The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-23

~'spodord,' he said chafangiy to the
nervous. jsriu old librarian, why do you
waste your own and the Governments
valuable timo In such an unsatisfactory.
impossible pursuit.
Explain that, sir, explain IT, said the
old gentleman, wheeling In his quick,
marionettehke way upon the Archbishop.
Il mean,' said the Archbishop, picking
up q book that u took Renan about thirty
years to write and PROCESSING, yes. sir,
protesting, TO find out the meaning OF it,
say, within the space Of ten minutes while
standing first on one leg and then the other
and Ticking over It's pages
flush, tush, sir; I know every line Of
the book, every line. OF 1t. ST. replied the
librarian. 'One does not have to be a
mole, cir, and bury himself in the ground
to read a book, like you r~eligionists."
With q smile the Archbishop picked up
the discarded Renan volume, opened 1t at
random, and asked Spoiford what the
Frenchman had to say with reference 10 a
certain doctrinal subject.
To the Archbishop's everlasting astonish-
ment Spohord repeated in French, and
almost word for word, Remains views
as to the matter about which ~Chappelle
had inquired. Carrying the test further,
the Archbishop, in the manne of an ex-
aminer, took the librarian smack through
the difficult volume. only to find at the
end of the test hat the librarian, who had
only picked up the book a little while before
In wandering throug Oh the aisles. had every
part Of the boo as pat as II he'd been porting
over II In a study for days and weeks. =.
Tom Reed. q man who always had to
be shown. used to take keen delight In
A~ktktkt&1 0prR~.ItA rhnnAtaAnal N~ARa
Of memory to incredulous friends. Upon
In occasion Reed strolled into the old
library in the Capitol to see Spofford about
something or other. He had to prowl
all over the place before he came upon the
librarian. who. standing near a window.
was skimming over the pages Of a three
volume life and Letters Of Charles James
Fox. the British statesman. that had just
boon issued from the press.
Reed tackled SpoSord about the thing
he had In mind. but the librarian didn't
even zoe him, much less hear him. He
went right along brushing over the pages
Of the volumes about Fox.
Reed, who was then Speaker. smiled his
Chinese smile and wandered back to the
House Of Representatives. He knew there
was no use trying TO get anything out OF
SpoiYord while the librarian was reading
q book.
Reed made q careful note Of the work
no had seen Spotford absorbing or that
occasion, and he got the book and read 1t
himself with considerable care. Two years
later he walked In upon Spofford. accom-
panied by ZONE friends from Maine. one
day and said to him:
-Spofford, I'm interested In this Fox
fellow. the English Premier. you know.
Tremendous gambler. wasn't he? Who're
can I get some facts about his gamblingi
Wa bis gambling exaggeratedS' and q
slew Of questions Of similar import.
Spofford named. ofihand. the biography
of Fox that Reed had himself seen the
librarian skimming two years before. in
which the matter Of Fox's gambling habits
was dwelt upon exhaustively. Then he
summa rized, in about four or five hundred
words. the gist Of what the biography had
set forth as to Fox's gambling habits. CIV
ing the amounts OF great sums that Fox
was said In that work to have won or lost
at hazard on certain occasions.
Reed and his friends listened attentlvely.
and then when they returned TO the
Speakers room Reed sent for the biogra-
ply of Fox. He turned to the part Of Il
which dealt with Fox's gambling methods
and showed his visitors that every fact and
figure that had been quoted by the IL
brarian In his short summary was exact
to O dot
Once the late Senator George Vest Of
Missouri got into q discussion with a South
ern friend as to the production Of cotton
in the South Immediately before and i'm
mediately after the civil war. The dis
cussion took place in the Senator's rooms.
and he had no books Of reference from
which to ascertain the desired facts,
."Ill call up Spofford and ask him: he'll
know" said the Senator. and he went to
the telephone and got the librarian on the
wire.
See here, Spofford.' said Seta tor Vest
through the phone, there's a crazy man
down here at my place who pretends to
know something about cotton, but Re
doesn't know any more about cotton figures
than I do about the wool production OF the
Falkland Islands. What I want TO know
is this: How much cotton did this country
produce in the year 1859 and In the yecr
1902"
Spofford named the two amounts In
bales without leaving the phone. No
only that, but he named the numbers Of
bales exported each year and the number
of bales kept at home for domestic con-
sumption.
Il don't know what we're going to do up
at the Capitol when that old boy dies
said Senator Vest. hanging up the receiver.
AN the same. I'm going to check him up
on this" and he made a note OF the figures
Spotford had given him.
On the following day. when he went to
the Capitol, Senator Vest looked into a
book OF reference and found that the
cotton figures Spofford had given him in
that offhand fashion over the phone were
correct to q bale.
The old librarian. always a man Of
, great modesty. never made the slightest
display Of his vast fund Of information, and
he was annoyed when he saw that friends
Of his were seeking to make a sort Of show
OF his feats Of memory. One day a new
and somewhat unsalted Western Repre-
sentative In Congress brushed into the old
| library with a party Of friends, tourists
S-1r his Stata and carving the librarian