Show ferl- ferl OLD MAN AN ANIN J V tf i IN U. U S. S SENATE SENATh J t i I Winston Pettus ExI Ex- Ex Petus I f fV t peets A election Re-election at Age of 88 r BE BEGAN AN PUBLIC LIFE AT 76 sl r nl Ial Career Carcer of 1 Senator Who t 10 I J T- T l 1 Soon SOI Celebrate His Ann I j X t. t C Those persons OIS who wax wa eloquent t limitation and are Inclined to tol P i l Osiers Osier's dictum without further discussion lon would do well wel to consider ConsIle cl the ease cac of Edmund Winston lettu letur of t Alabama According to the opinion of of ot tho Iho radical Johns Hopkins ins thc theorist this oldest member of the Ow American national legislative bod wn I rea ready y to retire from way hark hack Wr p c Wm 4 I t iy V V SEX TOn EDIt J V. Y PETITS V i In about 1863 about the time h he was doing I certain youthful and reckless wa deeds of I I daring durIng In the tho defense defens of e Vicksburg At the close of hl his t present term in the senate he will vili wi have arrived at the time a age ace c cof of SS 88 Many things thIis can and un undoubtedly will wi happen before 1909 1009 and no no- noone one is more mOIe willing to admit almIt that fact than Senator Pettus Petus He Ic declines however hOWe to regard his tenure of life as at all al critical and ho he Is at nt the present time highly indignant t because some come omo well veIl meaning and zealous over-zealous Alabama politicians have been discussing int his probable successor He has made himself himself him him- self clear to the effect that he not only expects expect to lo survive lul the remainder of oC his present term but hut intends to become become be be- come a n candidate for re election He declares that he lie has ha no intention of leaving leving Washington until about 1915 at the earliest emet Mr 1 Pettus Petus did not nol BO go JO to lo the United States senate until 1897 1807 He was vas then in his sixth seventy ent c year year year-so ear s so advanced in met fact that those among his political friends who were vere listening to the lie buzzing buz bux- zin zing of the senatorial bee beo in their own oI bonnets bonnet did V not Ic regard him him us as a possible ible rival ri al considered him practically practically cal cally laid on the thc shelf James L. L Pu Pugh h. h his predecessor in the upper house was one of those who had never neel thought of him as us a possible l- l must 11 Mr Pugh PuSh had been elected I CINI to the dignity l by means of oC the tho Pettus Petus in influence in- in fluence but hut it I had har never ol ne occurred to him that this old law lawyer who had been practicing his profession at nt Selma Seima for about half a century and anc had hall shown no inclination to enter the thc political po po- field as a candidate would over stand in tho time way of or his own prefer mont ment nut But sId suddenly and ant without an any premonitory pre pro monitory Pettus developed developed devel devel- Petus a desire to be become one a mm federal judge jUIe in his state stale There Thero was as a aa va vacancy vacancy a va- va cancy on the bench hench and he lie knew of no one who was Wa better qualified to lo fill 1111 fU fUIt it than himself and he lie IJ tid so 0 o. o Without With ant ou out t unnecessary r delay he lie packed et his bag hag and started start for Washington ton The Tho train upon which he traveled tra cler arrived al nt the capital at 5 o'clock In thi tin tin- tl morn mOIn In ing 11 Mr Pct plan contemplated a preliminary visit 1 to In Senator Pu Pugh h for Cor forthe forthe the tho purposing of securing his Influence and he hO In obtaining obtaining the appointment went immediately to the lie latter's house Mr 11 Pugh Puh ha had not yet et risen Iho ho colored woman who appeared after what Mr Pettus Petus regarded as an un unconscionably 1 un- un con long long time hue In answer lr to his vigorous manipulation of or the hc hc hell bell told him I thru hut no iio one II in the Hie household had risen No EmI lai Bird V Mirly I. I e do 13 a pretty how d dyc l ejaculated Pettus who wa was U an i cany for him him bird and had hut small smal respect fO who Sho Never Ne el mind Ill I'll Il go 10 UI up to his room ruoni and nd wake him up Ui I So saying Yin he entered tho the house bouse and anil ascended the time stairs with WhIt wll a 5 bOUl bound I lelo Hello Pugh Pugh- Pugh he cried giving giving the slumbering