The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-04-30
all it, there were in most of the homes

NSNAAS AAHSHANAA
"Pilgrim's Progress" Herodotus, Rolin,
Pultarch, Gibbon, Hume and Macaulay.
Souhterners also read Scott, Thackeray
and Dickens. Frequently there were
Boswell's johnson and Johnson's poets;
also, Goldsmith complete. There We're
Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Byron and
Poe. These works many Southern boyy
born to affluence, constantly read.
knowledge of them was within itself
no mean education. In those days-50
years ago-Harper's periodicals and
Littell's Living Age We're in thousands
of Southern homes, as was the South,
ern Literary Messenger.
John Sharp Williams was reared in
such hol3e. Born at Memphis, Tenn,
in 1854, his mother died when he was Il
child, and his father fell at the head
Of his regiment, the REIMBURSEMENT
Tennessee, at Shiloh, before his gifted
son had told his eighth year. Then it
was that his family sought refuge from
the advancing Union arms and took up
their abode at his mothers family
homestead in the YaZoo delta, in Mis-
sissippi. He received better educa-
ton than most youths of family and
fortune ut the South of his generation.
lie attended the Kentucky Military III
stitllte, at Frankfort; he was ut the
University of the South, at Sewanee:
he was at the University of Virginia,
and the University of Heidelberg,
in Germany. Subsequently he studied
law at the University Of Virginia
and in the Office of the leading
law firm Of his native Memphis. In
1878 having been admitted to the bar,
he returned to Mississippi AMI opened
an Office ut Yazoo.
Mr.. Williams was elected to the
Fifty-tlird congress, and has been Il
member of the house of Representatives
since March i, 1898. the day Grover
Cleveland was the second time naugu-
rated president of the United States.
y
to the craftsmanship of this generation
Of his state and his section the relation
Of Robert j. Walker sustained to Il for
mer generation. was unlleralded upon
his entrance 10 the Capital city and at.
tracted small attention. He WAS an
extensive, an Intelligent and Il success
n IN pUr
cultural interests We're manifold all its
other interests, and in consequence it
was but natural that he should he as
signed to the committee OF agriculture
in the organization Of the house. He
attended strictly to his duties in that
capacity. and lent to the deliberations
Of that council board Il vast amount of
practical common sense that was the
result of his personal experience rs Il
planter and a husbandman.
When he rose the first tlre to adj
dress the house at any considerable
degree of length he was accorded Il re-
SIrctfu hearing. ans lh:t day lie won
lis spurs Tie speech was 10 fervid
occlalnaticn moi an arneal to passion,
not an Grafton, not an essay. He is Il
scholarly nan. l.ut las no pretence to
The grAceS Of the orator, and ne is not
ali Apollo in physical presence, and not
all Adonis in physical beauty. His is
not Il dulcet voice, but on this occasion
tt,rr+, was something in tie speech
and III the man that challenged attcn-
ton and commanded respect. Congress
lrirkcd up its ears. AMI let0l' he had
spoken a quarter Of an hour 1t was
the opinion Of congress tl.at tile little
man would make his pll.k. ond he did.
lii argument he is sound from his
political standpoint, AID bis language
is correct and alrplc- no lack of
words and lo supcrl,ous words. He
is al able ami accomplished Gebater
He is fluent. and his self possession
evidences the man of thought, the man
OF culture, and the man OF mental, mo-
raj and physical courage.
Mr. Williams saw his r:lt go down
to drfcat in 1>:A and IS!h. lie saw the
Republican majority in The Fifty
fourth and Fifty fifth congresses as
eNultant. as i!ltolcrunt. as ilsolent as
the Democratic uaiority Lad been af-
ter the elections of 1890 and 1892. He
saw the splendid discipline of the &. 0.
p. in congress, it's clear vision Of the
situation, it's knowledge of what it
wanted, it's indomitable resolution to
attain it's ends and the triumphant in
corporation of Republican policies in
the law of the land. He saw public
clamor drive congress to hysteria. and
had grown to be conspicuous figure
on the public stage when the Mckinley
administration reluctantly entered upon
the war with Spain. He saw the vic
tory that was inevitable, and Of all
our public men none saw with a
clearer vision the momentous POSSIBLE
flies of the policy Of expansion.
Against that policy Henry G. Johnson,
of the old "Bent district" was the first
man to open his mouth in either house
Of congress and john Sharp Williams
was the second.
1t is but just to say that Mr.. Will
liallls- has distinguished himself as the
leader Of the minority. He is as ready