Waterbury Democrat., 1900-12-14
TRUE ID iilS PARTY.
One of the Greatest Incidents lD
 John Sherman's Career.
Sacrificed Ambition to Subdue Fac tionaI Insurrection in Republic an Ranhs-stories of Speak,
 CT Pennington.
Especial Washington Letter.l

VT TON. CHAMP CLARK, of Mis-
 ii souri, one of the most gifted
 and versatile statesmen ever sent to the national house ol repre- sentatives by any constituency, as well as one of the most honorable and a1- fectionately companionable ol men, Is writing a series of stories for prom nent Sunday newspapers, under lhe caution: "Cloal1 Room Tales" All of these stories are interesting, ana your correspondent is thereby lncite1 to tell q few stories before the brIi- liant and versatile Clark gets here, and does the scoop" act, by printing them ahead of the writer.
 The passing away of the great finan- cial authority, the greatest ot ono statesmen. John Sherman; the m"n who loved his fellowmcn. but whose manner was so lacking in personal magnetism that people said he twas cold and unapproachablc; the man who gave away many thousands ol dollars in charity to union soldiers, as the writer personally knows; the pass ing awuy of John sherman reminds me of q story which shows his true greatness better than anything that has ever been printed about him. It was told by the late Senator Harlan, of Iowa. Senator Harlan was one of the greatest men Iowa ever produced in national affairs; and, in early youth, your correSpOndeat 'Was led bv him into the educational pathway with gentle. loving kindness. Senator Harlan said, many years ago, and l made notes of it at the time:
 John sherman amazed me when he gave up the great office of speaker of the house of representatives. He did 1t voluntarily in the interest of his party. But it was not merely his eiv- ing up the great office that amazed ne It was the fact that he gave it up 70 one far lis inferior in every way l When Sam EaILlil was defea!cI he gave way to as great a man is him self. Carlisle, of Kentucky, was well worthy to take Randalls place. Ran dall could have had no such feelings as permeated the breast of John Sher' man. when he gave way to one "hc was wholly unfitted for the high off | cial position. Some of the disappoint ments of life are extremely hard tc bear; and one of the most supreme trials of greatness is to give way tc i those who are inferior, but who have 1 what is commonly called luck Be fore telling you what. Sherman sui i fered, let me say that Grants great l est trial in life must have been, when with full knowledge of his OWI i genius. he surrendered his command ! to the incompetent Halleclx. after the ] battle of Pittsburgh Landing: afteI ] he had won at Fort Henry, and after ! and Fort Donelson.
 1 But, let me tell you about Joh1
 Sherman's self-abnegation. At th' special session of the congress, il 1861. John Sherman was the caucu: nominee of his party for the speak ership There were many ballots i without a choice. Finally. as a mat
 ter of patriotism, John Sherman, en 1 titled to the office, withdrew ant 1 thereby made possible the election o 1 Pennington. of New Jersey. It mus
 have been hard for John Sherman |,
 do this. because Pennington was al
 old man, almost in his dotage. II
 was q good man. and had been
 strong man in his prime: but he wa
 utterly unfit to preside over tn
 house of representatives. while Joh1
 Sherman was easily the ablest man il
 the house.
 Speaker Pennington would hay
 been helpless in the presiding officer
 chair if it had not been for q young mai
 or rather d youth, named Thad Morri> : He had been page boy for five or si