Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1919-06-13
CHATTER kun.

On the S0Jnynit.
Ny mental assets woWd give me a
poor rating I presume in the com.
nierce Of modern scholarship when I
went to Washington that autumn with
Senator and Mrs. Wright. Still 1t was
DO smartering that l had, but rather ii
few broad areas of knowledge which
were firmly in my possession. My besC
asset was not mental but spirituai. III
may be allowed 70 say il, in All mod.
eSty. for, therein claim no special al.
vantage, saving. possibly. an unuspal
strength at character in my aunt aud
uncle. Those days the candles were
lighting the best trails of knowledge
All over the land. Never has the gen,
e@ai spirit of this republic been SO
high and admirable as then anu littlc
later. It was to speak, presently. in
the immortal voices Of Whittier. Emer-
sou, Whitman. Greeley ana Lincoln.
/ The dim glow OF the candles had en-
tered their souls and out OF them came
q light that filled the land and was
seen Of all men.
/ The railroads on which we travelled
/ from Utica, the great cities through
which we passed were "a wonder and
IN inspiration to me, was awed by
the grandeur OF Washington Itself. 1
took lodgings with the senator and lis
wife.
Now, Bart" said he. when we had
arrived Pm going to turn you loose
here for little While before put har-
ness on you. Go about for a week or
50 and get the lay OF the land and the
feet OF it, Mrs. Wright will be your
guide until the general situation has
worked its way into your conscious
ness"
II seemed TO me that there was not
room enough In my consciousness for
the great public buildings and the pie
lures and the statues and the vast ma.
chlnery OF the government. Beauty
and magnitude have a wonderful ef-
feet when they spring fresh upon the
vision of youth out of the back coun-
! try. / sang OF the look of them in my
letters and soon began to think about
them and imperfectly TO understand
them. They had their epic, lyric and
dramatic stages Ia my consciousness
One afternoon we went to hear Sem
ator Wright speak. He was to am
sWer Calhoun on d detail of the bank
ing laws. The floor and galleries were
| filled. With what emotion I saw him
rise and begin his argument as all ears
| bent to hear hint He aimed not at
| popular sentiments In highly finished
rhetoric, as did Webster, to be quoted
! in the school books and repeated on
every platform. But no words of mine
land l have used many In the effort
--aie able to convey a notion of the
masterful ease and charm of his man
ner on the floor of the senate or of the
singular modesty, courtesy. aptneSs
and simplicity Of his words as they
fell from his lips. There were the
i thunderous Webster. the grandeur OF
whose sentences no American has
equaled; the agile-minded Clay, whose
voice was like silver clarion; the far
seeing. fiery Calhoun, Of "the swift
sword''--most formidable IN debate
but l was soon to learn that neither
nor all of these men-gifted of heaven
so highly-could cope with the suave,
incisive, conversational sentences Of
Wright. going straight to the heart Of
tire subject ehd laying 1t bare to his
hearers. That was what people were
saying as we left the senate chamber,
late in the evening; that, indeed, was
what they were always saying after
they had heard him answer an adj
versary.
CTo BE CoNTINUED)