The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1907-05-31
HIS OWN TOWN:
LINCOLN. sRYAN's IN EVERY
THING BUT POLITICS. 4,

Lincoln Is AF- DRY al to
everything but politics. In that re-
gard IT belongs to the pure or Ne
braska state Journal faction OF the
Republican party, on those occasions
when Il is not owned by the Burling-
ton railroad and the ambassador OF
Mexico. Here, however, . not a case
of a political prophet without honor
in his own country. for Mr.. Bryan Is
the biggestpolitician in view from the
silyery dome of the State capitol. as
everybody cheerfully admits. And
everybody thinks it a shame that the
community in which Mr.. Bryan es-
tablished a home twenty years ago
was four-ffths Republican. A Repuo-
lican's politics, as is we'll known. are
about as hard to change as $40 bill
in West Hoboken after midnight
Socially and Intellectually Lincoln
is Bryans town indeed. Probably no
public man in America is more loved
and respected by his neighbors. Lin
coin people, who put on the dog and
indulge in pomp and pretense. are
town jokes. There are few such.
even in town SO enlightened. But
Mr.. Bryan does not pose. He walks
, the streets as any other citizen, and
when he stands at a corner waiting
for a car there is nothing about him
that compels attention He doesn't
blow a horn or ring bell, or strut,
or swell his chest. He wears ordi-
nary clothes and SLOUGH hat, and II
he ever carries cane it is when be
is away on HIS trips.
Many men, when they attain politi-
cal eminence. divorce themselves
from the human race. They ride in
closed carriages and dine at inacces-
sible clubs. They can't be touched
with a ten-foot pole Like the late
Prof. Enoch, they become translated
and are seen no more. But Mr.. Bryan
is plainly visible to the naked eye. He
| has not yet applied for separation
from humanity, and that is one OF the
first reasons for his popularity with
! Lincoln people. They would pick a
flaw if they could, but there is none
to find In spite of whirlwind sue
cesses that have made him a world
q fc 81 nf hn
folk: he is still civilian j., a plain,
busy. good-natured citizen, in whom
there is no shadow of vanity; just as
he was before 1896 If he has any
enemies in town they do their knock
ing with feathers.
There are great men in Lincoln as
elsewhere, whose greatness is burden
some to their contemporaries. There
are others whose mightiness, like that
of Shere Kahn, is dangerous to the
humber animals. Mr. Bryan's great
ness. as 1t appears to the average Lin
colnite, is neither elephantine nor
tigerish, and is pleasant to look upon.
He may be described among the great
men of the age as calm and heaven
pointing Pixies Peak amid throng OF
Vesuviuses and Popocatapetis and La
what'sit's-name down in Martinique.
Mr.. Bryan never raises the price of OIL
on anybody nor does he cause his fell
low-being to shrivel up with sense of
their insignificance. He is a COM
Portable neighbor.,
The towns demands upon Mr.. Bryan
are many, but he Struggles along
bravely beneath his civic burdens.
Lincoln has more conventions, ma
tional and otherwise than any city of
twice its size in the country. The
people go in strong for lodges. There
are 5000 or more college students;
here. There are scores of societies
for the intellectual advancement of
their members. Naturally a man of
such eloquence and popularity is like
ly to be called out, after the manner
of the fire department, at almost any
hour of day or night, and he responds
nobly.
At recent memorial service Of the
Elks he made an address on brother
hood that would have sounded well as
a sermon from the greatest, pulpit on
earth. If he is mere talking ma
chine. as some cartoonist would make
folks believe, let 1t be said that he
gives freely of that which he hath.
Mr.. Bryan is one of the moving spirits
of the Round Table, club of leading
men of the town, who meet to settle
the gravest questions they can think
up. He is active in church work He
teaches the Bible class In the little
SsIndayssehool at Normal near his
farm He gives land to the city for
mark purposes. And with all his serv-
ice to his home town there is no
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