Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-09-02
THE LOVE ROMANCE OF JAMES
J. HILL.

! Are we so fond of reading novels be-
cause they depict a true and more
nearly perfect love passion than any
thing we know Of in real life? Yet
| they do not do it always. Not love
story of them all is more tender and at
tractive, more out of the common, than
the true romance of James ]. Hill and
! Mary Michigan, his wife,
/ 1t is common for biographers of the
great railroad president to slide over
that romance lightly, revealing only a
glimpse of it, thinking mayhap it will
not have good sound in that high life
which mankind assumes all rich Ameri-
cans aspire to enter. And here the
biographers go dead wrong. That
i romance is the bravest, brightest,
! sweetest episode in the career of Jim
Hill. 1t is more then an episode. 1t
! runs through all the strong, steady
current of his life. IF have been sue
cessful, he said once in public speech,
''it is because have never had to fight
a fire in the rear
= 4Jl I'LL Hill love idle Is OAdCl1y Lie
sort of story that touches and vibrates
the chord of romance which lives for
ever in the hearts of all-old boys and
girls as we'll as young.
Conceal the story? Rather exalt it.
Linger with loving touch on this
romance and lesson. 1t is credit to
Mr.. Hills moral nature, and it shows
no less than his long-headed railroad
! schemes do his sagacity in building for
the future. And here it is:
Hill was mud clerk on the st. Paul
levee. The mud clerk, in steamboat
lingo, is the young man who stands at
the landings in all wea&hers and
checks off freights passing to and from
steamers. He frequently gets his feet
muddy Hills father up in Canada,
was north of Ireland man; his mother
was a Dunbar, descended from the
royal Stuarts of Scotland The family
in the old country were, however,
strong Professionals, and it was owing
to troubles with their Catholic neigh
bors at the time Of the Stuart rebellion
| that the ancestors of Hill came to
Canada. Hills family in Canada were
Presbyterians, and he was a Presby-
terrain in the blood. Why I mention
this you shall see.
He came to the states because
Canada was not large enough to hold
him. In 1856 he settled as mud clerk
in st. Paul. He settled, but did not
settle down. His knowledge of steam
boat and freight business enabled him
to start coal and wood carrying enter
prise. He lived meanwhile at a house
called the Merchants Hotel, and here
he met sweet Mary Michigan. Some
say she was scrubbing the front steps
the first time he saw her. She was
waitress in the Merchants hotel
Womanly dignity and purity vibrating
out from her and Unfolding her like
garment There was no coarse chaff-
ing of Mary Michigan by the boarders.
They knew better. She was Irish,
Catholic and beautiful, but that she
was waitress the biographers slur
| over. Why should they? The story
shows what men and women may be
and do in, the United States.
Young Hill was powerfully attracted
| to the girl. But he knew already that
he was to be a millionaire and a great
man, although he was only a little past
| twenty and a mud clerk The maid
must be educated up to the plane of
King Cophetua. Mary Michigan left
the dining room of the hotel and be-
came student in a convent school,
according to her faith, though Hill was
a Presbyterian. She had brilliant,
acquisitive mind. She entered the
convent ignorant of the lore of books,
though she had learned the more i'm
portant lesson how to earn an honest
living and preserve her self-respect
under trying circumstances.
She came out of the convent gra-
cious accomplished woman, one who
could hold her own socially with the
best. Beautiful had she been when
she went to the school. When she
came out, she and Mr.. Hill were mar
ried. 4
While she was at-school Hill was not
wasting his time. A learned man one