Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-16
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Continued From First Page.9

Jofire, Taft, Wilson, Roosevelt, Diaz,
Caruso, the King Of Siam.
within my lifetime" he was won't to
say. these men have made and changed
history"
Mrs. Martha Mcfarland Stone, whom
he married In Chicago in 1869, survives
him. as do his daughter, Miss Elizabeth
Creighton Stone, and his brother, Prof.
Ormond Stone, formerly. of the faculty
Of the University Of Virginia. His two
sons. Herbert S. Stone and Melville e.
Stone, jr., died before he did. Herbert
Stone was lost when the Lusitania was
sunk by German submarine.
Melville Elijah Stone, eminent jour-
nalist, was born on August %, la4s, in
the prairie village Of Hudson, Ill.
Looking back, there would seem to
have been something prophetic in the
nativity OF one destined for great things
the modest home of Methodist cir
cult rider, cottage set among five
mighty oaks from little acorns grown. -
In boyhood he was physically frail
and he suffered the vicisSitudes common
to the families of itinerant clergymen OF
that period who by the rules, since
amended, of the General Conference of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, could
abide not longer than two years in one
charge" So frequently the Stones
gathered their household goods" and
moved on 20 pastures green. This meant
for young Stone and an elder brother a
succession OF new associations, new
schools. new teachers and with blight
ing effect upon the slender family purse)
new textbooks.
VIII to Garry On.
Handicapped by the lack of con-
sistent school training, Melville Stone
was fortunate in the gift Of an unusually
alert mind and the very hardships Of
his youth, in which he later rejoiced,
served only to strengthen an early de-
veloped will to carry on. He had an in
tense interest In all that was going on
about him and he read everything upon
which he could lay his hands. So the
foundation was laid for the broad
education and culture that in later
years made him such delightful COM
panion while contributing largely to
his professional success.
AS his vision broadened, national and
international matters became as IA
miliar to him as neighborhood gossip
and with this background he came to
play a part in the affairs Of men that
far outran popular conception Of the
man. MIR. Stone may be known bet
ter to the next generation than to his
own for throughout an extraordinary
career his name rarely appeared in the
press. Perhaps no other man Of his
time eXerted so great an influence on
his profession and, through his profess
sion, on society. with so little attend
ant publicity.
Preferred to Stay i'm Background.
For more than half'a century he was
an indefatigable and relentless reporter
Of the doings Of other men. For 26
years he was the general manager of a
news organization which through host
of correspondents maintains q cease
less vigil over every square mile of the
civilized world; that commands the
greatest daily audience which the news
of the Gay has attracted and through
the fundamentally of which countless
persons have been lifted overnight from
obscurity to fame. His own achieve
ments were permitted scant notice in
the public prints.
For this he was himself responsible.
During his long service as general man.
ager there was an unwritten law in the
Offices Of the Associated Press that his
name never was to appear in its News
report unless its omission from a story
in which he figured would in itself be
an obvious impropriety. Nothing OF
laudatory character was to be said of