Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1871-10-12
The Man Who Knows EVERYBODY.

EVERY one, we presume, knows a maj
who knows everybody. BY affinity, if no
by blood, he is own brother to the maj
who knows everything; but he is vast l>
moro entertaining and companionable fel
low; he is oound to be clever and agreea
bic, and, above all things, sympathetic, OF
he would not know everybody. To know
many people argues the possession of sew
eral excellent qualities, such as tact, anna
bility, unselhshness, magnetism. A man
may have these, to be sure, and yet moi
know everybody. To do that he must
have sort of genius, a genius for socia
billty. This is not perhaps lofty gilt
and VIC should say not rare one, but
under most circumstances it is pleasant
gift.
The man who knows everybody differs
IN one respect from the man who knows
everything; he is not dispenser of what
goes under the head of useful information
he is not eterna(ly setting his fellow-man
right in the matter of statistics, history,
geography and philology. He is not nee.
essarily well read man; his gossip is not
born of books; people and not things are
his specify. He is generally a person OF
middle age, for his knowledge is of a kind
which is gained only by time and expert
enc; he has travelled much: indeed, he
is travelling perpctually. The Wandering
Jew OF the legend is not q more uneasy
spirit. You will find him-we are speak
ing of the American type-at Baden. b.
den in the height of the season and after
the season is over; he is smoking a chi
boque in Con.tantinople; he is stopping
temporarily at the bet hotel IN London ;
he is at every we'll known watering place
In the world he is on all the trains and
steamboats, going everywhere, and never
misses being passenger in every old stage
coach that is numbering along some out
of.theway road. If chance takes you to
an unheard of, one.horse hotel in the lone
liest part of New England or in the
Southern States, you will find the man
who knows every body sitting on the porch
waiting fol- you oo if by appointment Ao
is the first person that salutes you on your
arrival at Yokohama. If you were cast,
like Robinson Crusoe, on an uninhabited
island, you would discover his footprints
on the beach before you had time to dine
upon the toothsome varieties of mol!usks
hlch always throw themselves providen-
TALLY and with remarkable precision at
the feet Of shipwrecked mariners.
AS general thing he is a pleasant per-
son to meet His varied knowledge of all
your friends and their antec. dents render
him especially agreeable if you encounter
him in foreign land. To- say he is like a
letter from home is to d. scribe him feebly
He is like whole postof1lce Of letters
BY virtue Of his familiarity with persons
and affairs connected with your own
sphere, he becomes in few minutes an
old old friend of twenty years standing
But though he is communicative to the
last degree, and seemingly as open as day.
light, certain sort Of mystery invariably
attache' itself to him. 1t is not clear how
he has had the time and opportunity to
know such a multitude OF people. A man
in n, mercantile or professional life is neces,
sarily brought in contact with numerous
persons; but, after all, he moves in mar
r'w circle; he is constantly meeting the
same or the same kind of man. H. does
not get out of his own tet. Like the So
ciety Of small town, the society If the
great world is divided into cliques, innu.
merable circles revolving around each
other, but seldom or never touching. Now
the man that knows everybody dos not
appear to be under the same limitations
IS other folk. He has managed somehow
to swing round many circles, counting his
in every grade of life, from
the hnmblest to the highest Our friend
is not 10 be confoUnded for an instant with
the social bore who thrusts himself in
everywhere, and is only tolerated. The
man who knows everybody is welcome.
And, indeed, he deserves to be cherished.
He is proof that human na'ure is better
than we think it is. He either sees it with
clearer eyes than other men, or else he
brings to the study heart full of Chris
tian charity He knows everybody and is
not disgusted.-Eoe'y Saturday.