The Washington herald., 1914-03-04
Statesmen, Real and Near.
BY FRED 81 KELLY.

Il 1
/ II Is doubtful II another man In Con
gress ever hit on SO delectabie q methos
for studying law as that adopted soms
Years ago by Denver S. Church, now 8
Representative from California.
/ Church had desired to be a lawyer
tneariy all his life. but by the time he wa,
through regular college work, Ne was 81
sick and tired of stuffy classrooms thai
he hadn't the heart to take up law oil
anything else that would keep him abou
q college any longer. The thought oi
Office with musty odor, like the insids
Of an olden-time Connecticut clock
i that was equally distasteful.
So instead OF studying law, Church
got married. He also began to operate
q little dairy farm.
But after year OF that he began Il
yearn to practice law and spellbind jurie,
for a living.
One balmy May day he put eight 81
nine large law books and a lot OF Other
things into a spring wagon and beckonet
to his wife.
Come on" said Church. breeziiy
were all going to law school"
His wife, naturally enough. began tc
ask him a great many questions.
It's all arranged" said Church; 1--WE
got a man to look after the dairy for q
few months while we're at law school
Come on"
But what about the baby?"
We'll take the baby to law school,
too"
After he had made few more ex.
plantations. they all got into the little
wagon and set out to the law school
Church had picked.
1t was a little clearing near a pretty
little purling trout stream of in the
woods ten or twelve miles from the near
est habitation.
Church rigged up a little lean-to which
served as their sleeping apartments. din
iDg-room. and nursery. He used a
grassy plot under a nearby tree for his
study"
Every morning he got up bright and
early and studied two or three hours.
after which his wife would quiz" him
to see IL he had mastered the difference
between a tort and a heriditament and
various other grave essentials Of the
law.
After that he usually went fishing and
hunting to provide food. They always
had plenty of rainbow trout and venison
on hand and really Jared mighty well
considering that he was merely working
his way. through law school Moreover.
while sitting by the brook fishing or
waiting for a shot at a deer or a bird,
Church had plenty Of time for reflection
over his studies. He did not fritter away
hk time at theaters and poolrooms the
way SO many promising young law stu
dents do.
When the mountain air got too cod.
Church went Sack to town and his dairy.
but he returned to his outdoor law
school the following spring for another
term. At the close of the second term
he was able to go back to civilization.
incarcerate himself in store clothes. and
pass the bar examinations.
Besides his knowledge OF law, Church
had also acquired rugged health for mini
self and his family.
Ever since then Church has never
failed to return to the wilderness scenes
Of his legal education, like a dutiful
alumnus of the woodland solitudes.
Today he owns a summer home and a
ao-acre ranch there in the mountains
where he pitched his tent to study law.
When Representative Simeon ID. Fess.
Of Ohio, was up in New York while
ago making a speech at big banquet
he fell in with Hamilton Holt. editor Of
a New York magazine.
Holt readily saw that Fess was a
man OF unusual scholarship and sapience,
and asked him IL he wouldn't write him
an article or two for his magazine at
the usual rates.
We'll, / can't promise" replied Fess-
"a Congressmaa's life is a rather busy
one, of course, and I don't have much
:ime for writing articles, much as /
should like to. What would you want
me to write about?"
"Oh, anything at ALL" said Holt. well
leave that to you. But please write Us
something" he coaxed.
Still Fess wouldn't promise, though
Holt was insistent
A week or two later Fess got to think
ing that 1t was rather mean not to oblige
Editor Holt, and he sat up one night
to prepare a learned article for the
magazine He sat up again the next
night polishing up the piece. and though
he went about yawning for a day or
so thereafter, he at least had the satis-
faction of knowing that he had done
something to boost the general average
of current literature, besides obliginS
Editor Holt.
About ten days after he had sent the
article to the magazine, Fess received a
bulky envelope in the mail. 1t contained
his little piece and a rather formally
worded printed slip which read:
THE rejection Of this article does not
necessarily imply lack of merit, etc"
Copyright 1914. by Fred e. Kelly. Al rights
reserIed.)