The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-11-27
THADDEUS STEVENS.
His Property-Private Habits-Refusal
to receive Presents, &c.

Tho National Inteligencer, referring to the
story gong the rounds Of the press that tho
personal property Of the late Hon. Thaddeus
Stevens was barely sufficient to pay his debts,
and that his furnace property was worth about
100000, which. with his house at Lancaster,
valued at s15 900, constituted the bulk OF his
real estate, remarks that such statement is
more poetic than true. The Intelligencer then
proceeds to commend the private life and habits
OF the deceased, and adds:
He owed nobody at the date of his decease,
and he had in the bank IT Lancaster, as we are
informed by Mr.. Boughter, his personal friend,
about twenty thousand dollars. He had little or
nothing in public securities. His PLAIN and SIM
pie mansion at Lancaster cannot be valued at
above half dozen Thousand dollars. The sum
and substance OF his means were IN his furnace
at Gettysburg. Though 1t in former days, as
he was accustomed to say, was an absorbent OF
his income professionally, yet in later ones 1t has
been profitable, the ore bed being superior. and
the me bod of blasting being by charcoal.
Hence the Confederate force did him much dam
age in its raid, not so much in the value OF what
was actually destroyed rs III tho destruction OF
work at the furnace nt period Of great demand
for superior sorts OF iron tor machine purposes.
A few thousand dollars probably covered the
actual losses in property lltlicted by tho raid
i'll question. ,..
marked that he would take S150 900 for his Get
tysburg property, but DR.. Noble Young, OF this
city This physician), who is familiar with it and
the locality, estimates its prospective value, in
good hands, at double that figure. The works
were clrrled on in Dir. Stevens name, and. Of
course, they did not make the returns that
they would had he been practical ironmaster.
,l.,0rt 20 In .1.ad
in it's character. 1t is worth several thousand
dollars. He was, we learn, thoroughly read in
the old stamp of works in history and itera-
ture I'd also in the modern ones OF superior
character. He received, while III Congress,
great numbers of newspapers, Of both sides in
politics, most Of which he read, as 1t respects
their editorials. Herein this intellectual giant
differed from crowd of inferior persons in
Congress and elsewhere in public position, who
80 often profess contempt Of newspapers and
newspaper correspondents, yet who owe very
much Of their prominence more to the mis-
placed partiaIity of such than to any marked
merits Of their own.
In the latter-day public career OF MIR. Stevens
his labors were immense, and as his physical
powers were declining, ne was obliged to be
excee0in .ly crcumspcct ii respect tp his hab-
its and effJrts. He was through life tempe
rate man in the strict sense OF the term, indu.-
cipg only i'll glass Of wine or other drink as
u form of hospitality or courtesy upon the oc-
cason OF the visit OF old and vLlue1 friends,
or possibly of some superior political function
ary. He therefore received with uudisgused
dislike the prescription some three years be-
fore his death of tue use Of stimulauts. He
was abstemious as to diet, eating but two
meals day, and retiring very carly and rising
late. He held that much sleooinS or lying in
bed, even if not sleeping. was q great natural
rcstorer of exhausted nature. Tnis is in con-
sistence with the modern scientific idea that
three or four hours Close mental labor calls for
twice the repose that does the same expendl-
ture of time in hand work, the call b.ing far
greater upon nerve power and other sources
OF vitality.
Brcakfasting at eight o'clock, Mr.. Stevens
would at once proceed to dispose Of his mail,
which was, of course, very large. Most letters
hc would throw into tue waste basket upon
sight of the names of the writer's. When once
questioned as to the propriety of so dong, lie
answered that he knew the contents by the
names. 1t was Tallcyrand who said that most
letters answered themselves" The few letters
that Mr.. Stevens wrote We're comprised iu L
half dozen lines. The most important took
but letter page, excluding party or political
ones, which were also brief tor docuneuts OF
that stamp. Until the last of his life, he but
little utilized the labors Of others in carrying
on his correspondence.