Show written for his paper FROM PLOWBOY TO SENATOR copyrighted by bv frank G Oar carpenter penter IM 1895 washington october 26 1895 HAD A LONG c chat h a t the other night with shelby M cullom the famous amous united S states tates senator from illinois he is is one of the most interesting talkers among our public men plain and simple in his ways there are no frills nor furbelows belows fur about ither cither himself or his conversation he f calls a spade a spade and as a story teller has many of the attributes which C were ere so noted in in abraham lincoln he grew up under the shadow of lincoln i and his likeness to the martyred marty red dent has been often remarked no one y would call cullom handsome hii hi frame is big bony and angular his I 1 figure is straight with shoulders so square that the arms seem to fall from them at right angles the whole acting as a clothes frame for his prince albert coat his gestures are not graceful and his face in in repose is is severe whee when the talks however a smile creais out 01 of the corners of his bis eyes the lines of his bis I 1 i features soften and you forget every thing else in the impression of his honest strength and good fellowship j I 1 which shows out of them you soon f A discover scover that cullom has lots of pery 1 I bonal magnetism and that with it all be is full of brains and at the same time ame possessed of a remarkable degree J f plain practical common sense there are few men in the united states who stand so close to the people and who appreciate their wants so well w there are tew lew who have had as re a caffer career and have not been spoiled by it and few senators whose lives jives would be more inspiring ing examples to the boys of the I 1 united states states during my visit with senator cullom 41 I 1 drew him on to talk about his boy 7 hood he told me that his family was scotch irish and that his ancestors came from maryland to kentucky it was awas there that cullom was born and when he be was a baby of nine months chewing his little fists which were not y so angular then with his toothless gums 11 and d squalling equalling squal ling at times ventu rein more 41 piercing arcing tunes than those he now uses in the united states senate the family I 1 move moved to lili illinois nois they rode out and wio 5 through the stumps in canvass cover t ed wagons and baby cullom wrapped in a leather feather bed was rocked by the f jolting ot of the wheels father cullom settled within fifteen miles of peoria peona taking up I 1 about acres and chop ping a farm out of the forests bab baby cullom crept over the log floor and toddled about the clearings year by year until he became old enough to go to school his first lessons were stud led in a log school house bouse and working on the farm and studying at schol scho l made up his boyhood life after he bad finished his schooling at the country schools young cullom concluded that he wanted a dotter better education his father was hardly able to send him to college and shelby had bad to look out for or himself how he succeeded I 1 will tell in his own words said he 1 I was about seventeen years old at this time I 1 thought I 1 ought to be bet ter educated and I 1 looked about to see how bow I 1 could make some money to pay my way through the academies I 1 saw an opening in a country school near where I 1 lived I 1 applied tor for it and g got ot it my wages at the start were 18 a month and ana I 1 must have done pretty well for at the end of the second month they raised me to 20 and I 1 received this for the remainder of the year I 1 boarded with the scholars and saved nearly every cent of my munificent salary A whole year s salary amount to much senator ae ac 20 20 a month said 1 I was this the only way yu you had to make money no I 1 made something atter after school was over by plowing I 1 got ot an acre for it I 1 borrow ered five yokes of oxen from my father and went to breaking up land for the neighbors we plowed a furrow about eighteen inches wide and hitched from tour four to five yokes of oxen to the plow we fastened the plow to wheels and set it to the proper depth I 1 walked outride and yelled at the team it is not an easy martt r to drive oxen I 1 tell you and a great deal of lung power which I 1 have today was I 1 venture developed then by the way the senator continued with a twinkle in his eye a rather queer thing happened in connection with that plowing you know they talked a little bittle of me for president four years ago and some of my old friends in illinois thought I 1 had a chance lor for the white house one of these was a farmer for whom I 1 had broken land in my boyhood he wrote me recalling the circumstance he said he had a print ot of my bare toot foot which I 1 had made at that time in a clayey strip on his bis land he said he had cut it out and kept it and that he was going to frame it as the foot of a president he must have been one of the grandfathers of du manners billie and history is only repeating itself in the craze over the foot of trilby said 1 I as I 1 looked at the good comfortable understanding of mr cullom and did you plow in your bare feet senator yes I 1 suppose so replied mr cullom we did a great deal of farm work in our bare feet in early days it was more comfortable than working with