The New York herald., 1921-11-27

all its stages of evolution. 1t is a story
delightfully."- told, with plentiful high
lights of humor.
Geneaiogy is usually laborious read
ing. Not so with the brief and inter-
esting record given here. 1t traces the
ancestry of Theodore Vail back to the
days of the pioneers-about 800 years
ago-to a certain Thomas Vail Cor
Veale), one of the religious self-eXiles
who came to America early in the
seventeenth century-about 1647. It is
interesting to note, as throwing light
on their progeny, that his wife Sarah
was a 'resolute person with a potent
vocabulary" for it is matter of record
that once when righteously defending
herself in some debate she used such
masterful language that she was
brought before a magistrate and sem
fenced to stand with her tongue in a
cleft stick $50 long as the offence COM
mitted by her was read and declared!
Theodore, one of a group of seven
made his appearance in 1S45 in
Carroll county Ohio. "The discipline
in the Vail household was strict at
times" writes the author, "and cor
poral punishment by no means un-
known. We suspect that Phebe Quinby
had a busy and convincing hand and
that little Theodore did not always
escape
At sixteen. after having received the
rudimentary education which the pub
lie schools Of Morristown afforded.
young Vail displayed no unusual talent
,J..la n fc-
ing boy. But his courage--the whole
temper of his ife-was foreshadowed
i'm the words of that irascible old man,
Judge Vail Davis. that boy is always
whistling," Throughout his entire
career his spirit seemed to whistle
above the conflict. AS clerk i'm a drug
store, where the American Magnetic
Company had "A telegraph Office. Vail
first felt the fascination of the wire
1t meant to converse at long distance;
il meant travel and a broader horizon.
The quaint entries in his diary at this
period show something of his mental
progress, but nowhere do they give a
hint of his ambitions for the future.
In after years he used to say that his
chief ambition then was 10 "own a
sable coat and ruby ring.
Somewhere there is this delicious bit
of provincial recording: I'm the eve
ming ! went up to Prayer Meeting and
took a Lady home from such a place
for the first time in my life; she in
turn presented me with a Geranium
leaf. which / kept as mcmento.' %
A little later Vail found q job in the
office of the Western Union Tele-
graph Company at Fortieth street and
Eleventh avenue. in New York city.
The author here gives an interesting
sidelight on these days: "Niblo's Gar
den was popular in that day, and 1t
was there he saw 'Fanchon the
Cricket and fell madly in love with
Maggie Mitchell. who played the lead
ing part Tony Pastors. then on lower
Broadway, was a favorite resort. and
Lester Wallack's s another. Edwin Booth
played Hamlet for a hundred nights.
and young Vail went as often as he
had the money. He went sometimes
when he didn't. have the money--at
least. when he had to borrow 1t. for
these young men were always borrow
ing from one another and nearly al
ways Denln0 WITH lDtlI pdyihdSNtls
Next we find him going West with
his family. who had Joined the great
exodus to the prairies. II was an
unforgetable journey through deep,
continuous woods and long. level fields
Chicago was then big, dirty town,
with sidewalks that stopped down into
the mud and water" Beyond were
vast leagues Of prairie grass After
period Of farming and school teach