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Page 10 text:
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6 Qlurks anti QIuriIs 1915 when the opportunity came to him. Underwood was, and is, cool, self- contained, calm in argument, ready with facts and figuresea wonderfully clear speaker and a man to invite and retain confidence. Williams was, and is, as strong intellectually as either of the three. A scholar as well as statesman, he knows how to clothe argument in graceful diction. At times as impetuous as Bailey; again as cool and calm as Under- wood, he possesses a sharp, fiery, alert manner peculiarly his own. As a lighter he is quick, impetuous, zealous of success and with a readiness in retort which few men equal. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1854. His father, Colonel Christopher H. Williams, C. S. A., gave his life for his country in the war between the states. He was killed at the Battle of Shiloh, as his regiment, the 27th Tennessee Volunteers, was taking a battery in the Hornets, Nest? having previously had two horses shot under him in the same battle. Senator Williams's great grandfather, John Williams, went into the Revolutionary Army as Lieutenant Colonel of the liHillsboro Minute Menf, was afterwards promoted to a Colonelcy and served as a Colonel of the N orth Carolina line. Senator Williams,s grandfather on his mother,s side was Captain John McKnitt Sharp, who was senior Captain of the Mississippi Rifles, commanded by Col- onel Jefferson Davis in the Mexican War, and his maternal great grandfather was a Major in the Revolutionary Army, also serving from North Carolina. The Williams family, of course Welsh, l'lI'St settled in, Hanover County, Virginia, and afterwards moved to N orth Carolina. The Sharps wereScotch- Irish, originally from Maryland, subsequently moving into North Carolina. After his father,s death Senator Williams,s family removed to Yazoo County, Mississippi, the residence of his maternal grandfather. Williams was educated at the Kentucky Military Institute, the Univer- sity of the South at Sewanee, and entered the University of Virginia in 187 l. He soon took a prominent position both in student activities and in scholarship. He worked hard and yet was as full of fun and frolic as any one of his , associates. He was popular, although he never went out of his way to court popularity with either professor or student. To the first he commended hima self by his brilliancy and capacity for hard work; to the second by his manly bearing and his readiness to enter into all college activities-far more limited then than at the present day. For in the iiseventies,, athletics were unknown; baseball was a very feeble institution and football a game with no fixed teams, rules or organization. The fraternities and literary societies engaged much of the time and attention ofthe students in those days.
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Page 11 text:
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rfi s ILlr a u rx' A a n u QT. urlz f 7' 1915 QED rk5 Williams was a member of the iHeft, as the Jefferson Literary Society was then known. He took much interest in the debates in the latter Society and doubtless laid then the foundation of the readiness and power in debate which has since characterized him. He did not apply for an academic degree, but graduated in several of the schools. In Moral Philosophy under that great teacher, Wm. H. McGuffey, he easily ranked. first in a class made up of the best students in the University. Doctor McGuffey always offered a prize for his best scholar and Williams won it hands down,' in the last class which graduated under the teaching of this professor. It was his rule to require his students to read to him their papers on the final examination and the present writer and Williams were in the old gentleman's study undergoing that ordeal. Williams preceded the writer and his paper was absolutely flawless. After he left the room the Doctor turned to the writer and with that peculiar shake of his head few of his students fail to remember, remarked, iiA wonderful young man. Pity there were not more like him in my class. He ought to accomplish a great deal in the future. And Williams has fulfilled the old Doctor's prophecy. He left the University and spent some time in Heidelberg University, Germany. Returning to the University of Virginia he studied law under John B. Minor. He resumed his activities in The Jeff, and was the success- ful candidate for the debatefs medal, his opponent being one of his friends. Debaters were elected by popular Vote then and the writer well remembers the stormy politics of those days, he being the unsuccessful candidate for the debatefs medal in WThe Wash --the Washington Literary Society- losing that honor by the deciding vote of the President, he and his oppor- nent tying on the floor. Party spirit ran high in those days. Caucuses were held with kegs of beer and Hotopp,s Catawba as attractive features, and fun and frolic alternated with combinations of candidates and all the- tricks and devices of the shrewdest politiciansethough absolutely fair play and open, honest methods were always the order of the dayeand night. Into this race Williams entered with the zeal and earnestness which has always been one of his marked characteristics. He won not only on account of his popularity, but as the recognized ablest debater in the Societyenot always the case. On leaving the University Williams was admitted to the Tennessee Bar in 1877 and subsequently to the Mississippi Bar at Yazoo, where he practiced law and engaged in the business of cotton planting. In 1892 he was elected a member of the lifty-seventh Congress and was reElected, once unanimously, to every Congress thereafter, until elected to the 3
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