shoes though now and then one was liable to raise a stone bruise or snag off a toe nail against a root where did you go to school senator I 1 asked it was at a seminary at mount morris in northern illinois replied senator cullom there was a big methodist institution there at that time and it was considered a very good school I 1 studied latin and greek and other things lout but before I 1 got through I 1 fell sick this was within three months of the close ol of the term I 1 thought I 1 was going to die and I 1 wanted to go home they persuaded s faded me to stay however and give t the he valedictory then I 1 suppose you were at the head bead oi of your class ignator ih senator yes replied mr cullom 1 I managed a to keep pretty close to tae the top what did you do next 1 I came home was the reply 10 no lo i one thought I 1 would live I 1 was as leg lean n as a rail and pale as a s beet of white paper I 1 had an ambition to be a law yer when I 1 started to the seminary but my sickness led me to give this thi i up and go back to td the farm ten days after I 1 was in the harvest field I 1 soon grew better and by fall I 1 had rented a quarter section of land from my fattier father and was putting it in crops As winter came on I 1 grew restless I 1 told my father he be could have the land again and that 1 I was going to springfield to study law you studied there with abraham lincoln linc india did you not no replied senator cullom 1 I did not study in the office of mr lincoln A great deal of his work was on the circuit and be spent but little time in his office I 1 had known him since I 1 was wa a boy of eleven and he was already my ideal hero when I 1 went to springfield I 1 asked him if I 1 had not better stud study law with w i th him but he advised me to 91 gd into th the e office of a lawyer who would be stationary he gave me lots of good points however and I 1 was closely associated with him from that time lime on how did you like the law I 1 asked 1 I like it very well replied the senator and I 1 would not object to practicing now I 1 did not get to be a lawyer without considerable trouble A few months at af er I 1 took up the baudy I 1 began to get sick again I 1 t had an attack of typhoid fever and hung for some time between life and death the doctors told me that the only thing that could save me was to buy a pony and ride in the open air air I 1 then went back home and tried the pony cure but it was no I 1 had no object in my rides and f could not gain strength this was the situation when I 1 went to peoria one day it was then as it is now quite a hog market I 1 met one of the capitalists and he asked me if I 1 would woud like to buy hogs for them thear he offered to pay me ten cents a hog the he farmers to keep the hogs until they were wanted and to be paid the market prices rices prevailing at the time of delivery I 1 accepted the proposition and started out to buy during the next few months I 1 bought thousands of hogs I 1 galloped from one farm to another buy ing all the swine within sight and I 1 contracted tor for all the hogs in two or three counties at the close of my season I 1 lound found that I 1 had cleared and also that I 1 had entirely regained ray health I 1 took the money and went back bac to springfield I 1 resumed my studies and was soon admitted to the bar how did you get into politics senator every lawyer lawver in those days was to ft a certain extent a politician replied senator cullom the law is as a rule oneff one af pf the stepping stones to politics I 1 got into politics because I 1 tried to use politics as a stepping stone to the law I 1 was practicing in springfield you know and I 1 thought if I 1 became a mem ber of the legislature that this would give me acquaintances all over the state and would help my law business the result was that I 1 became a candidate and was elected I 1 was re reelected elected then made speaker of the house and after that sent to congress later on I 1 was elected governor for six years and then sent to the united states senate there you have it all in a nutshell t ell 11 how about lincoln senator was he really such a great story teller as is claimed yes was the reply but he did not tell stories stones for the sake of telling stories his stories came out in the shape of illustrations of his thought or to enforce his arguments he liked to talk and during his life at springfield there was a drug store which still stands there to whick lincoln used to come nearly every night to talk there was a crowd who came carn ethere there to listen to him and many an argument was sprung merely tor for the sake of getting lincoln lo 10 to talking he would brighten up as he began began to talk and I 1 used to sometimes think that he told stories to get away from his thoughts and himself when he was alone he would often drop into habits of deep meditation would seem to be gloomy and it was almost impossible at such times to arouse him 1 I 1 I 1 have heard that he was moody and blue and nd that he hovered at times on the verge of insanity Is that so ad he may have been moody at times replied senator cullom but his head bead was extraordinarily clear I 1 used to think when I 1 saw him sitting and apparently brooding over something so tha that he was possibly turning over the great questions concerning