Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-11-18
The Personality Of John Sherman
By ThurStOn R. Porter,

the main events of our national his
tory of the last half century. Few
men of the present century can excel
him as a statesman, and fewer are
there who have possessed a truer
stamp of character His name has be-
come household word, and is held
in reverence by everybody.
He was born in Lancaster, Ohio,
May 10, 1928. His general education
was somewhat irregular and incom-
plete, but his law education was exact
and complete. He was admitted to the
bar at the age of twenty-one, and from
his early life he was a strong Whig.
He took an interest in politics but
never dreamed of running for Con-
gress. and said he had no desire to be-
come a member of that body
Of his early life Mr. Sherman has
said much. According to the usages
of the time" says Sherman, in his
RecollectiCns of Forty Years in the
House. Senate and Cabinet Il was put
early to the study Of Latin. must
confess that during my stay at Mt,
Vernon | was rather a troublesome
boy, frequently involved in controver-
sizes with the teachers, and sometimes
punished in the oldfashlCned way
with a ferrule and the switch.
Among my school adventures at Mt.
Vernon was one | heartily regret We
had a teacher by the name of Lord.
He was a small man and not able to
cope with several of the boys in the
school. C2r evening after
school four boys, of whom l was one,
while playing on the commons, found
a dead sheep. 1t was suggested that
we carry the sheep into the school
room and place it on Lords seat. This
was promptly done and | wrote a Lat
in couplet, purporting that this was a
very worthy sacrifice to very poor
Lord, and placed it on the head of the
sheep. The next morning Lord found
the sheep and made a great outcry
against the indignity. Efforts were at
once made to ascertain the actors in
this farce, and proof was soon Cb-
tanned. Ny handwriting disclosed my
part in the case, and the result was
prompt discharge OF the culprits from
the school"
In 1889 Sherman seems to have fall
len into very bad habits. He and
some other boys who were out of en-
plOyment, got into the habit of drink
ing poor wine, mostly made of diluted
whiskey and drugs He was frequent
ly intoxicated, and was cured of the
habit by his mother. On one occasion
in 1889 he went home very sick from
drinking. His mother received him
with kindness, but with much surprise
and sorrow. She put him to bed. and
watched and cared for him as only a
good mother can. Then came his time
to be sorry. He was not stupid
enough to be unconscious of the degra.
dation and her affection, and resolved
never to be in such a condition again.
From that day forth he was never un-
der the influence of liquor, and al
though he has taken liquor as medi-
cine, ard at dinners and banquets, yet
he was never so far gone that he
lacked his wits.
Like most prominent men, Sherman
idolized his mother. He remarked
that he has firm belief in the Bible
as the only creed of religious faith and
duty, and willingly accords to every
human being the right TO choose his
form Of worship according to his judg-
ment, but in case of doubt it is best to
follow the teachings of his mother"
His success as a lawyer was due to
the manner in which he handled his
cases, He always prepared his cases,
being possessed with all the facts of
the law and case 1t was rarely that
he attempted flights of oratory while
addressing jury, and when he did he
failed. After few failures in this
manner, he resolved that the best way
to influence a jury was by a plain,
straightforward argument, and he
ceased to use rhetoric in his speeches.
Through all his life he was thrifty.
He managed to lay up a few hundred
dollars from his legal practice in his
earlier life and in his later life he put
up goodly portion of his yearly in
come. Up to 1847 he had accumulat-
ed in property and money more than
ten thousand dollars. In Mansfield he
was associated with Jacob Emminger
in the manufacture of doors, blinds
and other building material. They
purchased pine lands in Michigan and
transported the lumber to their factory
Ill Mansfield. When he was appointed
Secretary of the Treasury, in March
1887 he sold out his interest and aban-
doned the practice of law. He was
very wealthy when he died, his estat 4
being valued at over $3,OOO,OOO. AL
though ne was worth millions, he
came by every cent of it honestly.
Sherman FIRST SsauJ XVahgtar {r "A, n