| Show new fa 6 h 1 wa of V le eon wt e I 1 lisda lr ay r by E J EDWARDS I 1 tr tragedy ageda J of laz beer queer Friends friendship hh intimacy between conkling and jones of florida and the latter s mental collapse after the resignation of the new yorker in 1876 there entered the united states senate from the state of flor ida a man of the name of charles W jones born in ireland be came to this country as a lad he learned the carpenter carpenters s trade then he became am bilious to be a lawyer and with a law book set up before him upon his car penters bench he read law finally le was admitted to the bar and an d open ed a law office at pensacola then he became actively interested in florida politics aspired 0 the senate and vas twice elected thereto his second term expiring in 1887 almost as soon as he had been sworn in as a member of the senate for or the first time the newcomer from florida asked to b introduced to sen ator bosua ck ag of new york the two men were brought together senator conkling said senator jones after the introduction some years ago there came into my hands a copy of the speech which ou on de livered when a member of the lower bouse house of congress in 1862 in which you asserted that it would te possible to meet all the exper expenses es of the war without resorting to an issue of irre dee mable paper money I 1 have al at ways wanted to say to you senator conkling that that speech v vas as my first lesson in governmental finance and that I 1 am certain that had the line ol 01 argument you advanced in that speece been adopted by congress and by the administration it would have been possible to have carried on the war oa on the specie basis that was the beginning of the friendship that soon sprang up between the men to the wonderment of the old timers in the senate who knew full well that was spar ing in his friendships that many of them had tried to establish friendly relations toris with him without success to most of the senators conkling would not give ear when they spoke but it soon began to be observed that whenever the new senator from florida rose to speak senator conk ling would pause in his writing or con eon vers atlon wheel around in his chair how mrs H H olds of new haven baked home made P es to help her husband who had failed the late H H olds of new ha ven conn who died one of the most prominent and successful of business men in new england went I 1 home lome one day some fifty years ago to tell his wife that he was ruined the business has all gone to smash he said I 1 ive ve lost every dollar I 1 had olds had been making a pretty good living as a small merchant merch ant after MR hi business affairs had been wound up he looked around for or something to do but he had neither money nor credit to set up anew for himself and no one seemed anxious to give him hira a steady job he cut down the family living expenses to an irreducible mini mum but the few dollars he picked up by an odd lob job here or there were not enough to make the account bal aice I 1 wish I 1 could do something to holp help out until you get on your feet again mrs olds said after he had had a number of discouraging expert ances I 1 don t know what I 1 could do that would bring in any money except bake pies plea I 1 can make good pies all my friends know that I 1 can get orders tor for some I 1 know ill do it too so mrs olds got busy she wrote to some of the people she knew and got some orders while her husband was out looking tor for something to tc do she was baking plea pies mr olds de livered them to the customers people ale liked the pies and told their friends about them and mrs olds got more orders she began to make money mr olds began to see possibilities in the little trade his wife had built up it occurred to him that much more custom could be got by going out after it it so he be said to mrs olds A great many more people would buy your pies it if they knew abo t I 1 suppose you bake an extra batch ot of them and I 1 will try to sell them without any orders accordingly a day or two later after he had delivered the pies or dered by the regular customers he set out with a large basket full and offered the ware for sale from door to door at some houses he made sales at others he be did not but he did not return until he had disposed of the block stock another day he can cassed another neighborhood until he had covered a cons considerable Id erable territory then he be began to go over the ground a second time in a few weeks in this way he built up a steady trade that was all his wife could take care ot of the next step wae wais to hire hira help for until he faced the speaker and give him close attention until be had re fumed nis seat sometimes too the senator from new 1 ew york was seen to nod his bead head approvingly at some re mark of the speaker and it often seemed as though senator jones while nominally aa addressing dressing the sen ate was nevertheless speaking direct ly at or to roscoe conkling of whose friendship he was frankly proud at la t one of conkling a lican colleagues ventured to say to him senator I 1 observe that you al ways encourage senator jones by at bentive listening when he be speaks I 1 should be glad if you would tell me why ou do that the rest of the senate do not find anything of special alue in the remarks of senator jones sir replied roscoe conkling in his most dignified manner I 1 like t the e man he stands firm in his fet locks f Con klings characterization of if sena his wife in the baking trade pres antly became so brisk that mrs olds had halt half a dozen girls making and baking pies all day long under her supervision the delivery became more than mr olds could manage