Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1908-08-07
Bv ROBERTUS LOVE.

yOnQ all question TO more
hearers than has any other
man in the worlds history"
says one who travelled with William
Jennings Bryan during tho presiden-
tial campaigns of 1896 and 1900, and
there is no doubt as to the truth of the
statement.
The purpose of this article is briefly
TO sketch the life Of Mr.. Bryan up to
the age of thirty-six, when he was
nominated by the Democratic party for
the presidency of the United States. 1t
is a life possible only to American pol
tiles. and, whether or not Mr. Bryan
shall reach the presidency, it Is an in
tercSting chapter in United States po-
litical history.
The town of Salem, ILL.,, is the birth
place of Bryan. Judge Silas l.. Bryan.
4 substantial. intellectual settler from
Virginia. was his father. Maria Eliza
beth Jennings was his mothers maiden
name The child was born March 10,
1860. Judge Bryan lived on a farm
near the edge of town. He had nine
children, of whom William Jennings
is the fourth. The boy grew up out
doors, drinking the daily medicine OF
sunshine and the open air. His phys
icaI constitution. marvel of robust
ness and energy. came by Inheritance
and was nurtured by wholesome and
beautiful environment in boyhood.
Bryan attended the public schools In
Salem until he was fifteen, when he
entered Whipple academy at Jackson
vile, Ill. Two years later he matricu-
lated in Illinois college, in the same
city. from which institution he was
twenty one. During his college course
his oratorical abilities made him prom
iuent in middle western collegiate life.
He won the honor of representing his
school in the state contest or college
orators He won that contest and rep
resented Illinois in 1881 at the inter
state oratorical contest, held at Gales
burg. Ill.,, where he achieved second
honors. He was class orator at gradu-
afiOn
Jacksonville has a female seminary.
In that school Miss Mary E. Baird was
a student while young Bryan was In
Illinois college She was from Perry,
ILL.,. and was of excellent family and
an ambitious student. A bright young
man and bright young woman at
tending college in the same town some
times emphasize the aphOrism that like
attracts like Perhaps that explains
why Bryan, after attending the Union
Law college In Chicago and reading
law at the same time in the office OF
Judge Lyman Trumbull, the celebrated
associate of Abraham Lincoln, re-
turned to Jacksonville to begin the
practice of his profession. Bryan and
Miss Baird were married shortly after
his return. Mrs. Bryan studied law In
order to assist her husband in his pro-
fessional work. After the Bryans re-
moved to Lincoln, Neb., in 1887 Mrs.
Bryan was admitted to the bar. Mr..
Bryan became Junior partner In the
law irn of Talbot & Bryan. He be-
lieyed there was more opportunity for
a rising young lawyer in a new state
a belief assuredly well grounded in his
own case
Bryan plunged into politics In the
spring of 1888, and that became his life
vocation instead of the law. He was
elected a delegate to the Democratic
state convention at Omaha, where he
made speech strongly advocating
free trade; also he made a reputation
as speaker. He was only twenty
eight years old, yet the very next year
votes. In Omaha, where Connen lived,
Bryan was sneered at as that Lincoln
boy" 1t was the reaction against the
new Mckinley tariff that elected Bry-
an-that and the silver tongue of the
Lincclnian lad.
So at thirty Bryan was chosen to the
national house of representatives. He
delivered his first speech In the house
the 10Th of March, 1892, on the subject
e erne -aci Senator Burrows Of
Michigan, temporary chairman OF this
years Republican national convention.
declared that 1t was the best speech OH
the tariff he ever had heard. News
papers of all political persuasions call
ed it Il masterpiece. The chairman of
the ways and means committee was
William NJ. Springer of Illinois. Spring
er was so delighted with Bryan's free
wool talk that he procured the appoint
ment of the young Nebraskan on his
committee. Old graybeards have sat In
the house for a generation without
achieving that coveted honor. Here
was a youngster member SO honored In
his first term. And when Bryan was
returned to congress for second term
he was continued on that most impOr
tant committee.
In the interim the Nebraska districts
had been reapportioned SO that Omaha
was eliminated from the First district
The district in its new shape was con-
coded TO be Republican by about $500
Judge Allen w. Field OF Lincoln. one