The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-01-26
JEFFERSON DAVIS IN CONGRESS.
Re- "reminiscences of Stuart Robson,
Who Was a House Page at That

Time.
From the Washington Post.
Stuart Robson's personal representa-
tive, William Raymond Sill, yesterday
received the following letter from Mr..
Robson, which is not without interest
from a historical point of view. The
letter is dated Montgomery, Ala, Dec.
%, and is as follows:
MY Dear Sill: In various papers in
the South 1 have seen it printed that
1 have described Jefferson Davis as
small man, with a magnificent head
and shoulders and trunk, but with very
short legs. That is not correct, and
the reporter who first interviewed me
evidently confounded in his story, so
widely quoted, my description of Steph-
en- A. Douglas for that of Jefferson
Davis. Mr.. Douglas was a man of
splendid presence when seated. His
head was large and well formed and
his shoulders seemed to denote great
strength. 1 recall wildly my amaze
ment when 1 saw him arise from his
seat to reply to a speech of John c.
Calhoun. The man 1 had fancied a
giant was but pygmy physically, with
little, short legs that seemed to wab-
BILE as he walked. Jefferson Davis was
quite the opposite. He was tall, lean
almost cadaverouS. He wore blue Cog
giles and was serious in demeanor at
all times, while Douglas was one Of
those affectionate men who liked to
put him arm on your shoulder Of he
could reach that high) and talk about
anything save pending legislation. Yet
we pages swore by jeff Davis (every
one called him Jeff.
81 notice, too, that several papers
have spoken of me as a page in the
Senate with Mr.. German. That is not
correct. Mr.. German was in the SEN
ate, but was in the House. Although
Mr.. German was a playmate of mine
in Baltimore, l have not so vivid a
recollection of him as 1 have of some
of the other boys. 1 remember him as
a quiet, reserved sort of a chap. 1 re-
member, too, he took up a collection
among the boys for an old apple wo-
man who had a stand in the lower ro-
tunda of the Capitol. She had broken
her leg or something. Len Gray, a
fellow page, wouldn't give anything
German had words with him, and then
German walloped him we'll. Twenty
years thereafter I visited the Mary
land penitentiary, and there 1 saw
Gray serving out a life sentence for
murder and German was then a
United States senator from the state
of MARYLAND.
ut was Robert Toombs of Georgia,
who got me my pageship, though Clay
and Jefferson Davis helped him not a
little. 1 remember writing to Mr.
Davis and thanking him for his efforts
in my behalf, and still preserve as a
rich legacy, his reply:
My Dear Boy: Toombs did It.
but 1 am glad you appreciate a sup
posed favor. Be a good boy Ingrat-
itude is a vice which the vilest is in
capable of attributing to himself.
Jefferson Davis
after the war I met Mr.. Davis in
New Orleans. He said he had seen
me many times on the stage, but had
never dreamed 1 was the boy he had
made, through his influence and that
of Toombs and Clay, page in Con-
gress. The Sullivan-Ryan fight was
on the tapis at that time. l asked
Mr.. Davis if he proposed attending
Mr.. Davis. nudged his companion in
the ribs and said;
Are we going, General?'
"They both laughed and walked
away a few minutes later.
"'Who was that man with Mr.. Da-
vis?' l asked of the clerk Of the St.
Charles
HE looked at me in disgust, and then
replied
"'why, Beauregard. you IDIOT
Stuart Robson"