The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-05-08
4 SKETCH Of TAFT
William Allen Whites Attractive Pen
Picture of the War
Secretary.
Secretary.

Secretary.
American Magazine for May: of
ten an Illuminating squint at a man
may be had by looking at his boy
hood; and the boyhood of William
Howard Taft, which began in Au-
burn, a suburb of Cincinnati in 1864,
when he was seven years old, was
the ro%llicking, fighting, dreaming an
imal boyhood Of the average Ameri-
can boy, who has books and brooks
around him, and is torn in his heart
to decide which tempt him most. In
his early teens he resembled the type
of tall, rawboned, %lubberly, squeaky-
voiced, milky-eyed, shocked-headed,
b%ig-footed boy who laughs at himself
more than at any else; and Taft's
whole boyhood career is epitomized
in the fact that a dozen or SO men
now in their late forties or early ff-
ties scattered over this planet re-
member the honorable secretary of
was not as William, not wen as Will,
certainly not as Willie and not as
Bill, but as old Bill Taft. The elm
ination of William signifies hat he
was not a prig; the elimination of
Willie indicates that he was not a
sissy; the elimination of Will goes
to show that he was not a lovely
character, and Bill proves that he
was no coward, while old Bill makes
1T definite and certain that he was
we'll beloved, and that proves that
he was effective, impulsive and kind.
These traits, then, form the founda-
tion upon which the man is built"
An Illuminating story of Taft's
visit to Russia last year is thus re-
lated:
THE next day the same large man
slipped gently out of bed at 6 o'clock
and CROPPED around in the dark of
the murky morning looking for his
trousers. He did not make a light
for fear of waking his wife. Prod
ding quickly but softly through the
dusk, falling easily over the con
cealed furniture of the room, he was
getting we'll along toward a half
dressed stage without waking his
wife to ask her where things we're
packed-after the fashion of Ameri-
cans of his class-when in drawing
on his trousers-his only pair Of
black trousers-his Sunday trousers
1t you must know the truth, pressed
and rather IHfamiliar-he lost his
balance and fell, sticking one foot
through a trouser knee A man
weighing 240 pounds can put consid-
cradle force and emphasis into a lab
Of his toe when he tries to catch hia
balance with it, and the hole doomed
up. dark, gloomy and peculiar. He
couldn't bring himself to waken his
wife. He knew that she was tired
and needed the sleep. So he called
q bell boy and asked him to have the
trousers mended. They were his best
trousers, the only pair he had that
would go with his black clothes,
and he had to ride two hours in q
sleigh and meet by appointment at 9
O'Clock the car Of all the Russias.
There was nothing to do but to wait
for the bell boys return with the
rended garment. When the boy
came he brought such a botch Job
that the fat man grinned and tackled
1t himself. But he was in a hurry,
and his hands were strong and clum-
BY, and zip went a second tear quare-
1ly across the knee. He looked at the
hopeless wreck a moment and then
rose, hunted for and found a black
sock, shipped off the foot, drew the
black stocking up Owe his knee to
cover the white underclothing, put
on his torn trousers, got into the rest
of his clothing and marched proudly
out to the sleigh and met the car as
Americas Representative gentle
nan unafraid."
Here is a part of MI. White s size
up of the republican candidate:
Taft belongs to that class of
Americans who when occasion re-
uires can hook up their wives
dresses in the back and lace their
own shoes. And this does not mean