on foot and 13 1 bought a horse and de livery wagon the pies became famous and the business expanded by leaps and bounds A good sized building had to be rented for the bakery mrs olds did no more baking but mere ly saw to it that the staff of cooks and helpers kept the pies up to her standard mr olds had found the job he had been looking for in the management of this new business which he and his wife owned As time went on olds pie bakery became one of the big business insel of new haven it bad had a big plant and gave employment to many hundreds of persons mr olds ex tended Us its trade to other cities and made it famous throughout new eng land and it was the first pie baking corporation in the world copyright 1911 by E J edwards all ali righta rights reserved tor jones was of course taken to the lat er his face lighted up for a momen then a brooding look took came over him firm in his fetlocks he muttered firm in his fetlocks and often after that as he be sat at his desk he be was heard to mutter to himself firm in his fetlocks firm in his fet locks later came conkling a historic rel with president garfield and tt it a e senator senators s resignation from the senate and then the s senate nate not infrequently beheld senator jones lingering degre full and near the desk desir that conkling hd occupied firm in hib his fetlocks firm 0 i his fetlocks he would to himself it was clear to his colleagues that senator jones was suffering from some serious men tl impairment A length there came total collar se and some of those who best knew senator jones were always of the belief that the curious comeil ment which conal ng paid senator acnes coupled with the latter a sense of loss when conkling left the senate had served in some mysterious way to bring to a head the malady which ended the Flori dans s life copyright 1911 by F J edwards all R gt ts reserved hobby ef a nl el ex ase president Preside ant general grant found great delight watching the new york elevated road locomotives and the expert engineers one mid forenoon in october 1883 a friend and I 1 entered the car of a sixth avenue elevated at forty second street in lew city As we tooh took seats we observed a man of stout build s eting in the first forward seat on the right hand side of the car apparently intently oc coupled in watching the engineer of the little locomotive that was noisily haul ing the train to its destination wot not until the present c century was born were the new york elevated lines electrified this passenger did not move except to bend his head tor for ward seemingly that he might the more readily watch the motions the engineer indeed so glued were his eyes on the man in the diminutive cab that he attracted the attention of practically every other passenger in the car and I 1 caught several smiling woman cne created new industry slyly at each other at the stout man a childlike enjoyment in watching the man who made the engine go just before we reached twenty third street then tha pre eminent shopping center of the metropolis the man at the forward window turned slightly and glanced up that thorough fare and then my friend and I 1 saw that he was none other than general ulysses S grant As the train left the tw twenty enty third st at beet station the general once more fastened his gaze on the engineer soon thereafter my friend william copeland who as an officer during the civil war had come to know general gereral grant fairly well at that time stepped up and arid greeted h old commander who welcomed him cordially and motioned him to an adjacent vacant seat mr air copeland ventured to remark that he could not help noticing th the e I 1 in n dorest general grant took in watching the manne in h the engineer of 0 the train did his work the general smiled it Is a hobby bobby of mine that when I 1 ride upon the elevated I 1 try to get the first seat in the car next to the engine he I 1 I 1 have always been interested est ested in locomotives and the men who ho run then theta and these little engines that pull the alevato d trains have completely captivated capt me so too have the men who run them I 1 do believe that they become so familiar with the tracks and their en gines that blindfolded they could run them from station to station without mishap it Is a great treat to me to ob erve their expertness expert nesa and I 1 feel disappointed whenever I 1 am not able t obtain this sea in a train where I 1 can have a full view f engine and driver I 1 like too contained the general to ride on the elevated tor for the views it affords from the car windows I 1 am thus able to keep up from day to day with the march of improvement along the route of the road and in the side streets as far as the eye can carry and these vistas of city life are a continual source of delight in them selves whenever I 1 travel on a rail road train I 1 ike iks to get the last seat in the rear car so that I 1 can turn around and look at the vista of the rack over which the train has sped and when I 1 am not doing that I 1 want to be looking out of the window con but after all the greatest pleasure I 1 have ever received while traveling has come through matching these attle engines puff up and down above the streets of new york city and while the great general of the civil war the man who had twice been president of the alfted states was confessing to an interest in ele bated railroad travel similar to that which children always display his gaze would turn every little while from mr copeland to the eng ne ahead as though he were afraid of r asing some motion of the man abo vho was driving it down to the city a finan caal center copyright 1911 by F J edwards al rights reserved |
