The Washington herald., 1913-05-01

Blindness does not deter Senator Thorl-
as F. Gore from being great lover of
fine books He is fond of books printed
on high quality paper and handsomely
bound. When he picks up A good book,
he does 1t with. an air little short of
reverence. The fact that he cannot see
il doesn't matter. All the time a book
is being read to him he holds two or
three more in his lap. caressing them
almost as a child might caress a kitten
He thirsts for information. and just TO
have hold of book that contains some
thing he wishes to know seems TO give
him sort of satisfaction.
When he has some one read to him.
as he does every night until IL o'clock
he usually goes over to the bookcase and
selects the books himself. He KNOWS
the exact location of half the books In
his library-and it is large library
Occa sionaly he will ask for volume
and nobody can find it. Then, like as
not, he can go and find it himself.
He wastes no time on book that
does not fit his mood, and not infre-
quently he will listen to a dozen diner
ent works in the course of an evening.
Maybe while listening to book on the
Panama Canal he will think of Mills
essays and will ask the reader to switch
to that. In that way he follows the line
of least mental resistance. and with the
book falling into his mood, he remem-
bers it all the more readily.
All his office rooms and his study
at home are piled high with all kinds
inal
every conceivable subject until the whole
aspect of things is that of the morning
after a young tornado, with the wreck
undsturbed until the insurance adjust
ers arrive.
When ii comes to newspapers, half
hours reading will give the blind Sen
ator all he cares for. His secretary reads
him the more important headlines and
the index and the Senator picks out one
or two stories that interest him. He
never reads anything pertaining to
sports or any kind of police news, muir
ders. suicides, and the like.
Before starting on long journey
alone, Senator Gore usually stocks up
a suit case with about all the books it
will hold, and trusts to luck to meet
people on the trains who will read to
him. In this respect he has little trou-
BILE He runs across a surprising mum.
Der of poor readers-business men who
cannot pronounce words that they ought
to know and others who have no sense
of inf1ection-but there are plenty who
volunteer to read whatever he wants
though usually what he wants is some
thing serious that doesn't appeal to tho
average traveller. Senator Gore has al
ways had his best luck at humping into
good readers out through Iowa. But he
says the best reader he ever met in his
travels from coast to coast was a Pull
man porter, a Jamaican negro.
Books, however, are relegated to sec
ond place as, an educational factor in
Cores travels, He says he has learned
more from people in the smoking COM
partments of Pullmans than he could
have acquired in the same length of time
from books.
There are thousands. of specialists
about all the time he says, |
men who know a whole lot about some !
,ne thing When i have the good luck
20 find myself alongside OF a specialist |
I try not to let him get away It'll he |
has told me his whole story"
Senator Gore judges character by al
augh He says he can get a pretty |
air idea of a man just by the way he
aughs, even without hearing him say a |
word. There is the frank, open-faced |
augh. the overdene laugh. the laugh |
hat runs by forced draft, the perfume |
DRY laugh, and the hollow, mocking |
augh of villains-and every one is a
character tip that Gore has learned to
abulate almost automatically.
A friend of Senator Warren, knowing /
he Wyoming mans habit Of settling
Kings occasionally by toss of a coin. I
tent him recently an English penny,
which has head on each side.
when in doubt suggested the friend. |
make 1t heads you'll do what you really I
want to do and tails you'll do what the
'ther fellow wants"
Representatives Bartholdt. Of st. LoSis.
tarted out from Brooklyn, n y. . ereAt ]
many years lAgo With the- 1Uirtt - -