The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1850-04-09
Old Whitley and Gen. Taylor.

Old Whitley and Gen. Taylor.
n. p. Willis, Of the Home Journal writes
from Washington, as follows =
We were standing at the corner of Presi-
dent Square, in Washington the other day
literally brought to a standstl by the hcav-
enly beauty of the weaihcr-whcn a loose
horse troucd loisurely by us in the open
street, and we found ourselves expanding TO-
ward him, in sympathetic recognition Of the
similarity of our respective happiness
There " are two Of us out Of harness to-day"
we mentally iaid, " God bless you, old broth
cr worky, and may you enjoy, as do, this
delicious sunshine and its heavenly noihings
to do" On he trotted towards the Prcsi-
dents gate, and halting little before the
entrance, he seemed hesilaling between per-
feet liberty to so in or stay out-when it
suddenly occurred to us that our fellow idler
might net be. after all, the private individual
for whom VIC had fancied our sympathy to
be rather condoscension than otherwise
What if it should be Old Whitley repos-
ing on his laurels
a moments look, up and down the pave
in front of the Presidents mansion, colrob-
GRATED the conjecture. There werc,perhaps,
twenty persons in sight, and, among them,
we recognized one of the Cabinet Secreia-
rcs, venerable Auditor, the Austrian
Charge, and two Of those unanxious, and
yet responsible looking persons whom you
know to be Members and not olice-seck-
ers-and-(curious to social eyes are
fixed, not upon the distinguished foreigner,
not on the honorable officials, not on the
honorable members, not on an embarrassed
and loose editor of the Homo Journal-but,
on the embarrassed and loose white horse
We felt the smoke of Buena Vista and
Rcsaca dc la Palma, Of Palo Alto and Mon
terey, pushing us toward the old cannon
proof charger. He went smelling about the
edges of the sidewalk wondering, probab-
ly, at such warm weather and no grassland
we crossed over TO have a nearer look at
him, with feeling that the glory was not all
taken fiom his back with the saddle and hol-
sIers. Old Whitley is compact, hardy,
we'll proportional animal, less of battle
sfeed in appearance, than Of the style usu-
ally defined By the phrase family horse, ,
slightly knock-kneed, and with tail q af-
terwards learned) very much thinned by the
numerous applications for hair of him for
memory lie had evidently been long un-
touched with curry-comb, and Qike other
celebrities for want Of an occasional rubbing
down) there was little too much of h'mselt
in his eXlcrior-thc name of Old Whitley
indeed hardly describing with fidelity a coat
so matted AMI yellow But remembering
the hcatings of the great heart he had borne
upon his back-the anxieties, the energies,
the defances of danger the iron impulses TO
duty, the thrills of chivalnc tIiumphs, and
the sad turnines Of the rein to see brothers
in arms lail in the graves of the battlefield
remembering all that has been thought
and felt in the saddle which that horse was
wont to wear-it was impossible to look upon
him without throb in the throat-one Of
those unbddon and unrcasonng tear -throbs
that seem to delight in paying tribute, out
Of time and unexacted, to the triles that have
been belongings Of glory. We saw Gen
Taylor himself. for the first lime, the next
day-with more thought of reverence, of
course, than had been awakened by his horse
--bu: with not half the emotion.
The hero President has been moro
truthfully described than any man we ever
read much OF before seeing. One who had
not learned how extremes touch, in manners
the most courtly polish and the most abso-
lutte simplicity-might be surprised, only.
with what complete putting of every one in
his presence a, case which is looked upon in
England as the result of high breeding; and
which Gen. Taylor's manners effect, without
the slightest thought given to the matter,
apparently, and with tbc fullest preservation
of dignity. Rough ard Ready'-in his
way-an English Duke would be, as well ::
and, by the way, his readiness is of simplici-
ty and genuneness which it is wonderful in.
deed to find Sc high on the ladder of pre-
termentl There were but SIX or eight per-
sons in the room, when the party we accom-
panied were presented to the President and
the conversation for the ten minutes we were
there, was entirely unsIudied, and between
himself and the ladies only. But we should
have been anywhere struck with the instant
direcIness, obyiousness,and prompt and close
hitting immedidiencss with which he invaria-
!
a Washington ciisr states that senator Seward has
ptfsenied to General Taylor flr aud la hoAaf of" Old
| WhcY" hani-omp sufry.eonh. from ths Establish.
moni Of Messrs. Wheeler Co, Toy