Year: 1879

q" L have in times past" said Hoar on
one occasion, " been a traveller in foreign
lands. l have seen the glorious sun rise
over Nom Blong," and SO on.


Whether it was the far-fetchedness Of
the application, or the affectation of the
incident, or both, that reused the Sleep
ing leopard of Thurman's wit, need not
be inquired. But something did; for he
arose to say that while he had never seen
the glorious sun rise over" Nom Blong,"
he had observed the insidious miasma
steal up from Kidwell bottoms, which
left the rest of his retort struggling vain
ly for the attention of the Senate, and
the galleries in competition with roar
Of merriment at the expense of the spec
tacled egotist of Massachusetts, whose
chief characteristic is his habit of play
ing the role Of Jeremy Diddler in the
cast-of buskins of Daniel Webster.


The groundwork of Mr.. Thurman's
character is love of frankness, con-
tempt for atfectation and a horror of
shams. AS a debater, which is, of course,
the Center-piece of his public reputation,
Mr.. Thurman is one of the plainest,
Clearest and most perspicuous men who
ever addressed the Senate, He wastes
no time on the ornate parts of oratory,
and pays but little attention to even the
more ordinary elegancies of diction, stri-
wing rather to present matter than to
cultivate manner and to make an i'm
preston upon the intellect than to pro-
duce an effect upon the fancy of his au-
dienCe.


As politician he works altogether to
ends, valuing himself as an instrument
tality or a means, and accepting his own
personal destiny as an incident in the
history which he helps to make for his
time. His economic creed is as simple
as his methods of advocating it are
straightforward. His one dogma, from
which all his principles radiate, is that
the people are sovereign, and that Office
is their stewardship; that the collective
welfare Of the constituency is the true OBJ
ject ofindividual endeavor in public life,
and that place and power overbalance
their hOnOrs with their responsibilities.
Public men who live and act upon this
theory generally fail to receive the adu-
lation of parasites, and sometimes fall
under the imputation Of ingratitude.


Mr.. Thurman is party man, because,
in order to give force and effect in the af
fairs of life to principles that of them
selves are only distractions in philoso-
ply, tits necessary to have recourse to the
physical agencies of organization and
therefore he values men as he rates him
self-for what they have done, and are
doing, and can do for the cause.


In conclusion, the simplicity of Mr..
Thurman's private life, like the straight
forwardness of his public career, is in
keeping with the ground work Of his
character, which, as we have already re-
marked, is love of frankness, a con-
tempt for affectation and horror of
shams. His home in Washington is, as
he himself is fond of saying, just about
such house as would suggest salary of
five thousand year to a casual observer.
He does not keep carriage, and his do
mestic establishment never includes more
than three servants, and generally stops
at two. His household consists of him
self and an amiable matron with white
curls clustering about face that has in
its expression the repose of sixty with
the innocence of sixteen. The children
have grown up and gone to make homes
for themselves. As to the latch string of
the modest mansion, it is literally always
out; for the Thurmans are as hospitable
as they are unostentatious and their
friends are as many as their ceremonies
are few. In short and in fine, the only
thing that is quite as democratic as Thur
mans public career, is his private life,
while the honesty of the one finds
counterpart in the purity of the other.


This is the man who, has been
elected to the Presidency of the Senate,
and who, it is not at all unlikely, may
be made the standard-bearer of the Dem
ocratic hosts in the next Presidential
contest.