The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1909-07-25
By JAMEs b. MORROW.


Jonathan p Dolliver. in fighting ca
pacity and wit has been the most
gallant and attractive figure in the
Senate Greatly outnumbered in mus
kets, he fought with spirit and some
effect, even though the battle from the
first has been with Aldrich. the stern
silent. wary. and wonderfully able leader
of the high prOtectiOnists.
Oratory, In confutaton Of the modern
opinion concerning the dwindling power
of the spoken word. has been Deliver s
only weapon Denied the gift of barbed
and appealing speech, he would have
bean as impOtent and commonplace as
the most docile member. sitting with CON
scious but harmless dignity. in the pro-
stationary seats along the outer rim Of
the Senate Chamber. So the triumphs
he has gained have been altogether per-
sOnal and Evolutionary.
DO you write your speeches and then
commit them to memory?" I asked him
We were in the famous Marble Room OF
the Senate and through the open door and
tumbling across the wide lobby came
fat and boisterous voice in the travail OF
\ wordy output over green hides and pro-
hected leather
"Of course. when debating in Con-
gress,' Senator DOlliver answered, zone
remarks are necessarily impromptu.
Elsewhere. however, my speeches are
written out and committed 20 memory
written out in the agony OF toll and
under the heat and flare OF the early
morning gas jet"
Anecdotes Out of Date.
'Do you employ anecdotes?"
IT did once, but stories are obsolete
unless uney can be condensed into q
dozen words or less Nowadays, one
must make his own comedy as he goes
along. Oratory. like everything else. has
been modernized
And you like to talk?'
Il am afraid i do. However. il 1 have
any ability as a public speaker inher-
tied IL from my father. who, while not
a theologian in n technical sense. was
the most remarkable exhorter ever
heard Indeed, he would have been a
great. popular orator on any subject. I /
have seen him throw whole camp-meet-
ing. big enough TO nj a good-sized woods,
into the noisiest kind OF emotional fits"
who was your father?"
He was the son Of a seafaring man
In Massachusetts whO sailing a privateer
during the war Of 1872 innocently and
fOolishly put into the port OF New Or
leans. where his cargo OF cotton was
confiscated by Gen. Jackson. My worthy
grandfather pressed bis claim against
the government for many years. but
It was never paid When a young
nan my father went TO Ohio and clerked |
In a store. He became merchant but 4
was converted at a Methodist camp-meet- |
ing while still young man. and turned /
preacher. Fortunately for me, he was /
sent into Virginia to preach on circuit.
and there met the young woman who !
became my mother
Where did you live as a boy?"
with my Grandfather Brown. a we'll
TODD farmer, whose home was a large
white house. with a wide porch across /
the whole front Of il. My father preached 1
regularly and vigorously, often riding 200 I
miles in a week. We had plenty to eat /
but no money. in those days When 4
party of Confederate raiders came into /
the neighborhoOd we hid our hams and /
father took his horses into an out-of-the- /
way laurel thicket
Hid 100000 I'm Gold.
THE treasurer Of the county brought
nearly $4,000 to our house, mostly in
gold coin. so that my father could put
II in a safe place. Grandfather Brown.
Union Democrat. and by that time
very aged man, instructed me and my
brothers 10 climb up on the roof OF the
barn and II any of the raiders appeared
to cheer Justify for JEFF Davis Mean
while he had run his own favorite horses
of to a ravine in the woods
MY father had preached against
slavery all through that part Of virginia
Thou shalt not steal was his usual
text Such sermons immensely pleased
my grandfather. to whom twelve or ff-
teen slaves had come by inheritance. He
never bought or sold a slave in his life.
and those he owned were a burden 10
him. as they were a burden to my father
long after President Lincoln's emancipa-
ton proclamation set them free 1 used
to get appeals from them myself Old !,
Uncle Jesse would want a pair of shoes
or something else equally as elementary
and perhaps Jonathan p. Delivers own
shoes needed half soles or badly overdue
and unhOped for successors.
After his children had become large
enough for better schools than were I,
those OF the country my father removed
10 Morgantown In West Virginia so that
we could enter the State university. He
continued to preach IN the mountains and
TO make many sacrifices that we might
have the privileges of an education He |
rode his circuit summer and winter. ex-
posed 20 the weather and suffering the
hardships of ali frontier preachers"
"Who paid your way through the Uni
versity of West Virginia."
MY father. although my brothers and
/ were expected to help ourselves by get
ting employment in summer. One spring. !
when the floods came sweeping down the {
river, my brother. another boy. and my
self made large sum Of money-anyway. ,
we thought it was a large sum OF money.
The river was fun OF logs, hewed and :
ready for the mill AS we stood on the
bank watching them float past IN water
as yellow from mud as a $50 gold piece I {
said, with a speculative instinct which ,
seems TO have flashed out and exhausted {
itself IN that one particular enterprise: Z
Here's a chance to make some money
Engaged in Salvage Scheme. +
Il removed my clothing and jumped
into the river Ever and anon l would
seize a likely log and steer Il into calm :
water; my partners would make it fast !
while I was getting another. An i'm T
mense log of oak. almost submerged in s
its sodden negotiations with gravity and !
water, came toiiing along in the middle ]
OF the stream. 10 seemed 20 me. from a ?
cursory examination. that it's value to us r
would be about So 1 straddled II Ike Il
a monopolist whereupon Il began to sink :
Like many another man. 1 felt a. morbid j.
disincllnation TO let go OF a poor bargain. e
Hence / descended also. We hit the bot I
tom simultaneously. When / came up my /
brother was running along the bank Z
shouting, Help Help Jonathan is h
drowning s.