Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-05

the matter. and as a result he sent the
governor OF Tamaulipas with me back 10
the United States, and there in connection
with Matias Romero. the Mexican minister
to Washington, we bought about $5,OO0,OOO
worth Of Winchester rifles, cannon and
other munitions Of war and paid for them
with Mexican government bonds. We put
these arms on ship, and, In broad day
light started for New Orleans as our nomi-
nal port. After a while we changed our
course and made for the mouth Of the Rio
Grande, where we unloaded the guns and
passed them on to the Mexican troops.
These guns changed the tide of victory.
From that time on President Ju.a1ez con-
Quered, until finally he executed Macmillan
at Queretaro.
A Story Of the Telegraph.
Before coming to Charlottesville I at
tempted to call up General Wallace by tele-
phone, bu, the pretty little Hello Girl In
Indianapolis told me it was useless to try
She said the general had no phone In his
residence, that he wouldn't have anything
to do with telephone messages and that ne
thought the system was nuisance tele-
phCned Charlottesville nevertheless, but
succeeded only in finding that General Wal
lace was in town. During my conversation
with him the subjects of the telephone ana
telegraph came up and he told me how his
father was instrumental In making the i1rst
telegraph line successful. Said he:
After Morse had invented the telegraph
he wanted Congress to appropriate S30,eOo
to build line from Washington to Baiti-
more. This to be experimental, no
practical long distance test of the telegraph
great deal of discussion Morse was sneer-
ed at and jeered at, and many thought him
insane. My father was a member of Con-
sress at that time, and he was one of the
conimiee tc which the question of the APP
preparation was referred. When the COM
mittee met my father was watching the ex-
pertinent of telegraphing from the House to
the Senate Wires had been stretched and
the inventors were operating the instru-
,nentS. My father saw them work; he sent
messages and received replies. He saw that
the invention must be a success and be-
lIeved that if words could be dispatched
from the House to the Senate they could
he sent from Washington to Baltimore and
il to Baltimore to anywhere. He was full
of this thought when he went to his COM
mittee room and found the committee in
session. They had just voted on the ap-
preparation and their vote tie. He
cast his vote in its favor and this caused
he appropriation to go through. The re-
suit was the first telegraph line of the
world.
Strange to say that vote lost my father
his seat in Congress- continued General
Wallace Thirty thousand dollars was
then big sum, and this vote became one
of the issues of the next congressional cam
paign. Father was charged with wasting
the peoples money and his opponent ridi-
culed him on the stump by referring to his
'magnetico, electrico, Geographic appropria-
ton which no one could explain. He even
asked father to explain it, but at that time
he could not do So although he sa d 1t
would be of great benefit to the country.
The people thought differently and the re-
suit was his defeat.
Bob Ingersoll and "Ben Hur."
The conversation here took a literary
turn, and 1 asked the general If there was
any truth in the intimation that certain
words of Robert G. Ingersoll had caused
him to write Ben Hur.
NO" said he. Bob Ingersoll had moth
ing to do with beginning Ben Hur, but
talk had with him had considerable infiu-
ence upon the story. L may say it caused
me to change the whole plan and nature of
1t. The talk occurred as we were going
home from the Cincinnati convention, at
which Bob Ingersoll had made his great
speech nominating Blaine, one OF the great
est speeches of our history and of all time.
Ingersoll and / left Cincinnati on the same
sleeping car. He had the drawing room.
was sitting talking with some men, when
he came to the door in his night gown and
said: is that you, Gen. Wallace? won't
you come lHlo my room, WANT W lain
Il went to the door, and there stopped,
saying: L will come in, general, but only
on one condition. and that is that l am to
fix the topic of conversation"
"'All right said Ingersoll. What is your
textT
II replied Is there God?'
1.-THE answer came quick: I don't know;
do you?
rs there a heavenT
''I don't know; do your
:" Is there hell?
:" I don't know; do YOU was again the re-
ply.
I" Was Jesus Christ the son of God?
" I don't know; do you? said Ingersoll
in the same tone.
"'Well, those are the topics / want you
to discuss said 1.
"Ingersoll thereupon began to speak. He
went over the whole question of the Bible,
of the Immortality of the soul, of the divin-
ity of God and of heaven and hell. He
Vomted forth ideas and arguments, like an
intellectual volcano overwhelming my soul
with them. He kept this up all the way
when L left the train there, l walked the
streets for an hour to quiet myself before
going to bed Prior to that / had paid al
most no attention to the Bible religion.
My life had been full and l had overlooked
matters of the soul. / then decided that
these were the great questions for man to
study and also that every man must inves-
to read the Bible, devoting my time chiefly
to the New Testament and the life and
sayings of Christ.
1.-The result was that l came to believe in
the Bible. l gave up all doubt of the ex-
istence of God, ana that fact is as firmly
settled in my mind the fact of my own
existence 1 came also to believe in Christ
I1ck 11,oJt go l,o Nirif