Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-02-02

perOrS are sit
ting up and taking notice. Practically
every potentate of Europe is to send
wedding present. 1t is said that the
pope Will honor the occasion by token
OF remembrance, and it is not improba-
BILE that the sultan of Turkey, the en-
press dowager of China and the mikado
OF Japan may get into the game. Your
Uncle Samuel has grown big enough TO
be the fashion, even though his repub-
hcan notions are not exactly acceptable
to the royalties who remain TO poster
the world.
Let II be said 10 the honor OF Miss
Roosevelt that she decided TO marry
man rather than a title That the man
Is an American is all the better. After
the alliance OF so many OF our heiresses
to princes, dukes. counts and other
weaklings with noble nicknamas this
is a grateful variation. This is an age
OF men. not OF titles; OF deeds. not OF
seemings In America this is especial
ly true, for ours Is land OF men and
OF deeds, and il is well that the daugh-
ter OF a president who is himself so
democratic should thus honor the gen.
ius Of her country.
Yet high society in Washington long
predicted that the daughter OF the
White House would wed title Ru-
snor I'm that city OF rumors has IL that
there Is not an unmarried titled mem
Der OF any foreign legation at the ma
tional capital that has not had designs
on her Besides. the castles OF Europe
are full OF more OF the sort. Then
there is Asia. She might have been
suItana OF Sulu. True. she denied that
story about the sultan of many wives
Offering her his hand and the upper
left hand corner of his heart. but
others OF the Taft party insist that the
proposal actually took place. 1t is too
good tale to be snuffed out by a mere
denial Why spoil so exciting ro-
nance by the prosy statement that it
is not fact:
Washington rumor also says - but
what does it not say?-that Congress
man Longworth had to propose seven
times before he was finally accepted
There is a man after our own heart
He deserves her. All the world loves
lover, and especially a lover who
knows what he wants and will not
take no for an answer. Lucky seven!
The mystic number that has been sung
BY oriental poets and is held in rever-
ence by people even farther west
Never did ii turn the trick in a better
cause That union, dependent on
seventh popping of the question: by a
persistent lover, should be happy one.
One other thing is there that should
not be overlooked. Mr.. Longworth-the
H. Nicholas RI xrhnm no
all honor for his good taste, luck and
perseverance, halls from Ohio Does
that not solve the riddle? The state
that gave to the world a Grant. Sher-
man and a Sheridan; where were born
a Stanton, a Howells and an Edison;
that was the home of one Harrison
and the birthplace of another and that
was both the home and birthplace OF
three other presidents: the state OF
Corwin, Giddings, Chase. Thurman and
Taft-to say nothing OF Hanna, John
Sherman and Rockefeller, There are
people who have gone so far as to say
that the only thing President Roosevelt
lacks is an Ohio birthplace. but if he
cannot have a Buckeye birthplace he
can at least afford a Buckeye sOn-in-
law. he can have the state related to
him by matrimony If not by maternity.
As for Nick Longworth. as he Is
Familiarity called by everybody about
his two homes at Cincinnati and Wash
ington. he is a thoroughbred More
over, he has wealth. birth. position,
education. social distinction and all
those things priced by certain classes
of people. but withal Re possesses the
ness, independence. intellectual stamina
and uprightness that are esteemed by
every one His family has been a lead
ing one about Cincinnati since the be-
ginning Of the nineteenth century. He
can point not only to a grandfather, but
a great-grandfather. There are people
who would give money for a great
grandfather-in fact, they have been
known to do so and have thus had an
cestors made to order.
Mr.. Longworth also has a great-great-
grandfather, but perhaps he would not
point to this forbear with 50 much
pride, that worthy having been a Tory
at the time Of the American Revolution.
AS a result of his sympathies with
George I'LL, his lands near Newark, y.
J., were confiscated. This fact caused
the great-grandfather another Nicholas
Longworth, by the way. TO emigrate to
Cincinnati in 1903, when he was TWEEN
ty-one years Of age. He became law
yer and took the defense Of horse
thief for his first case. AS fee he re-
cefved two copper whisky stills. which
he traded for thirty three acres OF land.
then In the woods, but now in the very
heart of the city. Before he died the
land was valued at $2.OOO,o0O. He also
went in debt to the tune OF 5000 to
buy an old pasture lot and was sharply
reproved by one Of his friends for his
extravaganza. He lived TO see that
land worth nearly as much as the other.
He took up grape culture and made
It exceedingly profitable. He gathered
about him a fine library, rare old paint
fno1 opd O nofa hle art collection. His