Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1910-04-14

I& S Of blind at.9 %1n 81 in ,. that
- alism: senator without
power to see the youngest member Of
che American house of lords" repre-
senting the youngest state in the
Union. IL
If the story Of Senator Gore Of VI
Oklahoma could other pur- Nj
pose than TO illustrate how brave VI
heart and persistent ambition can N
overcome even the greatest difficult NM
ties in life II would be worth telling NM
Loyalty TO a set purpose, maintained 0NN
resoutely through % years of bitter NNM
struggle raised this poor blind Amer NMW
can boy to a seat I'm the most distin MMW
guished law-making body in the world WMN
although he sometimes lived on the N\NN
verge of starvation Nothing could MN
shake his determination to be q SEN W.
ator. He had no eyes. but he had No
tongue. He had money, but he had /FNoA
courage. He obscure. but he had l MN
high ambition. He could not see the -
world about him. but he had a smile
TO win It, a perseverance to compel &
its admiration and support. a
few months after Mississippi was -
Teadmitted to the Union in 1876 Thorn.
as Pryor Gore was born on an SO.acre
farm 80 miles from the nearest rail- III
way o.
Here the boy grew up among the
creeks and pines, stOcky gray-eyed little fell
aO"' WHO COuld OutTun any OF his COmDanions
When he was six years old the village of Walthau
was established in the woods nearby and the
Gore family went there to live. Young Tom at
tended small school set among the trees out.
side of the village
At the age of eight years the boys left eve
was blinded by an accidental blow from a stick
Three years later he was employed as a page in
the Mississippi senate and boarded at the house
OF Senator J. u. George in Jackson. One day,
while playing with crossbow. an arrow entered
his right eye and destroyed his sight
In spite of his a1iction young Gore managed
10 stand at the head of his class in school and at
the age of II years entered a normal school
which was opened. Here he gradually became
totally blind, yet he mastered the high school
course
While Gore was attending the high school his
closest companion classmate, Charles H.
Pittman. This youth used to read to him. One
day they found old volume of the Congress
siOnal Record Going out to the stable, the blind
student would stand for hours while Pittman read
TO him the speeches Of the lawmakers at Wash
ington.
During that winter Gore and his sister taught
school for a few months. All the while his moth
.er, bedridden invalid, read to him history biog-
Taphy and other subjects connected with his po-
litcal plans, and he would sit by the bed,
strange smile on his blind countenance, dreaming
and brooding and waiting for the day when he
might take part in the great battle of politics like
other men.
his great chance came In the spring or 1891.
The Popust movement was spreading rapidly
and he joined 1t. In the state campaign for a
Legislature to elect a United States senator he
took up the cause of Barksdale against George,
although as boy he had lived in Georges house.
The blind orator shrank from no conflict He
even debated with Senator Money whose tongue
all Mississippi dreaded and who smiled majes-
dcally when told that his opponent was "a poor,
blind schoolboy." Senator Money declared that,
but for his antagonists blindness, he would hold
him personally responsible for his words-a
deadly thing to say in Mississippi. Gore prompt
ly replied, Let him then blindfold himself and
will meet him"
In September Of that year he went to the law
school at Cumberland university, Tennessee and
studied law for ten months. He was one Of the
leading six students in class Of AZ. This expe
Tience cost him 1881 and he returned to his Mis-
sissppi village with only 25 cents in his pocket
in a suit Of clothes he had worn for IA months
He had almost been compelled to leave the law
school months before for the lack of suitable
clothing.
Yet his unquenchable ambition to reach the
United States senate grew more intense as the
difficulties of his situation increased.
Cores father had taken up the practice OF
law in Walthall and, returning from the law
school in 1892 the youth welcomed an
assistant in the office. That year, too he was
presidential eector the Populist ticket at
tackled Grover Cleveland on the stump and carried
his county
The practice Of law was not an inspiring occu
patton in Wathall. There were actually 40 law
yers in that small poor village. The blind advo
cate tried few cases.
After a two years effort to earn living al
a lawyer in the place Of his birth Gore decided
TO go TO Texas.
Having saved $40, he started in April, 1894
for Texarkana, arriving there an absolute stran
ger with only S2l in his pocket He secured
boarding house and promptly offered himself Il