The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-09-02

tary, a little library at the back IF
the house, in which, before a walnut
desk about three feet wide and five
feet long. he does much Of his lit
erary work. The library is hung with
portraits Of Washington, Jefferson,
Jackson and Lincoln. 1t is walled with
books, and it has easy chairs nphOl-
stored in in one OF which he
Secretary sat in comfortable negligee
as he Chatted with me. He was dress
ed in black with a coat Of silk poplin
and an unbuttoned vest. which showed
a Wild Of white shirt. His
were as easy as his clothes
and his personal magnetism was such
that l came to the interview tired and
went away rested and fresh as a daisy.
Indeed, this was to me one of the re-
markable features Of the evening. I
had had a long and hard day in my
library, and had been compelled to do
another big newspaper interview when
l received the information that Mr..
Bryan would see me. l was mentally
| SO fatigued that I wanted to postpone
the appointment, but dared not risk
doing SO. Nevertheless, that tired feel
ing seemed to disappear almost as
oOn as l shook hands with Mr.. Bryan,
and after two hours conversation I
came away a new man.
The interview was not one of cut
n dried questions and It
was not an interview at all, but rather
q running chat about this thing and
that, drifting from Dan to Beersheba
as the stream Of talk flowed. I did
not care to discuss the tariff, foreign
questions, nor the new schemes of the
administration for banks and what
not; for every one knows how the
Secretary of State stands as to them.
I preferred to talk Of things personal,
moral and ethical, rather than pOliti-
cal And 90 I hrnu0ht I'M C11Nh mot
tiers as education, oratory, character
building and getting on in the world.
We chatted Of travel in many coun-
tries. and Of strange religions, and Of
Christianity as the best Of the lot. I
wanted to know something bou the
organs and about Mr.. Bryan himself
and how he came to be what he is.
r He was a little chary in discussing
such matters. Nevertheless l got him
: to talking and he gave me much in
$ the present Of a little biography-or /
! might say autobiOgraphy-for it was
e written by Mrs. Bryan, with whom Mr.
i Bryan is n l will let his words and
t her manuscript unite in giving some
bits of the story.
n The Secretary told me he was the
! fourth of nine children, that he was
t born in Salem, Ill, where his fathe,
n came in a wagon from the foot of the
Blue Ridge mountains, not far from
n Culpeper, Va. The Bryans, were com
e paratively poor, and his father work.
a ed on the farm and taught schoo
l. while he was getting his own educa
ton. He graduated at McKendre.
l. College and was a member Of the leg
%islature and a judge before he mad,
,r an unsuccessful campaign for Con
} gress in 1872. The elder Bryan wa
thrifty, and he wned something lik,
III six hundred acres OF Illinois land. H
ic believed in education and the DO,
- h4l
N taught him to read, and his frs
a speeches were made standing on tn
kitchen table where he spoke the les
r sons she made him commit to memo
in ry. She brought the boy up in tn
way he should go. He was only four
I'D teen when he joined the church, an
in he has been a good Presbyterian froI
Of that day to this. Some of his lecture
ifs are excellent sermons: and had h
on been called he would have bee
t greater as a preacher. I ventur
he than he has been as a political orato
at A part Of our conversation relate
Al to education. Mr.. Bryan too a
So academic course at college and studio
p the classics. He thinks his study
Latin and Greek was of great bene
to him; and he says that the ment
is discipline he received from geom'
it'll try has helped him in his public d.
Of bates and ~argumentative work. l CO
dASO sec hO" AlS tdIcu( as dl O1dk
aif has been developed and refined by h
he taste for poetry and good literatur
on, He has always had his book loves al
he favOrite poems. Among the latter a
is those OF William Cullen Bryant, wi
&C. whom he first became acquaint'
i'm through a prize copy Of the poer
re- which he received for making his be
as Grafton in a competitive contest VIII,
ght he was a junior. He thought so mu
.pi- Of this book, that he ave it to M
yer Bryan when he was counting her. 0
mia of the poems in it which he liked b
oh. Is the lode to q Water Fowl o
hat verse OF which he quoted during o
lgh conversation. This verse is:
ach
ted He who from zone to zone
nth Guides through the s
ais thy certain flight,
'out In the long way that 1 must ire
by alone,
VIII lead my steps Alright.