Evening star., 1899-12-02

writes well. He can turn out four or five
thousand words In an evening, and when
his manuscript is finished it Is ready for
the printer He did some writing while he
was Speaker. and his income has for years
Eecn increased by his literary receipts. He
has not attempted lecturing, although he
has received many offers to go on the plat
form. For one lecture which he gave In
Boston n" was paid $1,000, and this same
lecture he has repeated number of times
at 500 per night. He has written q great
many magazine articles, and his work of
this nature is 50 popular that he can COM
rand his own prices.
Mr.. Reeds Attainments.
lie will probably write a book some day
giving his "reminiscences of public men and
lis times. If so, It will have a large sale.
1t will certainly be well written Mr. Reed
is college-bred man and has no end of
Latin and Greek quotations at his COM
rand. He is also a French scholar his
Chief amusement being the reading of
fHshy French novels in the original but
he never let's his French Greek or Latin
get into his speeches aud considers plain
everyday English the best medium of
thought communication. Mr.. Reed has gen
orally been considered a lazy man. This is
a mistake. He has always been a hard
worker and a hard student. He mastered
the Fren"n languag" after he was forty.
His range Of historical reading is very
wide. but he is thoroughly abreast of the
literature Of today.
Speaking OF Reed ~ Il lawyer recalls a
story ! once heard to his admission to
The bar He was brought up. you know. for
"a minister. His father was Il New England
sailor. and ne wanted to have one preacher
in the family. Tom was selected to be
that one. He was sent to the High School.
,tpd finally hy means of some assistance
from the church admitted to college
TO study for the ministry. As he went on
with his studies he found that preaching
was not his mission. He went 10 the
church people and told them that he could
not go with his course at school upon
the existing understanding. but that he
would pay back the money which they had
given him soon us he could. He at rnCe
went to work and by teaching and doing
odd jobs was able t. keep himself at
school and at the same time 10 ray his
debts.
H:,v lie studied Law.
The moment hr gave up the idea of being
Il preacher he. decided to make the law his
life urofe--.un H. bought some law books
AND cramlr,d Blackstone while ne was
tending school After = time he had saved
enough to ltk,- him L" California and he
decided tu - .her,. to NJ k. his fortune As
soon as II. arrived IN The state he applied
for admission the bar, The examination
N:JN at Stockton. and the Judge who put him
through Ei- questions WAS a Wcii-knOWn
lawyer named Wallace. who aftCrward be
&
Reed in r,ldJine the story, says that his
examination consisted of only two ques-
tons The frSr was IS to whether he had
studied law. Young Reed replied that he
had The second question followed. 1t
was:
"Is the legnl tender act constitutional?'
''Ycs. sir: it undoubtedly is was the re-
THAT Is all right" saii Judge Wallace
''You may consider yourself admitted to
the bar. Anybody who can answer off
hand i great question like that upon which
50 MANY mighty minds are divided, ought
to be able - practice in any country
Reeds practice was not successful in
California At any rate he soon re
turned to Portland. and in 1854 became L
0aymaSt"r in the United States navy. He
held THIS position about a year and then
opened a law office In Portland. He soon
acquired q large practice. was elected to
the legislature, then To Congress. then
Speaker. and now he is back to the law
\ Great Contest.
The election nf Henderson will be a cut
and dried affair There will he no opposi-
tion TO speak Of. and he will be chosen
unanimously. I met a man last night who
was "ne IF tie candidates in what was per
hap= the greatest speakership contest of
our history This was Senator John sher-
man. I called upon him Al his house on
Franklin square and had chat with him
about the days of 1SI9 when Congress bal
l0ttd from the 18th Of Dece mber until the
last If January for a Speaker. There were
thirty-nine ballots and John Sherman,
then n young Representative of thirty
three. was throughout the whole the lead
ing candidate. He came at one time within
three votes of being elected, and on the
thirty-ninth ballot, seeing there was danger
Of the republicans failing to get the speak
ership he threw his vote to William Pen
nington Of New jersey, who was thereupon
chosen Speaker. The contest was a most
exciting one. Both north and south were
excited over the hanging of John Brown.
and party relations were stretched to their
utmost.
During the contest violent speeches were
made. Sherman's friends stuck to him
throughout the whole. and Thaddeus
Stevens said he would never change his
vote until the crack of doom. When at
last having changed 1t. he was asked how
he could break such a promise. he replied
Well the truth is. l really thought l
heard it cracking"
FRANK G. CARPENTER.