Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 August 1884 — A Pioneer Governor. [ARTICLE]

A Pioneer Governor.

An indiscreet remark may ruin a politician. Some forty years ago, a Governor of Indiana was a candidate for re-election. During his term the 'Methodists had sought legislation to establish Asbury University. The Governor opposed them, and was Reported as saying that the Methodist Church did not need an educated ministry, as an ignorant one was better suited to the capacity of its membership. The indignant Methodists east their votes against him and elected James Whitcomb, a lawyer and a class-leader. “It was the ‘amen’ corner of the Methodist Church that defeated the Governor,” said the late Bishop Ames; ‘ and I had a hand in the wo.k.” The successful candidate had been brought up on a farm, where there was plenty of hard work and coarse fare. The boy loved books, and read all that he could borrow, much to the chagrin of his hard-working father, who, being a pioneer, thought that his son should Be a laborer rather than a reader. “James,”, said his father, .again and again to the studious son, “you’ll never amount to anything. You handle a book too much and a scythe too little.” “Jimmy,” said a neighbor, who had noticed the boy’s craving for knowledge, “s me day you’ll be a United States Senator; you study while others play." The neighbor’s prophecy was fulfilled in 1849, when the Legislature sent James to the Senate of the United States. —.. ..I

The Governor was a good man, and played the violin with skill. Once, while journeying on horseback, he stopped at a 'log-cabin on a prairie. As he entered, a young man was scraping on an old fiddle. He laid the instrument on the bed, and led the Governor’shorser to the stable. Taking up the fiddle, the Governor tuned it and began playing? The young man returned and, seating himself, listened as one entranced. The Governor played “Hail Columbia.” “If I had fifty dollars,” shouted the youth, springing to his feet, “I’d give every cent of it for that fiddle. I never, in all mv life, heard such music!” The Governor, pleased at the compliment, continued playing until he was tired. As he laid the violin on the bed, the young man seized it, carried it to the fire, where he could examine it, turned it over and over, and then called out: “Mister, I two fiddles so much alike as yours and mine!” A distinguished geologist says that his success in life is due to a few words of advice given him, when a young man, by Governor Whitcomb. “Foliovfe said the Governor, “one line of- .thoughtXndl research with your whole mind and soul. “Take no active partin politics until maturity has brought you settled convictions. “The life of a politician is not always reputable. It has so many elements of deceit that it is hard to fellow it and keep clean one’s hand and, soul.’’ — Youths’ Companion.