The Washington herald., 1913-01-26
By JAMES d. MORROW.

New Haven. Conn, Jan. 5.-The greet
ing ! got was ceremonious, but not un-
cheerful Simeon E. Baldwin,. for
Eben-one of the great Democrats of
the country, and now for the second time
the Governor of Connecticut, sat in an
ancient chair OF colonial pattern and
looked at me with primness and civility.
There was TO be no waste Of language
that was manifest The atmosphere was
the warmth of gladness. which. in the
interviewing business, opens the buds of
conversation and fruitens them into anec-
dotes, as well as the comedies and trag~
edies OF life.
Il am ready" said the Governor. The
tone given the words made me feel Ike
a dentist, though the Governor betrayed
no alarm IN his countenance. Indeed, his
eyes seemed kindly and his voice SYM
pathetic The first question was asked
rather stif1y. I suppose. There was q
pause. He is thinking" I said to my
self. We gazed steadily at each other
for a moment-he indulgent and I ex-
pectant.
II am waiting" he presently remarked.
for you to get ready to write down my
answer"
But never take notes" I replied
in some defiance.
Il insist that you shall this time"
said the Governor quietly. though decis-
lively. Il have had experience with
magazine writer's"
But I am a newspaper man." I ex-
plained without any show OF humility
or prejudice.
The CLINT OF a smile shone out of the
Governors blue and spectacled eyes. He
wavered an instant. I would prefer"
he said, and command was in his speech.
that you make sure OF 1t and put my
answer into writing"
but have no paper" replied. seek
ing help in a feeble attempt at general
ship.
Outmnneuyers the interviewer.
"Hdre is some" and the Governor,
amused no doubt at my pueriIe strategy,
put into my reluctant hand a coarse. yel-
low tablet and lead pencil that had not
been sharpened for a long time 1 wrote
on my rebellious knees while he dictated.
He never hesitated TO think for the word
he wanted. He did not ask to have any
OF his sentences read aloud that he might
change their syntax, get their connection
or hear their sound Like a good surgeon.
he went straight ahead in a perfect
knowledge of his ground. Precise,
formal, practical. and shrewd are the
four words which describe his methods
and his character.
That is Mr.. Sherman, of Connecticut"
q
Philadelphia who was watching a ses-
sion OF the Continental Congress THAT
is Mr.. Sherman. OF Connecticut, a man
who never said a foolish thing in his
life" And John Adams declared that
Roger Sherman. the eleventh signer Of
the Declaration of Independence, its
author. in fact together with Jefferson,
Benjamin Franklin, Philip Livingston
and Adams himself, 'is one OF the most
sensible men in the world Simeon E.
Baldwin is Sherman's great-grandson. He
comes down on the other side of his fam
lily from the Puritan immigrants who set
tied New Haven in 1888 Nevertheless,
the interview, 1 dare say. would have
been more human and descriptive without
notes.
II could see you." the Governor wrote
me in advance. ''at my Office. which is
opposite the post-office." He spends a
day each week at Hartford, the State
capital. The rest Of the time he lives
and works in New Haven. Opposite
the post-ofice'' strips him Of all pride
and ostentatiOn. The descendant of Roger
Sherman, the son of a United States
Senator. the professor of constitutional
law at Yale since 1872, and the Governor
of Connecticut might have told me that
the post-ofice was across the street from
his own chambers. Sherman, a great
judge, a Senator in Congress, and the
Mayor of New Haven for many years
lives even now in the simplicity and the
mOdesty OF his learned and eminent
great-grandson. He was a shoemaker
while a young man and walked with his
tools from Newton, in Massachusetts,, to
New Milford, in Connecticut, a distance
of 900 miles. perhaps, cobbling the boots
OF the colonists for his board and lodg-
ing. Gov. Baldwin would repeat the per-
formance were he a shoemaker and were
ii necessary.
How He Keeps in Health.
I found the office in a shabby building,
up one pair of stairs, and well toward
the end of a long hall. which, during
daytime at least, is filled with shadows
and the gloom Of twilight. Simeon E
Baldwin, his name and nothing more,
is painted in gilt letters on a black
sign over the door. The five small rooms
heated by three stoves, are crammed
with law books. There was bicycle
in one Of them. On the mantel in an
other 1 saw bottle of lubricating oil,
several wrenches, a roll OF tape for
punctured tires, and an extra saddle.
You are almost seventy-three years
DID, said to the Governor at the end
Of our formal interview, "and can still
do a good days work"
That is so,'' he replied. 1 now Quote
from memory. 'T can do a good days
work because L have looked after my
health and taken vigorous exercise reg
,larly. such exercise as walking. rowing.
horseback riding, and bicycling"
What distance can you walk?' I
asked
"A year or so ago I covered thirty
miles one day. I could do IT again, IL I
wanted to-"
We were standing up and I noted his
long, muscular legs, his lean, straight
body, the sparkle IN his eyes, and the
fresh color that the weather has burned
into his face. His beard, once tawny,
has turned nearly white. He wore dark
clothing and an unstarched shirt. An
aged man in years, but not in looks, nor
m his view Of questions and events. The
Legislature of Connecticut, at his recon-
mendation, passed the first law in the
United States regulating aerial naviga-
ton. "One of these days" he said, "a
flying machine will fall to the ground
and hurt somebody or damage property.
Something could be dug out Of the law.
possibly, to cover the case, but there
would be long fight We had better
write statute into the books"
Works with the Third Wing.
Political parties, he. has observed to
his friends. have three factions, or
wings, as he calls them. One wing is
far ahead, one lags behind. while the |
third stays In the center and pulls the |
forward wing back and the backward |
wing forward. He says he naturally be- |
longs TO the wing in the center. Men
who know him Intimately believe that