The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-06-09

in June, 1881. stepped forth before ad-
miring friends and relatives as the vale
dictorian OF his class-hiehest honor
man also-of Illinois College.
But ffteen brief hut crowded years
later, when the same william Jennings
Bryan, now richer In experience throush
service In the Fifty-second and FIFTY
third Congresses and statewide stump
ing across Western p~raiiies. stood up IN
n Chicago convention hopelessly divid'd
against itself. all the nation, from Port
land. Ore. to Portland, Me. and Canada
10 the Gulf sat up and took notice the
minute he had said his say.
And thereupon the Roy Orator OF the
Platte became the hoy candidate Tor
President OF the United states. the
American to receive this high
est honor. so youthful" In fact that had
he been born a year later than he was
ne would have been ineligible under the
Constitution for the nomination.
Thereafter the habit OF at least nomi-
mating MIR. Bryan for President became
next to q~usdrennially chronic with his
party. But. as the youngest voters
youngster remembers without being
told. the nearest Mr.. Bryan ever got 10
the White House was on that balmy
March morning two years ago, when ne
bounced in wreathed In smiles as Secre-
tary OF State high hat far back on his
thinning locks and. THE SuN reporter
who saw him enter that day remembers,
as happy az a small boy with a new
dollar watch.
A single speech Made Him.
A single speech. almost a single
phrase in a peroration, not only broughi
20 a Democratic convention for the hrsl
time in nifty years the lions share oil
publicity and public attention, but tha'
epeech and the cross and crown phrase
al Chicago in 1896 elevate Mr.. Bryan
in a single hour all the way UP TO world
wide fame. And in consequence for al
most a score Of years he has beer
listened to on all subjects from free sill
yer to grape juice.
And then. sixteen years after his six
teen to one entrance into the nationa
mind the climax came as he strobe Int
the Baltimore convention on a June da.
armed with a palm leaf fan and Ideas
which before two days of July hat
passed got for Mr.. Bryan about every
thing he wanted from that convention
except the great prize of nomination
itself.
He sailed into the money devils Ions
before the convention which made Mr.
Wilson its nominee had got its rea
stride at all. He established a branc
new practice by insisting successful,
upon having the platform read before a
nomination was made, thereby mailing
the. candidate to the platform whethel
the candidate liked Il or not.
There were Kisses and catcalls an'
sven worse every time the bald heat
and Tapping alpaca coat. baggy trousef|
and palm leaf fan went crowding pas
close pressing knees and clinoed u
the. ros;rum. The worse than hisse'
n c~atcalls came from the front row
seats occupied by Gumshoe Bill stone
Nissourians who had come there TO M
shown why Champ Clark shouldn't &c
the big plum.
Won All But Nomination.
What Missourians spat vocally n
Bryan as he worked his way pas; thes
front row seats could be heard not onl!
by Mr.. Bryan. hut for many rows bacl
in the press stand also. He neNe
showed by face or gesture that the VII
names yelled at him had reached hi
ears. But when on the third OF Jul.
the Missourians and all the rest wer
packing up to catch the homebount
trains Mr.. Bryan. no matter how bit
ter his disappointment nay have bee
IN not being nominated In n year whe'
nomination was almost certainly equiva
lent to election. made his exit laugh
ingly for as a floor manager he ha'
put II over"
As they say of successful actors o
baseball pitchers. Mr.. Bryan "ha'
everything when IL came to equipmen
upon taking u? a political career-en
ergy. great ambition, words unoI
words and "A remarkably good speakinI
voice with which to deliver them, an
that abstract something called person
alitS. If the fates had directed h!
frs steps toward the dramatic stag
ne doubtless could have taken first ram
among the foot dragging, blank vers
delivering traRedians of his m
Even heredity was with him., for hi
father was n public man before hin
Sllas Lillard Bryan was his father,
Nirginian who had gone to Illinois /
his youth. whore after a college cours
and admission to the bar he opened
law Office AT Salem, H., and in tim
became "A State senator ANA "A Judg
O! the Circuit Court OF Illinois.
The mother of William %Jcnning
Bryan was Marian Elizabeth tJennings
Bryan. The home at Salem. wher
Bryan was born was on u farm, som
acres of which were reserved hy Judg
and Mrs, Bryan AS a pli} ground IL
their nine children, Of whom WilliaI
Jennings was the fourth,
Is 81 Years Old.
william Jennings Bryan was born n
Salem on March 10, 1850. His prepare
tory school training .od to matriculatio
IN Illinois College. whore he won nc
only the highest honors told OF abov
and the choice OF his class as valedic
torian but also IN 1881 the degree r
bachelor Of arts. Two wears later I'nio
College of Law in Chicago made him
full nedCed lawyer, and he was nd
mittcd To the Illinois bar the same yea
The young lawyer put out his fir,
shinglc at Jacksonville, H., tina, Yea
and practised there steadily for fol
years, SO far as history records onl
one notable event happened during thos
four years, and that was IN the sccon
year OF his practice, when an October
1884, he journeyed 10 Perry, M, an
wac married to Miss Mary ElIzahet
Baird.
II was In 1887 that Mr.. Bryan too
Horace Grceley's ancient advice. packc
up his law books and started ives
AT Lincoln, Neb., h. got oft the trai
and started all over again. Less tina
tive years 81 practice in Nebraska an
frequent exhibitions Of the clio .utionar
gifts for which he had been noted nlmo,
from the time his voice ~"chauged' ycai
before had brought young Bryan 4
prominently before his ncighhOrs of III
First Nebraska Congress district this
in 1891 they sent him To the Fifty.secon
Congress to represent them.
He served through the Fifty-sccor
and ElftN-tntrI I'gtntt..E.4 ,. fx.,. -