Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1906-10-11
TRIUMPH OF WORTH
Is WELL EVIDENCED
IN EDWIN s. STUART
1 Famous Journalists Story of
the Rise of a Poor Boy to
High Public Honor.
"NEVER MADE A PROMISE
THAT WAS NOT FULFILLED"
Emerged From Trying Term OF
Office With Echoing PlauditS
of a City.

of a City.
There was no more aggressive sup
porter of the fusion state ticket and the
city Party movement in Philadelphia
last fall than the Philadelphia Even
ing Bulletin" Its editor in chief,
William Perrine, author OF the famous
Penn" comments upon men and meas
ures in thai independent journal, gave
this word picture of the Republican
nominee for governor in mis- character
istic. frank and manly manner, shortly
after the selection of the Republican
standard bearer:
AT the close of the gubernatorial
campaign four years ago it was OBJ
served that the Republican candidate
came out of it without having been
compelled even once to defend his per-
sonal character. Amidst all the gibes
that were cast at Judge Pennypacker
and all the controversies over his po-
litical status, his record as a man was
proof against reproach. 1t is alto
gether certain that his successor as a
gubernatorial candidate will repeat
this experience in the coming campaign.
For the life of Edwin S. Stuart in
Philadelphia from his boyhood has
been so clear clean, simple and open
that il would be hard even for the
,F - tn
him the suspicion of an illicit or dis
reputable act In his early manhood
he framed for himself code of up
right and honorable dealing in his
business ambitions and in his daily
relations 10 men; he had a sterling
reputation for his squareness and sin
cerity among those who knew him
when he was only in his teens, and in
the course of the more than 80 years OF
his comings and goings among the peo-
pie, and largely in public life, none has
been able to note in him any essential
deviation from the principles and the
habits which marked him in the hum
BILE beginnings Of his career.
The Man In the Making.
when as lad he had hardly ceased
doing chores in the old Leary book
store at Fifth and Walnut streets, he
was almost as big and strapping a fell
low physically as he is now. At II
or Is he had the frame and girth of a
six-footer, the level-headed sense of
judgment of a veteran in the book
business when he would 20 to Thomas
auction rooms on Fourth street. for
example to do the buying for his
house and an unusual facility, for a
youth of knowing how to hold his
tongue and yet winning friends with
perfect ease 1t is sometimes the habit
of those who criticise him to call him
'over-discreet' or too non-committal.'
But this sort of prudence is not
a merely political trait or the result Of
political life Caution is an instinct
with him; ii was natural to him when
he was earning his So or 81 a week and
carrying his coffee every morning from
his downtown home TO warm il up in
the middle of the day at the Fallon
shoe store, and when at night time the
row of tall boards which encased the
cheap stalls on the outside walls were
fastened together young Stuart was as
careful to see that they were made
quite as secure in protecting the 5 and
10-cent stock as he was that the rarest
editions on the inside should be safe
guarded from theft or fire And yet
xtrish oil fC .fp In
there wasn't a more cheerful or more
sunny-faced lad in the neighborhood.
He worked ell day long and frequently
well into the night as if he never knew
what IL was TO be tired, I'D although
he was singularly free of the loose or
hurtful habits which most lads contract
in the growing age. no one thought OF
associating him with the idea of 4
milksop or a pretender. To everybody
about Fifth and Walnut streets he was
Ed Ned or Eddie, and even then
there was a sort OF intuition among the
denizens of the corner that he had the
making OF a somebody in him.
Mr. Stuart was at one time, when
still young Sunday school teacher.
Some years ago he told me how
amused and pleased he was one day in
finding among the books which came
to his store on Ninth street a copy OF
a little Testament which contained the
inscription that he had written on its
fly-leaf in the early '70's when he pre-
sented IL 20 one of hi DgEils. In his
relations to his mother. who was OF
sturdy. religious stock. he was a sig
nal example Of the loyalty ana graft
tude of the son who honors the chief
author of his being; he lived as much
for her as for himself; the pride which
she might find in his ambitions was
not the least Of his motives in court
ing public Advancement and when he
had almost reached the mayoralty of
his native city, the sorest blow OF his
life was that death should rob him of
her in their little home on Tenth street
and that he should be cut of. on tn
eve OF his triumph from sharing :.
with her. Stuart had little schoo,.E.,
except what he got in the Southwest
Grammar school, and the education
which he gave himself was largely the
result OF what he read at Leary's in
spare moments, or in his winter even
Ing hours at home But he was en-
phatically specimen of what we
sometimes call good mothers sons,
and the moral stamina and Scotch
Irish sense in the man came to him
through her in domestic atmosphere
OF frUgality, thrift and those simple
virtues that are chastened by patient
toll in the face Of suffering or sorrow.
A Character That Told.
1T is 10 the character which was
thus formed in Stuart that the Offices
ana the houors which have been given
49, - H.