Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 63, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1912 — IN THE LAMELEILI [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

IN THE LAMELEILI

SENATOR STEPHENSON, WHO DEFIES AGE

Swnatot Isaac Stephenson of Wisconsin, the oldest member of either branch of congress, is standing the scorching hot w’eather of the national capital better than any of his colleagues. In Wisconsin Mr. Stephenson is known as ‘‘Uncle Ike,” but among his senate associates he Is familiarly hailed as “Dr. Ike.” Although Mr. Stephenson makes no pretentions to a. knowledge of medicine as laid down in the books, and frequently admits that he is not abreast of the modern medical science, he has had a practical experience which he thinks fits him to give advice to the ailing. As far back as the early fifties, Mr. Stephenson was healing the sick. He was then in charge of various lumber camps in the Lake Superior region of northern Wisconsin. “For fifteen years,” said Mr. Stephenson, “we were without a doctor, lawyer, or preacher. We did not need a doctor, for I looked after the sick, and ad for a lawyer we got along pretty well, because we fought out with our fists the troubles that arose

. among us. We had some pretty rough and hard men In the camps, and maybe we did suffer for want of a preacher. In the logging season we had hundreds of men, and my principal job was to keep our crews in good shape. The saw and the axe make trouble In the woods, not only for trees, but for men, and I have been called on to bind and sew hundreds of wounds.” Mr. Stephenson says that a long life and a simple life go hand In hand. ‘‘As a young man, I traveled across the snow twenty odd he said. ‘‘l swung a five-pound axe from dawn till dark. I slept in a blanket in the snow, ate crackers and pork and drank snow’ water, and w’as as healthy as a bear.”