Rocky Ford enterprise., 1910-04-15


can boy to a seat in the most distin- NMW
guished lawmaking body in the world. NN\
although he sometimes lived on the N\N
verge Of starvation. Nothing could ,NV
shake his determination to be q SEN W.
ator. He had no eyes. but he had &A
tongue. He had no money. but he had (N0N
courage. He was obscure but he had \~N
q high ambition He could not see the
world about him. but he had a smile w.
to win It, perseverance to compel -
Its admiration and support. S
few months after Mississippi was II
readmitted to thu Onion in 1870 Thom- II
as Pryor Gore was born 80acre
farm 80 miles from the nearest rail- %
way.
Here the boy grew up among the
creeks and pines. a stocky. grayeyed little fel.
low. who could outrun any of his companions.
When he was six years old the village of walthan
was established in the woods nearby and tho
Gore family went there to live. Young Tom at
tended a small school set among the trees out.
side Of the village.
At the age OF eight years the boys left eye
was blinded by an accidental blow from q stick.
Three years later he was employed a page in
the Mississippi senate and boarded at the house
OF Senator J. z. George in Jackson. One day.
I while playing with . crossbow. an arrow entered
'his right eye and destroyed his sight
In spite Of his anliction young Gore managed
to stand at tho 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 was a cassmate Charles H
Pittman. This youth used to read to him. One
day they found an old volume Of the Congres-
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
. bedridden invalid. read to him history. biog.
raphy and other subjects connected with his 20
liticai plans and he would sit by the bed.
strange smile on his blind countenance. dreaming
and broodins 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 Of 1891.
The Populist movement was spreading rapidly
and he Joined It In the state campaign for .
legislature to elect q United States senator he
took up the cause Of Barksdale against George.
although q boy he had lived in Georges house.
The blind orator shrank from conflict He
even debated with Senator Money, whose tongue
all Mississippi dreaded and who smiled ma3es-
tcally 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
Ddeadly thing to say in Mississippi. Gore prompt.
y replied. Let him then blindfold himself and I
ON 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 a class Of ~. This expe-
rtence cost him 1881 ana ne returned 10 MS Ml8-
sissippi village with only 25 cents in his pocket.
in q suit Of clothes he had worn for II 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 the
difficulties of his situation increased.
Cores father had taken up the practice Of
law in Walthall and. on returning from the law
school in 1892 the youth welcomed an
assistant in the office. That year. too. he was a
presidential elector the Populist ticket at
tackled Grover Cleveland the stump and carried
his county.
The practice Of law not inspiring
patton in WalthaI There actually IS law
yers in that small, poor village. The blind advo-
cate tried few cases.
After a two years effort to a living
a lawyer in the place Of his birth Gore decided
to go to Texas.
Having saved $40. he started in April. 1884,
for Texarkana, arriving there absolute stran-
ger with only $21 in his pocket. He secured q
boarding house and promptly offered himself to
the Populist leaders for service in the approach
ing state and county elections. His political
speeches brought in money enough to pay his
penses. but he found chance to practice law.
In the winter he went back to Walthal and for a
year made another desperate effort to win success
as a lawyer. He was nominated for congress by
the Populists but was defeated. Yet his speeches
in the campaign attracted much attention.
UDn the last day Of the year 1895 the sightiess
and unsuccessful lawyer decided to abandon the