New Britain herald., 1927-03-12

An outstanding political figure of hi
 day, few now know of his existence
 Washington, political DO: of the na
 tion. boiling over with passions an,
 events of the moment, has complet
 ly lost sight of the Old-Timer stil
 mixing with the pottage. Only mem
 bers of hig own family and an olt friend or so are aware that William J. Purman, member of the 43rc
 congress is alive. Still. he keeps il steady step with the nation.
 More than half century ha! passed over the old mans head sine. he laid aside his political toga an. called it a day. That was before mos members of the present. the galIan
 69th congress of the United State: were born. Cal Coolidge. a boy II overalls. was then milking cows or his fathers farm in Vermont. The late President Harding was print. CTS devil in a little newspaper office in Ohio. Woodrow Wilson was { young school teacher. William Howard Taft. chief justice of the supreme court and former president was in the grades and the great Roosevelt was unknown No man prominent in the affairs ot that day is now alive. with the ex- ccption of William Purman.
 Links Past and Present
 z, s,,,;., I jed, this Old-Stagcr stands as th great connecting link. politically, be tween the past and the present. Hi: memory takes him back to the time of the tenth president CT the United States, He was born whom the seventh successor 10 the chair of George Washington. Martin Van Buren, was occupant of the White House.
 In a month or so, the sole sur vivor Of the earliest congress with 8 living representative will celebrate the S7th anniversary Of his birth. Out of the ages, he is part of the present; keenly alive and interested in all important events and activi- lies Of the day. Though ha had re- igiously kept himself in the back low occasionally steps up on the hil, where even his name is forgotten. md watches the work of his success 'ors, the law makers of the nation. iS mt T,s l, l,i, his, and keeping out of the lime fight. Since he was on the floor ot he House. some 25 congresses have jecn in session and two declarations, of war read before the joint assem- blaze. Millions of bills have pass.d md been placed upon the statute books, tho membership Of the oouse of representatives has jumped rom a raltry 242 ill 1870, to ifs present numerical strength Of 4$5. md the country has grown from T population of somewhere near 50. 100, GOO to ll0.0o0.0Go people. There nave been seven census taEings since is debut in the world,
 Tn Home Of Faded Grandeur
 Through congress doesn't even Snow the whereabouts of it's oldest lying graduate, old Bill Purman re- ides within easy walking distance # the capitol building. He lives he heart of Washington. on the only cal residential street in the down own section. Named in honor of president in office when Bill PUr- nan became a national legislator, irant Place is only one block long nd hedged in by business houses. )ue among many of it's kind, Mr. 'urman lives in a house built be ore the Civil War. There is 6 row f these old structures that ono" orved as residences for the great nd near-great Of the nation. Now hey are used mostly as boarding nd roomtng houses. though there S evidence Of an old grandeur anl legance in heavy hand-carvcd oa> oors. high ceilings. open fire places. 'icturesquo dormcr windows ani ence rails of the colonial period. While business Is just around the orner. flanking it on four sides. the lurly burly of every day life seldom ouches Grant Place. A narrow troet, it is subjected 10 onc-way rafic. Here William J. Purman tides himself. In his study. a place of sanctums that served nen like John C. Calhoun, Henry Hay, Daniel Webster and giants of ,ast, once fiery representative from florida sits back and takes things asy. rctlccting on the giorics of an- ther day while he revels in the 'arade Of the present, it's fashions nd foiblea.
 With the comparatively recent assing of three vetcrans-'Un nCl2 oc" Cannon, General Isaac sher- al patriarch, William J. purman, tands nov as the last of the Old 'uard. He saw the nation emerge rom it's swaddling clothes.
 sworn in With Grant
 Uncle Joe" Cannon and William purman-they called him "Bill' len--wero baby members Of the lme Congress. They were sworn in, andlnG side by side. on the same ay, March 4. 1873, when Ulysses S. rant was inaugurated President ot le United States.
 What a day that was,' smiles r. Purinan. in rotrospection, though l s rather difficult to get him talk 1 E about earlier times. It's political | ovements and what they meant. | In the fever of the moment. great ! olitical movements are looked upon | {; those who participate in them as !e most stupendous happenings on . lrth," explains the veteran, but, |,
 memory, they are nothing mol" | : less than flashes on the screen or ! me. To me. they are like roses at, having lost their freshness anl . agrancc, are thrown on the ash