The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-02-26
Representative of the Sixth
District Tries Out his Voice
in House on General Lew
Wallace.
PAYS FINE TRIBUTE
TO FAMOUS HOOSIER
ExtoIs His Bravery as a SOL
dier, His Ability as a States
man, and His Genius as a
Famed Writer.
By A. w. TRACY,

tive w. 0. Barnard of the Sixth lndi- |
ana district made his maiden speech |
on the floor of the House of Repre- |
sentatives this afternoon, when the
House held special exercises accept |
ing from the state of Indiana, the
statue of Gen. Lew Wallace. which
was recently unveiled in Statuary
Hall of the national capitol.
Several members of the Indiana del
egation spoke in behalf of congress
accepting the statue. among them be-
ing Representatives Crumpacker.
Barnard, Morrison, Dixon, Adair and
Cline. Judge Barnard, of New Cas-
tie, spoke as follows:
General Lew Wallace"
1t seems especially fitting that in
these exercises | should express d tri
butte to the memory of the man whose
statue we today accept and place in
Memorial Hall because | am an Indi
anian and share with my people a just
pride in her great men and for the
further reason that General Lew Wal
lace was born in the congressional dis
trict | have the honor to represent
in this body.
The old town of Brookville. situated
in one of the most picturesque and
beautiful portions of the country and
made historic by reason of having To-
Gated in it the Land Office through
which entry was made to the lands in
the new country and by reason of fur
nishing to the country many men who
distinguished themselves in the var
ious walks of life. was his birth place.
Moved to Covington, Ind.
When less than five years old he re-
moved with his family to Covington.
Indiana, on the banks of the Wabash
and before reaching the age when he
was placed in school became the al
most daily companion of the ferry
man who piled his boat across the riv
er at this point, sharing with him his
noon day meal and by this association
no doubt, learning lessons which were
to be strength to him in his life
work.
In his school days he was a normal
boy, for while attending a seminary
he says of himself. The river was a
siren with a song everlasting in my
ears. l could hear it the day long. 1t
seemed specially addressed to me and
was at no time SO sweet and irresisti-
bic as when | was struggling with the
multiplication table Or some abstruse
rule of grammar
Didn't Like Figures.
We get an insight into the character
of mind it took to produce the book
he wrote, when We learn that he had
no taste for mathematics and made
up his mind when he saw an arithme-
tic. that the science of numbers and
himself would never be friends. which
he says proved to be true through
all his life and when we learn the
further fact that geography appealed
to him and strengthened his imagin-
alton. From its pages he learned that
there were other rivers than the
Wabash and that beyond great oceans
there were countries peopled as was
his own neighborhood.
If programs made out for the youth
by teachers had been always
strictly enforced many of the world
|
ed unspoken and poetry and song that
is worth while would not have been
written.
Destined for Soldier
He seemed from his youth to be des-
tined for soldier for while in school
he spent much time in the drawing of
imaginary battlefields. and placing
contending armies thereon.
While Yet a very young man he be-
came soldier for his country in the
Mexican war and his gallantry and
zeal won for him the approval of his
people and distinguished him as one
possessed of military genius of high
order.
AS Adjutant General of Indiana. I'M
der the great War Governor Oliver
P. Morton he bore a conspicuous part
in the work of raising and equipping
| lndianas first soldiers in the War of
the Rebellion and finally at his earn
est solicitation the military spirit
within him having taken complete
possession, he was permitted by the
governor to leave his post and go to
the front, and during the years from
61 to 90 in that great conflict. he bore
such conspicuous part as to make
for himself a name as a soldier that
shall last SO long as there is history.
Writing Of "een-Hur."
| The thing that brings him nearer to
the hearts of the people of today, tina n
any of his achievements, was the writ
| ing of Ben-Hur. book that has been
translated into every modern tongue,
and read by more people than any
book, save two. that have ever been
penned by man.
Various reasons have been assigned
by different persons some of which
have been claimed by the authors to
have been obtained from him. for his
writing this book, but l believe that
what appealed to his soul and took pos
session of him and was the starting