Evening star., 1923-06-10
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.


achieved notable position in Con-
Eress through hard-working devotion
Of his loyal and brilliant "better
three-fourths," as he calls his wife.
in 1918 he went overseas and spent
July and August with the boys at
the front, to learn first hand how he
could best serve them in Congress.
On the return trip the Army trans
port on which he was a passenger
was torpedoed some 800 miles off the
coast of Brest. SO he knows from
personal experience the dangers and
trials of the American sailor as we'll
as soldier. He has been to the depths
or the ocean in submarine and has
scared to the heights of heaven in
an airship.
Representative Schall is descended
from one of the earliest families in
virginia and his ancestors have
fousht In all the wars since the rev.
oiution, his father having fought
throughout the entire civil war on
the Union side. He died when young
Tom was three years old His
mother had to fall back on the use
or her hands to earn their living and
Representative SchalI tells something
Of the story thus:
Her Job took her and me to the
pacH ends OF hotels and restaurants,
so / got my start in life back there
where the garbage. tin cans and the
hies and the profanity were thickest."
In tribute to his mother he says:
mother gave me all she had. Be-
cause or her lack, she instilled in
me the necessity of an education, laid
IN me the foundation of right and
wrong, taught me honesty and graft
.uue ana gave me that larger
heritage of iirm faith in God"
He earned his education. lie
blacked boots. sold newspapers. gath
cred buffalo bones on the prairie Of
minnesota, picked UP old iron, sold
books. sold clothes, cleaned furnaces.
milked cows. hoed potatoes herded
cattle, broke bronchos, worked in
the harvest field. drove oxen. One
summer he raised onions on rented
ground and his entire proceeds for his
"nole summers work amounted to Is
cents. He cleaned spittoons in a sa-
a
40 cents cord, ran a hand laundry
ana an ice cream stand. worked in a
brick yard, did janitor work, sold
bath cabinets. played bush league
base ball, which gave him his first
taste of gentler life.
In eighteen intercoIlegia base ha II
games in 1899 he welded the bat with
an average Of .526. He won SO and
a COW in prize fight at Orronville.
Mimi, against pugilist OF some re-
pute He also won cash prizes at
wrestling. He won prizes in every
oratorical contest during his time in
the University of Minnesota sum
ming. it all up, he says: Life was
one hard, grim struggle for daily
bread
What Of House Leader Mondelrs
successor in Congress? He is Charles
E. Winter of Casper. wyo., and he has
already won fame as LAWYER. as
judge of the Wyoming courts. as a
novelist OF western life and author of
the state song. His father was
Methodist clergyman from whose
grave the young mother returned res
olutely home to make a living and
educate her family of nine children.
Here is Representative Winters
own story of his first republican vic
tory: MY public school experience
and my first political battle occurred
In the historical capital of Springfield.
Ill. at the age Of six, in the centen-
MAJ year OF 1875. in the Hayes and
Tilden campaign.
Wishing to offset the activities of
my democratic neighbor boys. Patsy
and Dinny Grant. I became the proud
possesser of torch to be carried at
the tai end Of a republican parade.
one of whom recall actually sawed
on the limb of a tree between him
self and the tree trunk, bullied and
teased me, in order to discourage NV
boyish efforts to lengthen and make
more impressive the republican pa
rade. Finally, driven almost to des-
peration by his unbearable interfer-
ence with me in the exercise OF my
political activities, ] thrust my fam
ing torch under the tail end of his
coat. Ill an unguarded moment The
-asult was a surprised bully and a
routed democratic oppressor, who fed
from the scene. CRYING for some one
to put him out I remained a con-
queror by right of victory, and
proudly carried my torch throughout
the parade
Here's another little story OF an
early success by q noted member of
Congress. Senator Morris Sheppard
who recently broke the senatorial
record for long distance impromptu
orstory, tells how his first public
speech paid him bigger dividends
than most of those he has since
made
He had no difficulty in his boy
hood days in committing to memory
some of the masterpieces of eio-
quence in the English tongue, both
prose ana poetry. Among his favor
ties was Campbell's "Hohenlinden"
and he could recite the stirring lines
beginning with "on Linden, when the
sun was low" etc. with considerable
effect. One Sunday when the Texar-
kama statesman was still in that style
of dress known as knickerbockers
there was an excursion from the old
home town to Hughes Spring. now. as
then. watering place between Pitts
burg and Jefferson. The future
congressman wanted to go with the
eXcursionistS, but he did not have the
money and did not known where it
could be obtained, at least for the
purpose for which he wanted It.
At the depot just before the train
was to leave a man who had heard
him recite the famous lines Of Camp
bell referred to above, asked him to
favor those present with a recitation.
He said a recitation was worth some
thing. Tho crowd agreed to raise a
purse. Young Sheppard gave them
"Hohenlinden" in his best style, and
the purses of the men in the crowd
were opened wide. He had enough
to pay his railroad fare and to liqui-
date his other expenses of the trip.
The first speech. Senator Sheppard
says, paid a bigger dividend than
many he has since made, although he
has been in demand for many years
throughout the length and breadth
Of the land. as an orator. ThA Young