Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-07-09
THERE'S MILLIONS IN IT.
Original Colonel Sellers Lived ant
FIOurtshcd In Misaourf


FIourishcd In Missouri.
One hears almost annually Of some
person who was Mark Twatn's in
spiration'' for the famous chara cite Of
Colonel Mulberry Sellers--that wonder
fuf optimist who has delighted two gen.
erations. taught the lesson Of human
kindness and loving charity as It was
never taught by mortal man and given
mingled happiness and merriment to
untold thousands of our time. Just
how many persons have received this
enviabie distinction we shall not TN.
dertake to say. They are innumerable
by this time, and we shrink from the
task or asserting and classifying them
with anything like care. Indeed we
are relieved Of that laborious and III
tile undertaking by the sure knowl-
edge that Mark Twain had originally
In mind the late Thomas A. Harris Of
Pcwee Valley, Ky, some fifteen or
twenty miles to the north Of Louis
vile.
General Harris was n Missourian, n
man of travel, educa ton, wide expert
'hNC, COuEdAt duu enkdH-
ing manners and appearance. Gifted
far beyond ordinary men in brains, ad-
dress and noble instincts. he was be-
loved in private, successful in affairs.
admired. respected and confded In by
all who knew him. He made millions
like a genius and spent them like n
prince. He was a soldier, a poet, on
orator, bold and shrewd Spectator.
No one ever lost dollar through trust.
ing him. His failures and disappoint-
ments touched himself alone. Mark
Twain knew him well in the old days
before the civil war, thrilled responsive
to his sublime conceptions and the al
Turing eloquence with which he gave
them shape and substance, recognized
his fine character. his noble purpose,
his chivalric soul. felt the full charm Of
his amazing personality. And Mark
Twain In painting Colonel Mulberry
Sellers merely utilized the pathos and
the humor and the splendid and beaut-
full benevolence Of the mans unique
and brilliant nature.
Senator Vest remembers dear old
Tom Harris II was he who In the fall
of 1861. when Price was besieging Lex
ington, Mo, and when all efforts failed
to dislodge Mulligan and his immortal
Chicago brigade" conceived the ex-
pedient of the hemp bales and put the
Confederate army behind them, rolling
the movable reastworks up the hill
and over the Union Notifications to vic
tory. But for Harris genius Lexington
would never have been taken. Thrice
the force that Price had at his COM
mand could not have successfully
stormed that formidable height A
year or 30 later Harris was in Rich
mond seeking command. While there
he fell out Of fourth story window,
alighting face downward on n pile of
bricks. Vest said OF 1t afterward, 1T
would have killed a snowbird" In
Harris case there were only nose
split right down the middle and a scar
which everybody thought had been
made by saber In some desperate
hand to hand conflict with a hated foe.
Harris was always the kind and
courteous and clean handed gentleman.
He loved his fellow man. He was
ready to share hts last dollar with any
one who seemed to be in distress or
sorrow. Great thoughts issued from
his fruitful mind. Prodigious schemes
and enterprises We're the children Of
his intellect. Untold millions in which
he had no share have been the crca-
lures Of hts light. suave suggestions.
He never wronged man or woman. He
was incapable of deceit or pretense.
But when he talked all men listened
Out Of the crumbs of his opulent sug-
gestion others gathered fame and for
tune. And he died poor. He had made
many men rich. He had distributed
succor, hope. encouragement, as the
sower filings his seed. But he always
saw the bread upon the water, and he
never lost his faith in man. He was
Mark Twain's Sellers. - Washington
Post.