The new age. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1902-190?, 1902-08-30
mR. BROWNS Lifts OF Dough as

'OiuAAes. such, for example.
are the Temple Biographies
beason Biographies" published nv
small Maynard & Company. and The
Riverside Biographical Series" issued
by Houghton, Miflin & COMPANY ana
now including fourteen subjects. The
thirteenth volume, just ready. is the
lie OF Stephen Arnold Douglas by vii.
nam CARROT Brown, whose life Of An.
drew jackson began the series
PROFESSIONALLY the popular success
Oh Mr.. Winston Churchilrs The Girls.
is mas awakened some interest in
douglas; but, as the French saw.
there is already "recrudence" of cur.
iosity regarding all the great men of
the past hundred years. And Douglas
was by no means a man to be real
ly forgotten. Mr.. Brown SAYS: in
1861 the curtain fell upon him still
resolute, vigorous. commanding. When
II rose again for another scene, he was
gone so completely that NOWADAYS II
is hard for us to understand what \
place he had. Three biographers writ.
ing near the time of his death were
mainly concerned to explain how he
came to be first in the minds of his
contemporaries. A biographer writing
now must try to explain why he has
been SO lightly esteemed by that pos
terity to which they confidently com.
mitted his fame"
Mr.. Brown attributes to the remark
able limitations OF the negro mimic
Blind Tom, large part of the little
fame he now has among the uniform
ed. He was a Vermont boy, but being
thrown on his own resources he wan
dered to Illinois and at the age Of
twenty-one was acknowledged the
leader of the Jackson party in Win
chester and vicinity. His first public
debate reused the greatest enthu-
siasm and became a democratic tradi-
ton. So phenomenally successful
was he, that he was elected by the
legislature public prosecutor or dis
trict attorney of the most important
judicial circuit of the state and in ri
valry with one of the foremost men of
Illinois. That was in February, 1885.
In December of the following year
he was elected a member of the legis-
lyature after a hard-fought contest
He was probably the smallest man,
certainly one of the youngest, ever
elected to such an important post. He
was only five feet tall and weighed
onl yabout a hundre pounds. Not
without the power of impressing men
with his dignity and seriousness of
purpose" says Mr.. Brown, 1--WE never
theless hear of him sitting on the knee
of an eminent judge during a recess of
the court, dancing from end to end of
a dinner table with the volatile
Shields and engaging &.
in personal encounters with
Stuart, Lincoln's athletic law partner,
and a corpulent attorney named Fran
cis."
In the August elections of 1888, he
stood for congress and missed election
by only five votes. For a time he
devoted himself to his law practice,
his shrewdness causing him to win
many difficult cases, though his knowl.
edge of law was illgrounded; but in
1912 he was appointed secretary Of
state by the governor, and a month
afterwards he was made a judge. His
decisions" says Mr.. Brown, have
seemed to competent critics to show
that he possessed unusual legal abil-
ity and grasp of principles, and
corresponding power of statement,
scant as his legal training was" In
1S43 he was elected to the United
States house of representatives. "Te
was but thirty years old, yet he had
held five important political oces, he
had risen to high rank in his profess
sion he was the leader of the dominant
party in a great state; and all this he
had done alone, unaided." Mr.. Brown
gives an extremely interesting and
candid account of Douglas as a de-
batter, and as the advocate and op-
ponent of state and national measures.
In 1S47 he was elected senator and
married the daughter of rich slave
holder. Fortunate investments in Chi
cago. then a growing young city, made
him thus early a man of large means.
Chicago University was founded on
land which he donated. On the first
day he too his seat he was appointed
chairman of the senate committee on
territories. mo other public man
ever ha so much to o with the organ
izing OF territories and the admitting
of states into the union Mr.. Brown
makes it evident what thOrough-go-
ing expansionist, what a consistent
American. Douglas was from first TO
last.
Mr.. Brown devotes the last half IT
-, -, - hi r,,bition for the Drgg-