the matters which he e had to settle in after life and that the responsibilities which he was to have were already before him he was you know a philosopher and his bis great mind and soul were different from those of common men was abraham lincoln a religious man I 1 asked in one sense he was and in another not replied senator cullom As to a belief in a future state and a god I 1 think he was he had a religious side to his naturel nature and I 1 have seen evidences that he had made a deep study of the bible As to being a doctrinal christian a believer in certain creeds and churches chbr ches he was not As to his study of such mat matters remember an incident the and preachers of springfield were holding a joint debate upon certain doctrines well one nights night when they were discussing whether there was a hell abraham lincoln attended attended he and I 1 sat together and when the two preachers had finished their discussion we walked out I 1 remember lincoln was disgusted with the discussion he swung himself out of his seat as they stated the debate was closed and said to me they have scarcely touched the question he had bad evidently been thinking upon the sub eject mind ald and had it all figured out in his bis 1 I have a book senator entitled was abraham lincoln a spiritualist and trying to prove that he was so 1 I do not think that he was replied senator cullom what were the elements of his strength abraham lincoln replied senator cullom had a great sympathy with the tople people he was a man of the people ve he could feel for them and with them re he had great common sense and great executive ability 4 was he a shrewd politician yes he was a good judge of men and knew how to move them 2 was he ambitious yes very much so 9 was the reply but he was so wrapped up in the great questions with which he had to deal that it is hard to tell where his ambitions ended and his convictions began he was tar far seeing I 1 remember the campaign with douglas I 1 was in it with lincoln and when the returns came in though lincoln had the popular vote a legislature had been chosen which would elect douglas I 1 met lincoln coming home just after the news had been received I 1 said well mr lincoln we are beaten yes he replied we are beaten 1 I 1 am very verv sorry said 1 I and at this old abe put his hand on my sho shoulder ader and looking down at me with a smile replied oh my boy dont worry it will all come right in the end 1 I remember his confident tone after ward and I 1 believe he saw even then that his defeat would make him president of the united states 1 I got my first desire togo to go to washington to congress through lincoln mr cullom went on it was the night before he left springfield to go to his inauguration I 1 was at this time speaker of he illinois house and as I 1 entered his parlor I 1 said mr president I 1 want to come to washington if possible before you leave Lincol ns eyes laughed as I 1 used the words mr president dont and he re replied olied emphasizing his form of address mr speaker I 1 hope you will 1 I then began to scheme to get to washington and was soon elected a member ot of congress at this point the conversation turned to politics and during it I 1 asked senator cullum cullom to give me a short statement as to the issues of the next campaign senator cullom replied ane issues are not many but they are very important the republican party will espouse protection sound money and americanism advocating a strong foreign policy on the basis ot america as against the world can the republican party succeed on such a platform plat lorm yes replied senator cullom I 1 think there is no doubt of it senator cullom said 1 I how would you like to be president ot of the united states the senator thought a moment and replied 1 I would like it very much I 1 dont believe it would be a very hard bard office to fill 0 the president should choose good men to help him if he selects his cabinet and subordinates properly these will bring the authorities the situation and the information that he needs properly before him and good common sense is enough to determine the rest what qualities should a president have he should be a man ot of the people he should be a patriotic american should be possessed of common sense anabe and be a man who knows how to select and handle men 1 I hear your name mentioned mentia ned in many quarters lor for the position said 1 I as a candidate lor for the republican party yes replied senator cullom 1 I have been talked of in times past and I 1 believe there is some talk about me now ro po tell the truth I 1 am tired of the talk and I 1 have illustrated my situation by comparing it with that of a boy whoa went to school with me at mount morris this boy I 1 will call sam he is a prominent man cowand I 1 dare not mention his name well sam could not for the life of him learn latin and he was kept in the same latin book from one term to another at last his teacher in despair said to him sammy why dont you study and get out of this arent you ashamed to remain right here in the same place week after week sam talked through his nose his conversation was a continuous whine and in reply he whined out yes I 1 am and I 1 would study if I 1 had a new book but I 1 am tired of this its the same old thing over and over again |