The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-05-30

"a
know of in real life? Per-
haps. Yet they do not do it
always. Not love story of them all
is more tender and attractive, more out
of the common, than the true romance
of James ]. Hill and Mary Michigan, his
wife.
It is common for biographers of the
great railroad president to slide over
that romance lightly. revealing only
glimpse of it. thinking mayhap it will
not have a good sound in that high life
which mankind assumes all rich Ameri-
cans aspire to enter. And here the BIZ
ographers go dead wrong. That ro-
nance is the bravest. brightest, sweet
est episode in the career of Jim Hill.
1t is more than an episode. 1t runs
through all the strong, steady current
of his life. If I have been successful
he said once in a public speech, ''it is
because have never had to fight fire
in the rear
Jim Hills love tale is exactly the sort
of story that touches and vibrates the
chord of romance which lives forever in
the hearts of alI-old boys and girls as
well young.
Conceal that story? Rather exalt 1t.
Linger with loving touch on this ro-
nance and lesson in one. 1t is credit
to Mr.. Hill's 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 weathers and checks
off freight passing to and from steam
ers. He frequently gets his feet mud
dy. Hills father, up in Canada, was
north of Ireland man; his mother was a
Dunbar descended from the royal Stu
arts of Scotland. The family in the old
country were, however, strong Protest
ants, and it was owing to troubles with
their Catholic neighbors at the time of
the Stuart rebellion that the ancestors
of Hill came to Canada. Hills family
in Canada were Presbyterians. and he
was Presbyterian in the blood. Why
I mention this you shall see.
He came to the States because Can
ada was not large enough to hold him.
In 1856 he settled as mud clerk in ST.
Paul He settled, but he did not settle
down. His knowledge of steamboat and
freight business enabled him to start a
coal and wood carrying. enterprise 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 a waitress in the
Merchants hotel, womanly dignity and
purity vibrating out from her and in
folding her like a garment. There was
no coarse chatting of Mary Michigan by
the boarders~ They knew better. She
was Irish, Catholic and beautiful, but
that she was a waitress the biographers
slur over. Why should they? The sto-
ry 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
20 and a mud clerk. The maid must be
educated up to the plane of King Co
phetua. Mary Michigan left the dining
room of the hotel and became a student
in a convent school, according to her
faith, though Hill was a Presbyterian.
She had a brilliant, acquisitive mind.
She entered the convent ignorant of the
lore of books, though she had learned
the more important lesson how to earn
an honest living and preserve her self
respect under trying circumstances
She came out of the convent a era-
eious, accomplished woman, one who
could hold her own socially with the
best. Beautiful she had been when she
went to the school. When she came
out. she and Mr.. Hill were married.
While she was at school Hill was not
wasting his time. A learned man one
day went into a bookstore in st. Paul
and saw upon the counter a pile of
heavy scientific volumes being wrapped
up for delivery. He picked them up
one after the other, looked at their til
ties and asked the dealer, who reads
these books2" "A mud clerk on the
levee of the name of Jim HILL" replied
the dealer
The young couple began housekeep-