The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-03-10

amaugua used during the Spanish War, assembling early in July The date and the place for the mobilization of the Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware New Jersey, Virginia and District of Columbia troops has not yet been de- hnltely decided, though it will prob July.
 At every camp the regulars from the
 military district in which the camp is situated will remain in the field one month and the militia commands will average two weeks of instruction The 1naneouVers are expected to arouse popular interest in the military arm of the government.
 The critical illness of Representative James Breck Perkins emphasizes the pursuing the chairnanship of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
 The first victim was Representa- Robert Hit of Illinois, probably the most famous chairman the Foreign Affairs ever had, who died. some sew en or eight years ago. Hit, in an for the Vice Presidential nomination. made the race for the prize, and died of a broken heart soon after his de- feat.
 Following him the chairmanshin fell to the lot of Representative 'rBirdie'' Adams of Pennsylvania. Adams com m1tted suicide, supposedly on account Of financial reverSeS.
 The chairnan's shoes then fell to Robert Cousins, of Iowa who for a number of years was one Of the recog- younger set. Cousins, soon after sue ceeding Adams. failed in health and retired from Congress.
 Now, fourthly, MT. Perkins is strick- en and according to the news received from his bedside at Garfield Hospftai. can scarcely recover. Representative David Foster of Vermont is the rank ing Republican member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and if Mr. Perkins dies, will naturally succeed.
 Some members are wondering wheth- CT Foster may not hesitate to accept the place in view of the rather terrify- ing history that the honor bears. As he IS a very energetic, matter of fact New Englander and about the last man on the floor to be swayed by su- perStitiouS fears, it is dollars to pennies that he will take the place, if the Speaker offers it to him. If he does take it his friends believe that he will fbreak the spell.'
 The only man who ever served three states in the United States Senate Illinois Minnesota, and Missourf-and likewise the only one who almost fought duel with Abraham Lincoln will have a monument erected over his gr9Ve at the expense of the govern ment.
 This remarkable man, James Shields. also served with distinction as briga- dier and major general in the Mexican War and as brigadier general in the Civil War. His grave is in St. M9ry's cemetery, Carrollton, Mo. A bill to place a monument over the grave at a cost of sa 900 has passed the House and has just been recommended to the Senate for adoption by the Senate Committee on Library. When a bill gets along that far over the Iegisla- tive course the chances are all in fla vor of it's final passage.
 That he was a natural born fighter was indicated when Shields, as a boy at Dung9 nnon, Ireland. where he was born in 1910, tried to fight a duel with an English soldier, a veteran of Wa terIoo. Alone in a field at the con ventiona1 time, sunrise, the youth and the veteran 1eveled pistols a each oth- CT and pulled triggers with vigor and frequency but the flintlOcks would not work. They stopped to pick the Hints so they would give out sparks but be- fore that had been done friends dis covered them and stopped the fight. The cause of the near duel was that Shields had called the veteran a Her in connection with some eulogistic re- marks of the latter on the extraordfn- arY valor of the English navy They afterwards became close friends and Shields received his first ni1itary les sons from the man from Waterloo.
 As told by w. H. Con don who wrote history of General Shields, the trou- ble with Lincoln occurred in 1842, when Shields was in his second term as state bitter political warfare, the worst fea- ture of which was the publication of three anonymous letters atts cking Shields published in a Springfield newspaper. One signed "Rehecca of the Lost Townshins'' was credited by the editor to Lincoln and acknowledged by the latter, Condon says. and the other two were written by women. The letters referred to Shields ''as a fool os well as a Iiar,'' ridicu!ed his rr7s nners .end his alleeed egotism and attacked his official record.
 Shields wrote to Lincoln asking a retra ction and the latter refused to sn- swer on the ground that Shields note conveyed menace. Shields disavow- ed any intention of menacing Lin coin but the latter still declined to withdraw the charges made in the