Evening star., 1901-04-04
A THUMB-NAiL SKETCH
OF SENATOR HANNA WHEN HIS
DAYS WORK is DONE.
A Passing Incident Which Revived
Interesting "Reminiscences and
False Prophecies.

| There is only a handful of senators in
| town and one of the number is Senator
| Hanna. -
| He walks over to the Arlington from his
house on Lafayette Square almost every
| evening after dinner and this has been
! his custom all winter, sometimes with
cane when his rheumatic leg gave him an
extra twinge to ME good.
Attired in immaculate evening dress silk
hat and patent leather shoes, but with
as democratic an air as farmer and
| with an expression as good natured as
If he had just swallowed a dozen canaries.
he becomes at once the center of atten-
ton.
Many evenings during the winter in the
warm corner by the fireplace, he. together
with Senator Aldrich. of Rhode Island,
Senator Platt of Connecticut, Senator
Spooner of Wisconsin and other distin-
guished leaders of the republican party,
have formed groups of men of national
| fame, and in these discussions important
moves on the political chess board have
been planned, as well as many good
story told.
Appears to Enjoy Life.
There are few men 1 know either in
| private or public life" said well-known
Washington correspondent, as he watched
the senator and a friend whom he had
greeted by saying, informally, Hello; -
talk in that off f-hand-right-to o-the-point-and
no-circumiocution- -bush-beating way the
junior senator from Ohio has when he en-
cages in conversation, who appear to en-
joy life as much Senator Hanna. 1 have
been observing him quietly here all winter,
and he has formed an interesting study:
If he isn't a happy man at heart. and II
he doesn't enjoy life and take all that
coming or going In cheerful spirit. then
his features and general appearance belle
the man.
1T seems to me that 1t but yes
terday I was in the republican national
headquarters Madison Square, In New
York, when the report came in that 'Sena-
tor Hanna was going on the stump
"'What, Hanna on the stump? was
chorused, why, he will talk; he will say
something; it won't do. AS a manager, all
right, but as a speaker-Why, he Will say
somethingT
And he did say something.
"At the democratic headquarters across
the square joy unlimited flowed in streams,
and many were the smiles of congratula-
tion because Hanna was going to talk TO
the people, The democratic leaders said
ne would do them more good in twenty
four hours than a dozen spellbinders in
as many states.
foresight.
Result of "Saying SOmething.''
"If the senator, however, felt that he
| ought to say something, 1t was soon eVt-
dent that the people wished to hear what
he had to say. They had hazy Idea OF
the man. AS he afterward fecettously and
happily said, some people honestly believed
that he had horns and hoofs. If any en-
tertained this belief or the idea that he
would put his foot into 1t when he opened
his mouth, the deluSion was soon diSpelled.
He proved to be just the same as any other
man on the platform, except that he both
pleased and startled them by talking right
to the point. He called a spade spade,
and not a useful instrument of husbandry,
! Sa,1n TO Ind, in fIpo1r n
and In platitudeS so characteristic OF po-
| ltical speakers during campaign.
Il fancy that when Senator Hanna
emerged from the campaign and found
himself famous as a speaker and with a
popularity which extended from one ocean
to the other, he was as much surprised
as any one, and the campaign managers
on Madison avenue wished they had cam
| paigned' him earlier in the contest.
Tn going out TO Nebraska to beat
Bryan in his own state, and then I'm going
up into South Dakota to assist at the
funeral services of Pettigrew, he said to a
friend
Perhaps 1t Is the recollection of these
mortuary exercises which has made the
senator appear as happy this winter on his
strolls over the Arlington as If he had
eaten bird cage full of canarieS for din
Good Nature Flows From Deep
Springs.
I'm thumb-nail sketch Of man as We
see him in the lobby Of a hotel there is not
much latitude for the descriptive. But If
1 were to stick pick into the outcropping
which appears to be one Of his chief char
acteristics, I'd say It IS his apparent good
nature. 1t seems to flow continuously
from springs deep beneath his substantial
rounded waistband ! inferred from what
l had read concerning him, and the in
ference must prevail in other minds than
mine, that ne was decidedly gruff, with a
temper consisting principally Of an ad-
mixture of austerity with acidity.
Whatever he may be to his enemies and
to those who cross swords with him in po-
litical fights, toward those whom he greets
in the hotel, whether senator, correspond
ent or friend he has seemed to me to be a
combination of alertness and easy speech, |
and with an entire absence of Difference
but not Of politeness. Apparently, all men
are equal to him; and he is alike to all
men In that he evidently feels that he
knows and understands human nature, and
has arrived at that scene in the drama of
politics where he takes men for what they
really are rather than what they appear;
for what they really mean rather than
what they say, and for what they may
really do rather than what they believe
they may do.
PerfOrce Leader.
Naturally any man who has arrived at
this last act in the play of politics, who |
is leader among men, who knows his
own mind and grasps the hidden minds of
d
which inspires confidence In others and
enables him to size up his friends and en-
emies with degree of accurateness which |
makes deception or betrayal impossible
During the winter as l have lounged in |
the big easy chairs of the Arlington nearly |
every evening have heard many CONVEX
sations like this:
There Is Hanna
"'Where?'
lover there by the fireplace, looking this
way. See him.?
"'Oh, yes; why, so 1t is
And the speakers would rubber in his |
direction with the greatest interest
IF the senator were conscious of these |
moments when he was on exhibition he |
failed to indicate 1t, and l doubt If he |
were, used is he to the scrutiny of his |
fellows. Ladies, too, would take advantage |
of the moment as they passed through the |
Office to the drawing rooms. ! once heard !
one matron say to another:
He certainly looks good-natured, and |
not a bit like the pictures l have seen of |
him in the newspapers
THE group Of which the senator was one |
was at the time laughing over what must |