The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-02-23
THE sENATE,s CHAPLAIN.
His Days Work and Play in Washing
 foJ1


 Senate does not take much more than that of the senator's attention. It | would consequently seem that the chaplain earned his salary easily ana that the office was the greatest sine cure at the capitol.
 But those who will give a history of | Dr. E. B. Hale in the senate will tell | quite a different tale and indeed be l even burdened in proportioning their 1 history out of the abundance of ma terial the activity which he has man. aged to exert while an officer of the | senate. It will have to be written that in the | incumbency of Dr. Hale the office was of world wide consequence, adjusting international difficulties (small, to be sure, but important nevertheless), per forming little deeds not far from the miraculous and seeking to steer the in terest of congress as a legislative agent of good moral forces.
 Venerable is this great figure. When bowed in prayer eighty eight hoary winters speak Only one man in that chamber is older than he, and that is Senator Pettus of Alabama. But the minister from Boston Is the senate's grand old man. None is more pictur- esque. The strong intellectual face, crowned with iron gray locks that fall to the shoulders the strong voice pour ing forth in torrent of noble prayer, the utterance of a large soul within, the ample proportions of his physical manifestation, robbed in a flowing gown of black silk, make a Homerfc picture at noon on days when the senate be- gins its session. No finer subject for picture could be desired.
 Or yet another picture. The pjrayer done, Dr. Hale seen Tn one of the roomy armchairs of the senate sitting in his silken robe and cane in hand, either listening to the proceedings CT in l conversation with senators who have | come to greet him.
 To the public thls seems all the duty of the chaplain Were he followed as l he leaves the chamber he would be seen going to the vice-presidents room, where he robes and disrobes hanging his gown beside the vice-president's l coat in a spacious wardrobe. From 1 there he takes an elevator to the com mittee room of Senator Frye, that of l commerce where he has left his hat | and coat Alane among officers of the 1 senate the chaplain has mo room of his own The capitol is crowded, and room will be scarce until the new senate off fee building will be finished, when, it l Is assumed, a room will somewhere be found for the chaplain of congress. If 1 Dr. Hale were one-t tenth so active in hls own behalf as he is in numberless good eases probably this accommoda- | ton would somehow be arranged
 Prayer done, the other work of the l chaplain, or rather of Dr. Hale, con- sists in going over his voluminous mail, Probably few if any senators have a \ larger one. And Dr, Hale conscien- tiously attends to it. Usually a senate chaplain Is not in such request But Dr. Hale is a person of international fame. The whole world seems to know that he is chaplain of the senate; at all events, all of the United States does. His mail and the strange re- quests for favors indicate that. This is chiefly due to his fame as a litera- teur So people appeal to Dr Hale to help them out, and helping them out is pr. Hales chief labor as chaplain of the senate,
 Not so long ago an appeal came to him in a very personal way rom the far away Society Islands in the Pacl- fic ocean. It was from a sect of Nor mons established there, the Josephltes, who do not believe in or practice polyg- amy. More than any other Christian sect they have been successful in con- verting the natives, and of course much to the annoyance of the other Christian bodies. The Mormon church was In some danger of annihilation. Dr. Hale was appealed to. 1t was 2 puzzle. But Dr. Hale knew there was a way tnd immediately proceeded tC set it working. He enlisted the inter- est of certain senators. They saw the President, the President saw Ampassa- dor Jusstrand of France, who commu- nicated with the Roman Catholic arch bishop of Paris, who set the forces of his great church in action, and the re- strictions complained of by the Mor- mons were removed. So much for the efficacy of Dr. Hale as an international force in behalf of the distressed Mor-
 mons.
 Out in the west in a large city lived woman who had been brought over to America from Bohemia by her pa rents. These died or something hap pened to them so that she was adopted by certain people, married, and in time became very wealthy woman. Fi- nally she wanted to know who her pa rents had been but did not know how to find out She sent Dr. Hale letter asking who her parents were, assum- Ing that somehow he had divining pow CTS which would inform her. The doc
 tor did not know what the names ot the womans parents were, but Inc made some inquiry and informed his correspondent that if she were very inthusiastic in the matter she might take a journey to New York city and inspect the names of the immigrants recorded there of those landing In g
 certain year from Bohemia, and in tha
 list she would find the names of he
 parents and such other details as sh'
 might care to learn.
 On another occasion writer, a wo' man, living in Philadelphia, asked the doctor for the name Of person tc
 whom ron a certain occasion Benjamin
 Franklin had written letter of intro duction. The question was a yer! blind one, but the doctor, not dlscour aged, went over to the Congressiona Library, saw the expert on Franklin and the name was forthcoming in l;
 jiffy.
 Again the chaplains interest wa