Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1872-12-07

was by profession teacher. The ac-
quaintance had been formed at the Gra-
ham House, and was continued by cor
respondence after Miss Cheney, in the
pursuit of her vocation, had removed to
North Carolina. The lady is under
stood to have possessed high intellectu-
al endowments. and her domestic vir-
tues must have been great to have Sc
cured such profound and permanent de-
votion as Mr. Greeley showed to her.
Mr. Greeley's private character was
singularly pure and free from everything
of a vicious or corrupting nature, even
from his early youth and through all
the vicissitudes of fortune. When pow
! erty pinched hard upon him, and his
early life was one of toll and selfdenial,
his innate integrity protected him against
the temptations that his genius opened
! b fore him for corrupt practices. His
temper, it is true, was irascible, but those
who knew him best indulged his ecccn-
tricities, knowing that under such an
exterior existed 4 rich mine of worth
never obscured when duty demanded
its treasures.
In his private relations there was no
man more trusted and relied upon than
Mr.. Greeley. His friendships were
based upon true worth, derived from
his keen but apparently unsophisticated
discernment Of character, and his infiu
ence and offices could be relied upon in
any emergency. He was singularly
happy in his domestic relations. His
views Of life and It's duties, his literary
pursuits, even in their idiosvncracies,
were in accord with the opinions Of his
wife, down to the dietetical seli-denial
that alleviated the poverty Of his early
efforts.
The political opinions of Mr. Greeley
belong to the history of parties. That
! those opinions have exercised a potent
( influence upon the afi,lirs Of this coun-
try there can be no doubt
The characteristics of his mind are
difficult Of dilenation. 1t grasp was
certainly comprelenS.v'. at the same
time exhibiting tenaciiy of memory
in the most insignificant detail that
could be made immensely available, with
perspicuity of vigor of thought that
rather added TO than embarrassed his
style of expression. At one moment
discussing, always with ahility,the most
profound questions of craftsmanship; at
another reciting the prejudices that gov
ern distant township election, and
again, taking important questions aris-
ing upon insignificant issues, and cloth
ing their narration with satire, burlcsque
and sound argument that not only anus
es but arouses public sentiment to a ne
cessity for the correction of obuscs. We
may well conclude that the versatility
of his mind was more remarkable than
any man of his age.
Mr.. Greeley's abstraction is well illus
trated by his biographer, who says that
he often looked up from his work, ask
ing an associate whether he had been to
dinner, and was governed entirely by
the answer, whether in earnest or quiz
on his own peculiarity. One of the
most singular events of his life happen
ed in Paris, France, where he was i'm
prisoned for debt, and Of which he gives
most graphic account. The debt was
not one of his own, but of the New
York Crystal Palace Association, Of
which he was one of the managers. a
Mons. Lechesne, sculptor of France,
sent statue to the Crystal Palace ex-
bition, which, unfortunately, had it's
nose broken off. Mr. Greeley happen
ing to be in Paris shortly afterwards,
was arrested very unexpectedly by
Mons. Lechesne, and refusing to give
bail for the payment Of the money, was
lodged in Clichy, the prison for foreign
debtors. His life in the prison fOr a
day) is most humorously aud instruct
lively portrayed by his pen, that seemed
to derive nutriment from every days
experience. Ills vein of sarcasm flowed
most freely in his description of the suit
brought against him by J. FenimOre
Cooper, the novelist, for libel, which
consisted in Mr.. Greeley's remark inthe
Tribune, on similar suit by the same
plaintiff against Mr.. Weed, that the
damages were assessed by the jury at
1900, from which he concluded that
Mr.. Conper's character had been judici.
ally decided to ae worth exactly $500.
in his report Of the case of Cooper
against himself, in a short space he pub.
lished the force of full volume on the
surplusage Of form that ,mjar-s>es the
arrival at the issue in pleas, which carl
cature influenced very largely the amend
ment Of the New. York laws that intro
duced the simple forms Of the present
code. However, as be tells us, Mr..
Cooper coopered the Tribune with
verdict of 5000 His biograpner, Jas
Parton, in describing night scene in
the Tribune office, draws a picture .of
Mr. Greeley at work. He says:
''The editor-in- chief is at bis desk
writing, in a singular attitude the desk
is on level with bis hose and the wri-
ter sitting bolt upright He writes rap
idly, with scarcely pause for thought,
and not once in page makes an era
sure The foolscap leaves fly from un-
der his pen at the rate of one in fifteen
minutes He does most of the thinking
before he begins to write, and produces
matter about as fast as swift copyist
can copy, yet he leaves nothing for the
compositor to guess at. Not uBfre-
qaently he bounds up into the con,pos-
ing room and makes correction or adds
a sentence in his own hand At mid
night Mr.. Greeley has finished his work