The Washington herald., 1914-06-25
Stats.sm.en, Real and Near.
Bv FRED c. KELLY.

1 r4oE great mail sc-t@ @<-"-t- -~N-N-
ing. now member Of Congress from
Colorado. was couhrmed bachelor-one
Iof those blatant bachelors who 50 about
extensively boasting about the joys and
advantages Of their state. He was editor
OF newspaper in Denver in those days.
and every time one of his young employees
got married Keating would drop around
with dubious expression his face and
make some disparagins comment, such
as:
"You think two can live as cheap as
one, hey?" Or
do you expect to keep wife on the
money you're making here2"
Then he would walk away shaking his
head.
| One night there was a big wedding in
Denver. and along about 1850 O'Clock the
society editor came into Keating's Office
TO make Inquiry about something. She
paused to tell him. with much enthu-
siasm. about the lovely wedding she
had just attended The bride was ex-
tremely beautiful. It seemed, with COM
pIexion like the peaches one sees under
pink netting. Somehow or other the ac-
count of the marriage of so charming a
creature caught Keating's interest, and
he asked the society editor for more de-
tails. Realizing that IL was perhaps the
first time that the managing editor had
ever taken even the slightest interest in
a wedding account, the society editor
talked animatediy OF the apparent Joy
and happiness In store for the young
people. -..
While listening TO the recital. Heating
stared into the face of the society editor
| and noted something that he had en-
tirely overlooked prior, to that moment.
viz: that the society editor was herself
| an attractive young person and that she
/ was not like other women at all. He
looked at her again and their eyes met
in funny little exchange OF glances. In
stantly something in Keating's mental
makeup that had been out OF place drop
ped into its proper slot and he was a
changed man.
1T might be a splendid idea for you
and TO get married." gravely remarked
| Keating. when the young woman had
finished her account Of the wedding.
Coming from a nah who had devoted
many years to lambasting marriage, II
was a startling suggestion Not so much
because she desired TO marry Keating as
| because she thought il would be a rich
joke on him. the young woman promptly
said that she thought his idea was a
good one.
For an hour after that. Reating who
had so recently been a cynical bachelor.
| sat mushily talking about fats and fur
nIture and how awful IL must be to go
through life without having some one to
| care for.
week later they were married, and
both Keating and Mrs. Heating have
been more than reconciIed TO the step
ever since.
When Senator Lowrence Y. Sherman.
| OF Illinois, was made city attorney at
Macomb. Ill. he discovered one day an
old poll tax law that was hanging on n
nail. as one might say. like a discarded
vest. back in the legislative wardrobe.
There was not a rip or a break or
| soup stain on the poll tax law, and yet
il was stuck away and not doing any
body a bit Of good. Sherman thought II
| would be fine idea to get II 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 strets. or pay 3 to the
sinking fund or else be cast into prison.
For many days after that announce
ment Sherman was only a wee tribe
more popular in the community than II
he had been an escaped wildcat.
Nearly everybody declared that they
| would see Sherman In q certain we'll
known populous center. which they men
toned rather than submit to the poll
tax. But Sherman was insistent and
! finally everybody submitted except two
men, II was a matter OF principle with
them, II seemed. and they would not
| work out or paw any poll tax for any
body. One Of them moved his family 20
another town. where the law was less
rigidly enforced, and the other went to
jail.
"one of the great troubles with this
life" remarked Senator Charles S.
Thomas, Of Colorado, in a philosophical
mood one day. "is 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 de-
sired TO marry her beyond anything 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 be-
yond anything he ever dreamed OF. But
maybe he didn't succeed in winning her
consent for some time, or the marriage
was delayed. and finally when he did
marry her he had grown so accustomed
to her that he took II all as a matter Of
course. II was that way with my COM
ing to the Senate. I can remember when
| a seat in the Senate would have given
me a real thrill-a thrill such as would
have known il could have ridden in a
| circus parade when I was a small boy.
But when finally got to the Senate, the
idea had been in my head too long. The
big thrill failed TO spark"
+ I bv Nd q EaJ1y izkf