South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-06-25
STA ESMEN
REAL AND NEAR
BY FRED C. KELLY.

WASHINGTON a great many
years Edward Heating. now a mem
Der Of congress from Colorado. was
confirmed bachelor-one of those blat-
ant bachelors who go about offensive
ly boasting about the joys and advan-
tages of their state. He was editor of
"A newspaper in those days, and every
time one of his young employees got
married Heating would drop around
with a dubious expression on his face
and make some disparaging comment,
such as:
You think two can live as cheap as
one. hey?"
do you expect TO keep a wife on
/ the money you're making here?"
! Then he would walk away shaking
his head.
\ One night there was a big wedding
! in Denver, and along about 1880
\ o'clock the society editor came into
Keating's office TO make inquiry about
something. She paused to tell him,
with much enthusiasm, about the
charming wedding she had just at
I tended. The bride was extremely
beautiful, ii seemed, with COM
pleXion like the peaches one sees under
pink netting. Somehow or other the
account of the marriage of so lovely
/ creature caught keating'S interest, and
he asked the society editor for more
details. Realizing that it was perhaps
the first time that the managing edi-
I tor had ever taken even the slightest
interest in a wedding account, the So
ciety editor talked animatedly of the
apparent joy and happiness in store
for the young people.
( While listening to the recital, Keat-
4 ing stared into the face of the society
editor and noted something that he
had entirely overlooked prior to that
moment, viz: that the society editor
was herself an attractive young per-
son and that she was not like other
women at all. He looked at her again
and their eyes met in a funny little
exchange of chances. Instantly some
thing in Keatings mental makeup that
had been out of place dropped into it's
proper slot and he was a changed
man.
1T might be a splendid idea for you
and l to get married" gravely re-
woman had finished her account Of
the wedding.
Coming from a man who had devot-
ed many years to lambasting marriage,
il was a startling suggestion. Not so
much because she desireh to marry
Heating Ss because She thought 1t
" >
woman promptly said that she
thought his idea was a good one.
For an hour after that, Heating,
who had so recently been a cynical
bachelor, sat mushily talking about
flats and furniture and how awful it
must be to go through life without
having some one to care for.
A week later they were married, and
both Heating and Mrs. Heating have
been more than reconciled to the step
ever since.
When Sen. Lawrence Y. Sherman of
Illinois was made city attorney at Ma
comb ILL.,, he discovered one day an
old poll tax law that was hanging on
nail, as one might say, like dis
carded vest, back in the legislative
wardrobe There was not a rip or a
break or a soup staiQ on the poll tax
law, and yet it waSstuck away and
not doing anybody a bit of good. Sher-
man thought 1t would be fine idea
to get it out and put il TO some use.
So he announced one balmy spring
morning that every able-bodied man
would be expected to do a given
amount of work on the streets. or pay
50 to the sinking fund, or else be cast
into prison.
For many days after that announce
ment Sherman was only a wee trifie
more popular in the community than
if he had been an escaped wildcat.
Nearly everybody declared that they
would see Sherman in a certain we'll
known populous center, which they
mentioned, rather than submit to the
poll tax. But Sherman was insistent
and finally everybody submitted except
two men. 1t was a matter of principle
/ with them, it seemed, and they would
not work out or pay any poll tax for
anybody. One of them moved his
family to another town, where the
law was less rigidly enforced, and the
other went to Jail.
i lone of the great troubles with this
life" remarked Sen. Charles S. Thomas
of Colorado in a philosophical mood
one day. lis that a great many of the
things most desired come too late to
give the maximum degree of pleasure.
You have often known some young
man who fell madly in love with a girl
and desired to marry her beyond any
thing else in the world If he could
have married her just when he first
wished TO he might have felt a sense of
JOY clear beyond anything he ever
dreamed of. But maybe he didn't
I succeed in winning her consent for
some time. or the marriage was delay
ed, and finally when he did marry her
he had grown so accustomed to her
that he took il all as a matter of
course. II was that way with my COM
ing to the senate. l can remember
when a seat in the senate would have
given me a real thrill--a thrill such
as / would have known if ! could have
ridden in a circus parade when l was
q small boy. But when / finally got
to the senate, the idea had been in my
head too long. The big thrill failed to
spark"
Copyright. 1914. by Fred c. Kelly
THE PRESIDENTS POWER.
Sen. Cummins says the president
has Obliterated congress. OF course.
the senator. when he makes that as
sertion, must be regarded as a po-
litical opponent Of the president, and
al arn..l 10 10 L.