Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-12-13
BY A MAINE GIRL
a Clever Sketch Of the Late
Speaker Reed.
Pen Picture BY Daughter Of Con-
gresham BouteIIe.
...r 49, q isa 81 ~ So 81
Ths Crest etatssmsn % He impressed
Young Girl.

II Miss Grace Hodsdon Boutelle OF
Bangor, daughter of the late Congress
man Boutelle, has an interesting ar
ticle on The Mr.. Reed Knew" in the
IN Boston Transcript which we publish
below. Miss Boutelle is one of Names
most clever and promising young writ
i ers. her verses and articles often an
| pearing in the best magazines, and she
has recently accepted permanent DO
/ sitfon on the staff of the TRANSCRIPT
or the late Speaker Reed she writes as
4 follows:
Il Not only does Mr.. Reeds death fiji
the entire country with sense of Bit
/ ter loss but 10 the universal sorrow is
added the shock of. a terrible surprise
| among those of us who knew him best:
for the fact of his death seems an in
congruous myth. impossible to asso-
ciate with an individuality so strongly
and buoyantly alive. The last of the
Great Four" has gone--that Maine
delegation which was long a power in
Congress, and although Mr.. Reed had
withdraMn from public life at WASH
lngton some years before his death,
Congress felt and would always feel
during his lifetime that he belonged to
IL still by right of the indelible imprint
ne mad left upon it's parliamentary pro-
cedure. Unofficial Washington still
claimed him. too, keenly appreciative
of the unique brilliance which made
his compaHionship constant delight.
1t was not his way to save his best for
those he knew least, but the inner cir
Gle of his friends realized, as no one
| outside possibly could, the breadth of
interest and the delicious whimsicality
which made him inimitable. 1t was
an individuality so marked that no one
could be Indifferent to it; one must be
| either strongly attracted or strongly
repealed by it. l can remember how
irresistibly it drew me toward him the
| first time we met.
We had just come to Washington
| and were living in the same hotel with
him. His small daughter had been
spending the afternoon with my little
! sisters, and being smitten with a sud-
den homesick pang, for her mother, an
| nounced that she did not care to stay
| any longer. AS l was about to take
| her upstairs, there was a knock at the
| door and Immediately there entered the
| largest man had ever seen. His
| height dwarfed the room, the breadth
| of his shoulders quite took my breath
away, but as looked up, very high up,
at his face, 1 knew at once that l liked
| him, for his keen eyes had the kind
| Hest twinkle in the world, and through
the smooth, placid roundness of his
face there radiated something compel
/ ling. which l was not old enough to
1 Il til
later for the tremendous forcefulness
of an indomitable will, and the power
of a. remarkable mind. His little girl
ran up to him. and Juggling at his great
hand with both her tiny ones reiterated
her request to go home right away.
He looked down at her quizzically, and
drawled, In few years, my daughter.
when you put on long skirts and do
your hair up, you won't put things ex-
actly that way. Society discourages
these direct methods. The intention
Twill be the same, but not so obvious.
| my dear-not so obvious" With this
he suddenly pulled his face down to a
respectful gravity, made bow so pro-
found that 1 felt he was according me
the honors of full Pledged young-lady-
hood, the more especially when-joy of
Joys! he addressed me as Miss Bou-
telle..'' = -
During that winter the. three little
people were much together. and gave
an endless succession of midget par
ties, Midgets, l will explain for the
| benefit of the uninitiated. are very tiny
| child dolls. whose demands upon their
small mothers are in inverse ratio TO
their size: For, there being no furni-
ture small enough for them in any toy
shop. their solicitous parents nave TO
fashion not only their wardrobes, out
innumerable chairs, tables. pictures
and bric-a -brac. the midgets requiring
| most deliberately appointed establish
ment. Late one afternoon the midgets
| were drawn up in social array around
la table so small as to be almost IN
| visible. but having, nevertheless, It's
complete quota of cups. saucers anc
| plates AS the feast was about TO De-
gin. Mr.. Reed and my father came II
| the door, having come down from Con-
| gross somewhat earlier than usual
They were greeted with shrieks OF de
Hight for their presence in the aItef'
noon was an unaccustomed luxury
Three small shrill and joyful voices Sc
M the exultant cry, 20. goody. goody
Now YOU can come to the midget party
It's all ready" Mr.. Reed looked spec
ulatively at my father, six feet tall an'
correspondingly oroad-shouldered' an'
then, with glance, seemed to measure
himself mentally with one OF the mia
get chairs. remarking with the utnos
gravity. "Should you judge. Charies
that we were adapted physically 10
midget party" Being assured py TN
children that they should sit in grown.
~ chairs. they entered into the spin
If the thing, and for the next haiI'
hour three small girls. and one sis'e'
lust old enough to have livery apr
citation of the situation. ana the 'w'
congressman. played midget with com
III plete absorption.
No. Christmas ever went ny w'n
were at the Hamilton together. "i'nou
our making sort of Christmas snr.ne :
verrreen garlands as. the. best sunssit1 ~
\ | Ne could find for a Christns T,eS II
" symmetrical trees are naru - ,n liz, =, "a
vas p mart Of the established progran' ~ ~
the Reeds to come down duIns
| morning being led with greal 90 r,nn
into the aIcove which Mr. Reed wns
~ term irreverently -Bamns noM
II IL u,a,,Id Solemnly lavish an oPuIteHs