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Show SENATOR WHO KNOWS BIBLE. How the Veteran Statesman From Alabama Won His Success. (Boston Globe.) One of the oldest and at the same time one of the brightest members of the national senate is Senator Edward Pettus of Alabama. Hi3 eighty-one years sit upon him lightly, and he is even now considering consider-ing the advisability of returning to active practice of the law. Senator Pettus, is credited with having hav-ing the best acquaintance with the Bible Bi-ble of any member of the senate, and it is quite usual for him to fire scriptural scrip-tural quotations at opponents in the course of debate. In lS4i, during the gold fever, Mr. Pettus traveled from Selma. Ark., his native town, to California on horseback, horse-back, and during that long ride his chief pastime was reading- his Bible. In .this way he was almost able to learn the contents of the good book by heart. i The story of how this veteran southerner south-erner of the old school came to be a United States senator is worth retelling. retell-ing. James S. Pugh was senator from' Alabama Ala-bama and had been elected, largely through the efforts of Pettus, who was practicing law in Selma, as he had been for the last fifty years except during the time he served as an officer of-ficer in the confederate army. A vacancy occurred in one of the federal judgeships of the state, and Mr. Pettus decided that he would like to round out his legal career by serving on the United States bench. He packed up his satchel and made a trip to Washington for the purpose . of enlisting en-listing Pugh's support for the appointment. appoint-ment. The train on which Mr. Pettus traveled trav-eled arrived in Washington about 5 o'clock in the morning, it was too late to go to bed and too early to do anything else but go and see Pugh. So the Alabama lawyer clambered into a cab and drove to the senator's house. He rang the bell loudly. A colored woman answered after a lapse of time long enough to indicate that the servant serv-ant had been called from her bed. Sticking her head through the door, she asked what was wanted. "I want to see Pugh," answered Pettus. Pet-tus. "He's in bed." "That's all right. I'll go to his room." And he went. "Hey, there, Pugh, wake up." said Pettus when he had discovered the slumbering stateman. Pugh awoke, for Pettus' voice is in proportion to his frame. "There's a vacant judgeship down in our state, and I want it," said Pettus, ttmie jrugn was ruDDing nis eyes. "Pettus, you are too old," said Pugh as he rolled over in bed. "Pugh, you are a fool," retorted Pet-us, Pet-us, "and if I am too old to be a judge I am not too old to be a senator." He strode out of the room, frothing with anger. The cab went straight back to the railroad station, where Pettus took the first train home. He had not been in Selma five minutes before every one in the village knew that he was a candidate for United States senator. He stumped the entire state, going into the furthermost counties to press his claim for recognition. His campaign cam-paign cry was too old to be a judge, but not too old to be a senator. He won an overwhelming victory. |
