The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1900-03-08
An INTERESTING STORY
MENTS WHO WAS FORCED
TO TRAMP.
NO PLACE IN THE COMPETITIVE
WORLD FOR A SCHOLAR AND
PHILOSOPHER-RESC
BY A SOCIALIST.

and unusual history lately" said ex-
Mayor Bradford, of Helena, recently
| to representative of this paper at the
Butte. "He is fine product of the
| schools that is untitled for the hard
| struggle of life in practical fields, but is
endowed with mind so cultivated that
he is fitted for the. highest position in
the philosophical world. He is the
most completely educated man on clas-
steal and philosophical lines that !
ever met, yet he was tramp when he
entered Helena"
Il said he had a strange history.
He came to Helena short time ago and
wrote me letter asking for an inter-
view. The letter was so beautifully
| written that I answered it and told him
to call. Well, sir. when he called he
! was bundle of rags. His clothes were
in tatters. He was regular tramp in
appearances. But he used the most
astonishing language for tramp that
ever heard, and his story was most
interesting.
His name is Morry Saben, and he is
the son of a rich old farmer in North
Uxbridge, Mass. He is 80 years old and
he was at school all his life up to a year
ago. He first went to Harvard, then to
Heidelberg, Germany, and afterwards
to Oxford, England. He said that when
he finished school and returned home
from Europe year ago he fell out with
his father and his father turned him
off. His father was an uneducated man,
and expected him to have a practical
knowledge Of the world But he knew
nothing of practical things at all. His
father gave him few hundred dollars
when they parted, and he went to Chi
cago, thence to Minneapolis, and finally
out here looking for work His money
lasted until he got out to Montana. He
got his first work shoveling snow on the
railroad at Havre. There he met a
man l had helped last year, and the
man gave him my address. He had not
had anything to eat for two days when
he called on me, but instead of walk
ing into my Office, as most men would
have done, he had written and given
me chance to refuse to see him.
well, his story impressed me as true
at once, and the brilliance of his edu-
cation struck everybody. Mr.. Brown.
the Unitarian minister, met him at my
Office, and he and everybody else who
talked with him were astonished at his
classical knowledge. We provided for
him, and at meeting of the Shakes
peare club Mr.. Brown asked him to give
an address on Loves Labor Lost"
Without the least preparation in the
world he entertained the club for an
hour with an exhaustive discussion of
the play. At the ladies' club he dis
cussed the humor in Shakespeare's
work, and in both talks he showed the
most perfect knowledge of the poets
works. 1t was wonderful He is simply
a master Of the subject.
We'll, Mr.. Brown wrote East to in
quire about him, and we got letters
from his home and from friend of his.
a lawyer at st. Louis and both confirm
ed his story. The letter from North Tx
bridge was from the Unitarian min
lister there, and it spoke of him in the
highest terms. 1t also announced that
his father is dead, an event of which
he was ignorant. The letter from st.
Louis was of the same character, and
the man who wrote it said that Saben
should have the seat OF classical litera-
ture in Harvard or some great college.
He said that there Is not q man in Har-
ward who is his equal in philosophy and
literature. After hearing a sermon OF
Mr. Browns, in which the latter went
into history and literature for authori-
ties and instances, he took up the sub
ject in an extemporaneous talk and
went into it to depth that showed
learning that was simply enormous. He
quoted from Greek, Sanskrit and every
ancient authority ever heard of, and
his own knowledge is SO complete and
his thought so deep that it is difficult
to tell when he Is quoting others and
when he Is expressing himself. A B.
& M. engineer, who was educated at
Frieberg, met him one evening and kept
him up all night merely to hear him
talk.
well, the people of Helena are get
ting up lecture for him. They are all
interested, and they will sell a thousand
tickets to the lecture, probably. We
are going to find a position for him in
the public library, and have him d.
liver free lectures there in the evenings
on classical subjects. Also, we will try
to arrange it SO that he can lecture at
Butte and other towns of the state He
has magnificent voice, and to hear
him either talk or read Is a treat. He
is man Of force and thought as we'll
as education, as his head and face in
dictate, his forehead being very promi-
nent.
Il was very much interested to find
him Socialist-with his gifts and his
profound philosophical study and
learning. I am a socialist myself, you
know. He has apparently read every
thing written on the subject, and has
mastery Of the. doctrine in all its de-