The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1910-04-16

heart and persistent ambition can ny
overcome the greatest difficult nv
ties in life 1t would be worth telling MY
Loyalty to a set purpose. maintained 0NN
resolutely through 25 years of bitter NWM
struggle. raised this poor blind Ameri- MMW
can boy to a seat In the most distin- ANN w
guished law-making body in the world NN\
although he sometimes lived on the W\N
verge OF starvation. Nothing could W\\
shake his determination to be a SEN wv
ator He had no eyes. but he had q W.
tongue. He had no money but he had /FNoz
courage. He was obscure. but he had l M
high ambition He could not see the
world about him. but he had a smile
to win It, perseverance to compel 1S
Ns admiration and support. =
few months after Mississippi was :
feadmftted to the Union in 1870 Thorn.
as Pryor Gore was born on an sO-acre
farm 80 miles from the nearest rail. ~
way "
Here the boy grew up among the
creeks and pines stocky, gray-eyed little, fel.
low. who could outrun any of his comnanions
"nen ne was six years old the village of Walthall
was established in the woods nearby and the
Gore family went there to live Young Tom at
tended a small school set among the trees ont.
side of the village
At the age of eight years the boys left eve
was blinded by an accidental blow from stick
Three years later he was employed as a page in
the Mississippi senate and boarded at the house
OF Senator j. e. George in Jackson. One day.
while playing with a crossbow, an arrow entered
his right eye and destroyed his sight.
In spite Of his afiiction young Gore managed
TO stand at the head Of his class in school and at
the age OF II years entered normal school
which was opened Here he gradually became
totally blind. yet he mastered the high school
While Gore was attending the high school his
closest companion was classmate. Charles H.
Pfttman. 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
atrrd0 mid fcrh
to him the speeches Of the lawmakers at Wash
ington.
During that winter Gore and his sister taught
school for few months. All the while his moth
er. bedridden invalid. read to him history biog-
raphy and other subjects connected with his po-
ltical plans. and he would sit by the bed .
strange smile on his blind countenance, dreaming
and broodns 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 Popust movement was spreading rapidly
and he Joined 1t. In the state campaign for
legislature to elect United States senator he
took up the cause of Barksdae against George,
although a 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 majes-
tically 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
ly replied. Let him then bndfold 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 of the
leading six students in class Of 40. This expe-
rience cost him 1881 and he returned to his Mis-
sissippi village with only 25 cents in his pocket.
in 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 hts 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. returning from the law
school in 1892 the youth welcomed
assistant In the office. That year. too. he
presidential elector the Populist ticket at
tackled Grover Cleveland on the stump and carried
his county.
patton in Walthall There actually As law
yers in that small, poor village The blind advo
cate tried a few cases.
After two years effort to living
a lawyer in the place of his birth Gore decided
to go Texas.
for Texarkana. arriving there absolute stran-
ger with only $21 in his pocket He secured a
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 Walthall and for a
year made another desperate effort to win success
as q lawyer. He nominated for congress by
the Popusts but was defeated. Yet his speeches
In the campaign attracted much attention.
On the last day Of the year 1895 the sightless