statesman a 1 vigorous slink shau- hug Ing Wake up I want to talk business business busi busi- nc ness to you ou That you 01 Pettus PeHu the Hie senator elator ed dreamily rubbing hl his eyes nu and blinking doubtfully the hC matter matter mat nat ter Anything wrong 1 No INo replied hl his impetuous vl toi Theres a vacant jud judgeshiP down home and I want U. U Youre too old Pettus tho thU sena senator cn tor or yawned sleepily V V V I Too the irate old eh oh roared lawyer Maybe I am am but I 1 ni 1 not too old to b b 1 senator o I He Hi rush rushed d from the hot 6 and nd straight tr l ht back to the th ra railroad road vv LtD V H He had bad not no be nb ck In day before everybody in th that t part f tre ti-c tte state knew mcw that h he was a. a aV 3 C to for or the senate He Ho the iliC tato thoroughly freaking J at all al pointS poInts from J the text tex Too To Tod od rd d tc to toM M ls a judge judka but Lut not not too old to b be a senatOr H won on a signal anti and overwhelming victory and has 1115 ha remained undisputed in-undisputed possession of oC the prize ever C since Quite Quie e a n I 1 t. I mm II Mr Pettus Petus had been heen In Washington lon several years year before hl his ability as CUI a n humorist been became me known H He lie confesses con con- that he lie went into public life with wih the firm determination to 10 c eschew ch fun tun and ni-id to lo stick closely u to the serious side of oC legislative life The time came however when the temptation to re- re lapso o inlo into a joco Jocose e mood was too loo stron strong to be Je resisted It I was on un the of oC striking occasion of or the delivery a speech h by Senator Senater of ft In In- In diana liana t At its Is close clos Senator Pettus Petus rose slowly imitated mannerisms man nian- and made one of the most sl splitting side e ant orations ortons ever er e heard in inthe inthe inthe the United States States senate Mr Pettus was congratulated on all al sides but bul his success flied filled bin hin with wih disgust that he ho had ilot miot adhered to lo his orl original res res- However the mischief was out out Since Sinco that time he has ha had to shoulder tho the reputation Pettus Petus Is both a a veteran of the Mexican war and a oler When the war with wih Mexico began benn he hc was practicing law at Gainesville ii in northern Alabama He lie nerved as a lieutenant in tho the campaign n ah against Santa Ana and at the tho close of the war vai returned to Alabama and was elected solicitor for the thc seventh district About this time a parly of oC his friends rc f I un organizing ug an expedition lo tO go o vorland to tn Ct I I fi mii rma in Pettus rehi ro- ro 10 d hi hi bis is 1 fri ij a mid tid joined them They mad mad- mal I h jurny c on horseback and it was full ful of adventure cn ad ture turc ure and peril peri Mr I. I Pettus Petus did didiot not remain Ion long on the Pacific coast hut mt returned to Alabama and settled al at Selma which has hag been heen ht his home i icer ever ver er c since In 1861 h he went into the Confederate army as lieutenant colonel of the Twentieth Alabama infantry and amI two V years later luter was promoted t to tobe toc he be c a a. brigadier general serving until the he close of the war and winning an honorable reputation fUr fOr gallantry and conspicuous bravery on the field feld Still Sti in iii loJ Honeymoon mcH Senator P Pettus lus and his estimable wire wife will wi celebrate their sixty third wedding anniversary on June 6 next next Those who know them declare that tho they have Rot not yet ot emerged from the period but ut are still young lo lovers He lie Ic always alwa's calls cals her hel sweetheart sweetheart sweet heart heartH and asserts gallantly galanty that she is thc lie most beautiful woman in the thc world d The senator once m made de an estimate of hb his own CJ endowments ow which besides serving to Illustrate his ready wit wi went far toward d showing the kind of man h he Is Js A young newspaper correspondent cor COI respondent rc W was ss S interviewing him on onlie the thc lie subject t of or his health and ond asked him if I he Ito had hud always been heen beena a u man of regular habits habis My ly habits young man he replied with 11 dignity ty have always boon like the tIme verb verb regular regular irregular and y yes s bogad defective Elbert O. O Woodson eg In tn Washington Post |