South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-01-07
STATESMEN
REAL AND NEAR
BY FRED G. KELLY.

WASHINGTON. Jan. II nOuSn
IA years old, and dignihed. Sen. Au-
gustus o. Bacon. OF Georgia, walks
each morning from his home to the
National Zoo, a distance OF mile or
two, and spends an hour with the
wild animals before breakfast-be-
fore his own breakfast.
Night sessions OF the senate never
prevent Bacon from getting up ih
time to put in his early morning hour
with the wild beasts. He finds that
there is nothing like these confer
ences with the monkeys and leOpards
and zebraS to rest his mind from the
cares Of statecraft. AT such times he
waves aside senatorial dignity and
mingles among the animals with the
utmost infOrmality. He talks TO them
simply as man TO lion, or man TO
zebra, ano all lines of inequality are
lose sight of. The animals think Of
him not as a United States senator.
but as a pleasant acquaintance who
never fails TO have a pocket filled
with peanuts or sugar or something
to make his visit worth while.
And Sen. Bacon never comes away
from the zoo until he has learned
something new about animals-sOme
I little characteristic or physical item
that ne never noticed before.
The other day a senator was talk
I ing I'm one of the cloakroOms about
bear hunt-how they tracked a
/ bear for several miles through the
snow.
do you know what bears track
looks like" asked Bacon.
The senator who had been on the
hunt didn't know except in a rough,
/ general way
Il do" smiled Bacon; Its like
this" And he drew a picture of the
/ bOtt-m of a bear paw. You see,
he said, lit is much like the track
of a negro boy"
He had spent an hour at the bear
| cages in the zoo that morning.
! Bacon has a great habit of watch
/ ing the doings of the squirrels in the
/ parks, too.
The other day he reached a senate
session a trifle late. He had started
in plenty Of time, but paused for half
an hour in the capitol grounds to
witness the operations of squirrel
| burying a nut.
All this has made Bacon about the
most Obseryant member Of the SEN
ate. Not detail about the appear
! ance of any of his associates ever
| escapes him. If another senator
( comes UP smiling with new necktie
/ or a new haircut, Bacon notices it in
| stantly.
senator couldn't find his hat Others
at the table were helping to hunt it.
You didn't have any hat when you
came in here" declared Bacon. 1T
/ must be upstairs" And it was.
Though he was the Oldest man in
| the group, he was the only one who
/ had that much power Of observation.
Sen. Bristow of Kansas was say
ing not long ago that official position
| has never given him the feeling of
| Importance he enjoyed back in his
| school days when he wrote a certain
anonymous series of articles for the
! local paper. 1t occurred to BriStow
that If somebody would write up the
| funny characteristics of few of
| the professors at his school, il would
| make good reading. He went to the
| editor of the little paper in that town
and placed the proposition before
| him. The editor agreed to print them
and to keep the writer's identity sec
! ret
Bristow began to write the letters
to the paper, making sport of his
| professors, and in a short time the
whole town was talking about them,
for they made a hit Wherever Bris-
! tow went he met persons who were
| talking about the cleverness of the
letters and wondering who the au-
thor might be.
No one ever found out that Bris-
tow WAS the author but the talk
about him, nevertheless, gave him a
great sense of Importance. He was
mutH more proud of himself than he
has ever been since.
Edwin F. Sweet, assistant secretary
of commerce. has a peculiar hobby.
Instead OF collecting stamps or money
or hotel keys, he collects smoking car
acquaintance. He likes to see how
many pleasant people he can fall in
with when travelling on trains. So
far he has had great luck at this. and
has not taken a trip of any conse-
quence for years without meeting
somebody worth engaging in CONVEX
sation on matters and topics.
DR.. ]. B. Aswell, one of the Louis
lana congressman, has a habit OF
dashing out to some town every once
in a while and delivering a scholarly
lecture. A few weeks ago he did this.
and the official starter introduced
him as follows:
Il am not a speechmaker and
shall not bore you with a long speech.
but shall introduce at once the man
who will"
Miss Alice George, secretary 10
Rep. Henry George. jr. OF New
York, is an enthusiastic suffragist.
The other day she met up with a
crowd of society women who were
antl-suffs.
II hope we'll meet at the ballot
box some day." said Miss George. by
way OF being agreeable.
I'D rather die" replied George
without the loss of a second, Il hope
{ you do"
The full name of Rep. Dyer, OF
Missouri. is LeonidaS Carstarpher
Dyer. but he maintains a cheerful
disposition and enjoys life as much
as anyone.
/. Copyright. 1914. by Fred c. Kelly
All rights reserYed.l
MRS. AST0R GETS