Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1910-04-08

a faint haze before his eyes, 81 guess
you all know, without my telling you,
how glad l am to see you here to-
every minute of your evening. Some
of you are old friends of mine. There's
more'n few here tonight that re-
members me when / was barefooted
Gale Conover without dollar to my
name nor any very hectic prospects
of getting one.
"But there's lot more of you here
that | hadn't the honor of knowing
then, nor for that matter of meeting
at all till tonight. It's to these, most
ly. that I'm talking now For want
'em to know me better and like me
better. Maybe if they hear more
about me they will That's why I'm
on my feet now.
II b'lieve it isn't customary to make
a speech any more at parties. But
you'll have to forgive me. I'm not
much onto the latest frills and fash
ions. But give me a chance, and I'll
learn as easy as 9 Chinaman. 1t came
to me all Of sudden to say what I've
got to say, right here and now, even
If it's at the expense of little Ell
quette. I've asked you here tonight,
mainly, of course, for the pleasure of
entertaining you, and | hope you're
all having a real good time. But | had
another reason, too"
The men at the tables looked per-
picked Was this the Caleb Conover
they had met and cringed to in the
outer world, this garrulous, rambling
man with the flushed face?
"You see, I've come to be kind
of a feature of this city of ours and
of the State, too. I'm here to stay.
And I want that my towns-folks and
my fellow-residents of the Mountain
State should know me. Many of EN-
do. There's a full half-million folks
in this city and State that know all
about Caleb Conover. They know he's
on the square, that he'll look after
their interests, that he's white man
They know he's a man they can trust
in their public life and welcome in
their homes. And, as I said, there's
lot of these people here tonight
"But there's lot of other folks here
who only know me by what SANDER
and jokes they've picked up around
town or in the out-of-State newspa-
pers. It's these latter folks I'm talk
ing to now. / want them to know the
real me; not the uneducated crook
and illiterate Teller my p'litical enc
mics have made me out. They can't
think I'm all bad, or they wouldn't be
my guests. Would the. now? And
a little frankness ought to do the
rest
"Some people say I've risen from
the gutter. Well, I've risen from it,
haven't I? A lot of men on Pompton
Avenue and in the big clubs are just
where they started when they were
born. Not step in advance of where
their fathers left 'em. Swell chance
they'd have had if their parents had
Wouldn't ,hey? WDered they be now?
What does the start amount to?
The finish lines where the scores
counted. Gutter or palace.
GA mans a man for a. that says
a poet by the name of R. Burns. And
he was right even if he did waste his
time on verse-stringing. Only it al
ways seemed pity to me those words
wasn't said by someone bigger'n a
measly poet. Someone whose name
carried weight and whose words
would be quoted more. Because then
more folks might hear of it and be-
lieve it. l don't suppose one person
in f1fty's ever heard of this r. Burns
person. III never did myself, till /
bought Famous Quotation book to
use in one of my campaigns. That's
how I got familiar with the writings
of r. Burns and Ibid and Byron and
all those rhymer people.) Now, If
some public character like Tom Platt,
or Matt Quay, or someone else that
everybody's heard of, had said that
quotation about man being man"
Caleb paused to gather up the loose
threads of his DISCOURSE This caused
him moment of dull beWilderment,
for he was not accustomed to digress,
either in mind or talk, and the phe-
nomenon puzzled him. He rallied and
went on:
"But that isn't the point. was
telling you about myself. | started
in the gutter, just as the knockers
say l did. Or down by the freight
yards, and that's about the same
thing. My mother took in washing
when she could get it. My father
went to the penitentiary for freight
lifting when | was ten-he was
stevedore- and he died there. I was
brought up on street where the fell
ler-man or boy-Who couldn't tight
had to stay indoors. And indoors was
one place l never stayed. | began as
coal boy in the c. G. & x. elevators
then | got a job firing on a fast
freight, and from that | took to brak-
ing on local passenger run. Then |
was yardmaster, and then in the sup
'rintendent's office, and then came the