The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-03-26

VIVIAN ("SAVOYARD"D
 peared In The Age-HeraId For Years 1 they die, along with all democrats who voted for Bryan.
 As for Scott I remarked to the colonel one day that I had seen it in print somewhere that he had read Scott s novels 60 times
 "Oh." he exclaimed with some disgust, where d'you see such a fool thing as that? It's ridiculous"
 But you have read them several times, haven't you?" I asked.
 Well, of course, some of them. But you may take, say, St. Romans We'll. I don t suppose I've read that but three or fours times. And Tvanhoe," too, I've read as I don't suppose I've read that many more times. Of course, now, there's a book like Old Mortality; that's differ ent. I reckon I've read that at least 100 times And 1vanhoe,' too5, I've read q good many times, I know as many as 120 times. And it is the same way with some of the others. But 60 times for all of them, why, that's absurd" For all his multitudinous, intimate, and detailed historical allusions, the colonel never uses reference book. He does not have to load up, he Is already loaded
 On a certain sensational occasion In Washington-it was when the Roosevelt
 
 "a New York paper sent me an order for | rush story of parallel incidents in American history. It was an afternoon's s job to hunt up through Congressional Record indexes and other reference books, and then with the chances for the poorest sort of success. Nobody at hand but the statesmen or newspaper men had any but the vaguest notions of incidents, so I put out to find Newman. Every newspaper office in American was in a f1utter over the days sensation, and every official and every newspaper man about the national capitol was dis cussing 1t with intense interest-all ex- cept Newman. He was sitting before a grate fire in his home over on Capitol Hill, all his faculties absorbed In an old, dingy, yelow-leafed book, leather-bound. but with one cover long since torn off, It was the Letters of Lord Beacons- field"
 T told him what I wanted
 He scratched his head just an instant, and then said, "Get the Congressional Record of the second session of the Thir- ty-fourth Congress, about the month of May, I think.
 I asked him for another.
 'Go over to the library and get the New York Sun for the month of June, 1S72''
 He told me briefly what the incidents were. which I knew only by name I found them exactly where he said they were. As I left. he of course accom- panied me to the door, then turned to the enjoyment of his Beaconsfield
 And why didn't he come to Congress? :? Oh, yes. that Massacre of St. Bartholo- new.
 Well, that was this way" said the colonel across the table at the Press club one night.
 "I was editing weekly paper in Co., 1umbia, Ky. And one Sunday I went to church. There was a fellow there, and he preached sermon that day on the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. And of all the transformation about history I ever heard that, think, was the worst. He wanted to roast the Catholics, but he didn't know any more about the Mas sacre of St. Bartholomew than my old darlry Archie, and old Arch didn't know anything.
 Well, went on uptown, and there was fellow there named Gimlet Page And if you were to go there today and meet him in your life, you'd say at once, him 1 nyour life, you'd say at once That's Gimlet Page
 Well. I told Gimlet-I wish you could see old Gimlet; I'm sure you'd know him at once Well. I told Gimet to go down to 8 place which he and knew about-T gave him Sand get me gal lon of apple brandy, and 1t was the best apple brandy I ever tasted in my life Old Glmlet and I took about a half tum- bled apiece of the apple brandy. Then old Gimlet left me, and I sat down and wrote an editorial about three columns long about the Massacre of St. Bartholo- new, which was a scorcher for the preacher.
 'Well, the foreman looked 1t over," he
 TI- more sense than I had He came back into my room and said 1t would never do to print that and that he wasn't going to set it up. took another half tum- blerful of the apple brandy, and I told him he would set it up, and that it was going into the paper, and 1t was going in just as I had written 1t, without the dotting of an r or the crossing of t. And 1t did.'
 And what happened?'' asked. He had paused again.
 Well, the next morning, about two hours after the paper came out, there was a fellow there named Ed Russell. Well, he came into the office and paid up his subscription for five years in ad- vance. And that looked mighty good. But Ed Russell was the only Catholic in the county.
 "In about another two hours, every man in the town and surrounding country, 1t looked like, was a-coming in or a-writing, Stop my paper' Stop my paper!' And by the end of the week there wasn't hard ly a man on the subscription list but old Ed Russell"
 And what did that have to do with your coming to Congress?' I asked.
 Well, that was this way. Of course the paper soon went bankrupt. I went back to Metca1fe county. and I ran for the state senate. You see. If l had been elected to the state senate I'd have come right straight to Congress- But they put up fellow against me, Campbellite preacher. And he went all over the coun- ty reading that editorial on the Mas sacree of St. Bartholomew, and telling people was a Catholic and danger