.
A MAN OF COURAGE.
Grows Old Beautifully and
Loves Life Very
Much.

L. A. Coolidge, the well-known Wash
ington correspondent, has this to say
of Senator Hoar in the Savannah, Ga,
Morning News, of recent date
Senator George F. Hoar is a rare
character. He has strength, ripe Gull
ture, wit, incisiveness; he is wise and
subtle, yet at times ingenious as child;
he has had marked success as a poll
clan, but he cares little for politicians
| or their ways; he is a lawyer and a
man of affairs, a scholar and a class
icist; he has been almost continuously
before the public for half a century;
he has played a conspicuous part In
many great events, yet he is today as
| innocent of certain phases of politics
as though he has spent these fifty years
in his closet among his beloved books
"A man of courage, it has never trou-
bled him to be in minority-even in a
minority of one. He entered politics as
member of the free soil party when it
was little more than party name, ami
( now in the evening of his career, with
| in opposition to his party's most popu-
lar policy. When the A. P. A. was a
| dreaded force in politics, and others
/ held their tongues, he went out of his
way to publish letter denouncing the
order. When his state was defea ting
republican candidates for congress in
Arthur's administration, because they
| had voted for an obnoxious river and har-
Dor bill, he again went out of his way
70. Itch, Lat Il limo
| harbor appropriations on principle, and
! this bill in particular.
| Senator Hoar has a finer literary
| sense than almost any other man IL
| public life. His Bible and his Shaks-
pere and the classics are dear to him.
His taste runs in channels somewhat
out Of the common. That appeals to
| him especially which has the flavor anA
| the sweetness of the past. George Hel :
| bert, Izaak Walton, DR.. Donne are
among his familiars. He loves to ram
| BILE through the byways of literature.
| For him to visit England is delight.
| He is not much of collector of books.
| He has at home in Worcester four or
| five thousand volumes, fondly chosen,
| it is true, but containing few rare edi-
| tions or choice bindings. He takes
pleasure in gathering autographs and
| manuscripts of certain sorts. He has a
| fine collection of Webster manuscripts,
| and never let's anything relating to the
| expounder of the constitution escape
| him. He cherishes every reminder of
| his grandfather, Roger Sherman.
! Among his treasures is an old copy of
the Aitken Bible, which his GRANDPA
Their owned. The copy lacked few
| pages, and he supplied the lack from
another imperfect copy which he picked
up somewhere. He loves to fondle this
volume and tell how much money some
| body would like to pay for it, if it could
| only be bought. In Washington he has
| only a few books-just enough to en-
able him to do his work at home.
Senator Hoar lives in a boarding
| house in Washington. 1t is substan-
| tial old place on K street, and the
| family with whom he lives are Cubans.
| There are no others in the house besides
him and Mrs. Hoar. This is in fash
| ionable and convenient part of the
| town, but there is an old boarding
| house on an questionable street
| where the senator lived for years soon
after he came to Washington, which
| is more of home to him. 1t is kept
| by an Ohio woman whose single weak
ness in the senator's eyes was that she
could not bake New England brand
| of baked beans But she puts together
| a famous Goldfish ball, the only article
of diet of which he is inordinately fond.
AS regularly as Sunday morning comes
| the senator appears at his old boarding
! place for his breakfast of Goldfish balls.
| He never misses it. He sang praises
! of this goldfish ball in letter he wrote
when somebody charged him with be-
! ing a monopolist and a friend of the
| trusts.
| Senator Hoar's mind is always at
work When he has nothing else for
| it to do, he settles himself in a big Ii
| brary chair and reads. He is fond, too,
| of talking, and nothing pleases him
| more than to weave a chapter of re-
! "reminiscences with a congenial friend.
| His casual talk is full of literary and
historical allusion and of discriminating
| humor He very rarely writes with his
| own hand even the briefest of notes.
His penmanship is so illegible that
] there is really little of it in existence
aside from his countless signatures to
i letters.
He keeps a stenographer constantly
with him at his house and at his COM
mittee room; and he dictates intermit-
tently as the occasion arises, going
from one thing to another in a bewild-
ering way.
He reads two or three daily newspa-
pers carefully, and watches closely for
anything that is said of him, whether
in praise or denunciation. He keeps a
series of scrap books in which all these
things are carefully preserved, and his
future biographer will have ready al
hand an unbiased collection of con-
temporary opinion.
He loves the fields and the woods
He has a country place at Asnebum-
skit. just outside of Worcester where
he spends many days of the summer.
An eagle which hovers over this spot
he has come to regard as almost his
personal property. 1t was he who Sc
cured legislation for the protection OF
song birds from the Massachusetts
legislature.
Senator Hoar's traits have come down
to him from the sturdiest New Eng
land ancestors. He is the grandson of
Roger Sherman, who signed the de-
claration of independence. He is
proud of his ancestry, proud of his
state, and imbued with the traditions of
both.
He is one of those who grow old
gracefully. He is fond of alluding in
half jestful way to the passing years.
JOHN ]. O'MEARA DEAD.
John ]. O'Meara died at his home
Millbury street Saturday night. af-
! q