Evening star., 1923-05-13
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL r. KENNEDY.


win his way to Congress. He is TO-
day operating an institute in Big
Rapids, Mich, but feels that nothing
he is teaching out of modern books
and lecture courses is as worthwhile
as the simple lesson his father taught
him many years ago with that old
spool and jackknife.
II was reared on a, farm four miles
from a small village" says Repre-
sentative Ferris. "In my early boy
hood | occasionally went to the viii
lage with father. My father, in order
to supply the needs Of the family,
walked to the village once a week.
"One day when ] discovered that
father was going to the village, l,
said to him, Please buy me a top. I
want a top such as (naming several
playmates) have and play with at
school.
lie said, 'I am not going to buy
you q top
II said, 4 want to have top. How
am ] going to get u top"
He said. Make 1t He then took
from his pocket his large jackknife,
opened it, and said. Take this knife.
Go to your mother and ask her for an
empty spool From the spool whittle
out your own top
II obcyed orders. In a few minutes
| came back with his knife.
"IIe said, Where is the top?'
II said. i do not want any top.
The spool is too hard for me to
Whittle
'IIe said. reopening the knife, Go
back and finish that top, or ! will
finish YOU
Again / oboyed orders, and when /
had finished the top I returned his
II nj md hn he I,o
f1oor. lie said. That is a good top
|, of course. was delighted.
That was one of tho first lessons
that my father taught me in the fine
art or finishing every good thing /
undertook" commented Representa-
tive Ferris. when 1 came to man
hood. / discovered that he had kept
"A close eye on all of my undertakings.
Whenever ] began the making of a
toy. he had guided me to the compile
son as the most valuable that my
father ever taught me-
X y x X
Representative II. RI. Peavey of
Washbufn. Wis, is another editor
who. having devoted some years TO
molding public opinion, is now com
ing to Congress to help pass laws in
answer TO the demands of that self
same public opinion.
Representative Peavey lived in the
northwest when it was young. and
grew robust through brocho-busting
and other range sports which the
sophisticated youngsters Of the east
look upon as the lurid fantasies of
imaginative scenario writers.
His parents moved in an immigrant
wagon to Redwood county. Mimi, in
the spring of 1885. They settled on
an eighty acre homestead BIizzards.
grasshoppcrs and muskrats were
about the only plentiful things that
Representative Peavey can recall
during his younger days, He cele-
brated his seventh birthday with his
first pair of red top boots, costing
Sl"o. lie had earned the money
trapping muskrat hides at . to cents
each.
But Peavey was fortunate in his
early education for. though his par
ents moved to Minnesota from Wis
cohSin in Il covered wagon drawn by
a team of mules. his mother. because
OF her superior education, was imme-
ma am. His mother owed her educa-
tion to the fact that she had been
sent with her two brothers to Usage
Iowa, a United States soldiers or
phan school. her father having died
in the civil war.
Al seventeen Peavey accepted the
faith of that great compatriot, Horace
Greely. and went out west to South
Dakota. where he learned to bust
bronchos. ride the range and keep his
mouth shut.
I'm politics 1 have much in common
with such standpatters as Chief JUS
tice Taft. Lodge and Lenroot" he
admits. lin that all of us great fell
lows are native born and use the same
kind of money. On all other uues-
Al.
best social forms. we would appear
quite uniformly to disagree, due no
doubt to my early wild life on the
plains
II never could get used to the idea
of tying my horse he dryly remarks.
Il always wanted to just slide the
relns over his head and trust him
TO ne there upon my return. other
wise l reckon, | am about the same
character of guzzaboo as the rest
or the new litter of congressional
Kittens that were born last fall and
are due to get their eyes opened dur
ing the epoch of historical time. de-
Scrihed as the opening of the Sixty
eighth Congress-
In peace and in war Representative
and Col. \. Piatt Andrew of AIassa-
chusetts has served his country as
pretty decent all-around American
citizen. He has recently passed the
fftieth milestone OF very active
life. varied by many important public
services. He is real American of
Scotch. English, Irish and French an
cestors, who settled in America in
pre-revolutionary days. His father
served four years in the civil war.
being artillery captain at the age
OF tWenty-one.
He was educated at universities of
princeton, Harvard, Berlin and Paris.
lie taught economics at Harvard for
eight years. including courses of 500
men. He has written and edited much
urcn economic SUBJECTS
before the war. he was director OF
the mint. 190S-9; first assistant sec
retary of the Treasury, 1909-12, and
expert adviser. 190S-12. OF the Ma
tional Monetary Commission which
framed the federal reserve act and
saved the country from panics during
the war.
During the war. for four and one
half years he served in France with
the French. later with the United
states Army. from December, 1914. to
May 1918. He organized and directed
American field service with the
french army consisting of forty
tour volunteer ambulance and trans
pert sections. including 2.4Go Ameri-
voiuhteeTs) peIore the United
States entered the war. He was
awarded the croiN de guerre and
medal of the Legion OF Honor by the
French army and the istfnguished-
service lnecal by the United States
Army.
AS a citizen. Mr.. Andrew was the
treasurer of the National Organiza-
tlon Of the American Red Cross.
ls1o-12. and delegate to the inter-
national conference of the Red Cross
IN l9l2. He was director of the
american Field Service Fe1lowships
for Erannh r,,i,,