Evening star., 1934-02-04

<I7
| hold the crowds at stated points until
Bryan got there
That experience inspired Rainey
with ambition for public service In
his first - years of practicing law
Il was lucky" he modestly explains
Brilliant. and a marvellous trial law
yer" his neighbors say. Anyway. in
~ years he had earned and laid aside
enough to finance him and his bril-
liant wife for the rest of their lives
Therefore. he was free to 20 into poll
tics. unhampered by need of money.
In 1898 he ran for the Democratic
nomination for Congress. his district
being the one Abraham Lincoln had
once represented. Ever since Lin
coins time there had been an under
standing that the Congressman should
serve only one term. voluntarily step
ping out to let each of the counties
IN the district take its turn in send
ing native son to Washington
If I get in I won't step out" said
Rainey. IF l give up my law prac-
tice to got to Congress I'm going to
stay there as long as I can"
So the other counties in the con-
vention "ganged' the ambitious young
man from Greene County, and he
was licked Again in 1900 the man
from Carrollton took his Greene
County delegates to the district con-
vention. Again he refused to quit at
the end Of one term and again he
was licked.
But Henry T is never licked for
keeps He went back a third time
in 1902-and came home with the
bacon. Hes been in Congress ever
since. except for the two years fol-
lowing the 1920 elections when the
Harding landslide carried him and
many other Democrats down to de-
feat
Only twice has he had anything
that looked like serious opposition for
the Democratic nomination. Once he
/ was opposed in a popular primary by
man who had been elected for a
/ term some time before Rainey ap-
peared on the political horizon When
the votes were counted, Rainey had
carried all of the l,400 voting pre-
cincts in the district except twol
In the fateful 1920 two men ran
against him for the nomination. one
OF them a World War veteran. Both
argued that Henry T. was getting 20
be tCo old, but he wound up with
more than twice as many votes as
the two Of his opponents put together.
That 'tCo Old cry was SOUNDED d
over IA years ago, when he was about
60. When he thinks of it now. the
Speaker of the House laughs Since
then he's been reelected to Congress
six times, and at the beginning Of this
Congress, against three or four con-
tenders. he was elevated to the Speak
| ership. the most powerful Office in the
land next to the presidency itself.
Everybody comments on your ever
lasting youthfulness. Mr. Speaker. your
endurance. fire and sparkle" I made
bold to say to him. ITO what do you
attribute this unfailing youth?"
Letter From England.
As part of his answer to my uues-
ton, he told me about a letter he re-
oeived y years ago from a Rainey
kinsman in England. The cousin be-
gan by complimenting speech of
Henry It's, which he had Just read.
The correspondent continued:
L thought you would like to hear
from the oldest living member of
your family and to know that I am
now 129 years old. and still have all
my teeth in my mouth. You may be
interested. too, to know to what I at
tribute my fine, ripe age. It is due
to the fact that I have smoked to-
bacco and drunk whisky all my life"
At that Henry T. smiled and ex-
planned that his staying young was
thanks to his pioneer ancestors. all
of whom lived long. and not due, like
his English cousins. to tobacco and
whisky, for he never takes a drink.
Then. too. Mr.. Rainey has always
kept himself physically fit. working
with his men on his farm when he's
at home and getting up at GAS
every morning for regular exercise
while he's in Washington. He's never
had a serious illness, not a days sick
ness in bed. in all his adult life.
But mostly" he said. emphasizing
his words, II attribute my staying
young to staying interested in peo-
pie and in events. Let a man lose
interest in human nature and in
what's going on in the world, and
he at that moment is old. The Foun-
tain of Youth is easy to find 1t is
The habit and the art of keeping in
terested in all ones contacts"
The Speaker is an omnivorous read
er. has been all his lite. At college
he devoured the classics, the Greek and
Latin poets. and "Plutarchs Lives"
and Aristotle and Pliny. Later on
he read history and biography enor-
mously. Today his office-particu-
larly the "hide-away" little place
down in the Capitol basement, where
he escapes from callers and confer
ences to answer his mail and write
his speeches-and the Raineys' apart.
ment are loaded with current maga-
zines that feature articles on politics,
economics. International affairs and
science. He reads everything, from
psycl1oanalysis to technocracy. And
so Goes Mrs. Rainey, his secretary
and counsellor.
For diversion the Speaker turns to
detective stories, and there's nothing
he enjoys more in washington than
a movie that's a thriller-full Of plot
and counterplot. criminals pursued
and detectives prowling through the
darkness!
Tn uo o1p,,& r5o11 tha Ana old CoIo.