Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-11-13
"REMINISCENCES.

REAIINIsCENCE.
Mrs. Professor Youmans told me
last winter thai Mrs. Greeley was
once very beautiful. For years she has
been an invalid. During her life she
was always eccentric, showing spells
of stOicism, and then love and kind
ness, to Mr.. Greeley. She was a wo-
man of iron will and Spartan endu-
rance. -Hr Ht .HfH-
When I asked Mrs. Youmars what
caused Mrs. Greeley's uneven tenn
perament, she replied
"Well, she was born in the Idinary
walks of life. The Cheneys were
Litehfield county farmers. She came
from the toiling millions, the starting
point of all American nobility. She
once had a very strong will, but sick
ness has broken her constitution, and
she is governed entirely by impulse.
Her eecentricities are strikingly pc
culiar. She was formerly accustomed
to occupation, and even TO hard labor,
as a mother aud head of a family, but
of late years Mrs. Greeley's financial
position prevents the necessity of la
Dor on her part, and her mind has be-
come eccentric Z"
"Was she like Mr.. Greeley?p 1
asked. -.
"Yes, there was great similarity
They were well mated. She was full
of new ideas, and brave enough to car
ry out any theory which she believed
to be true, even against the whole
world. She entered into all of Mr..
Greeley's cold water and vegetarian
theories with a zest worthy of RO-
man mother. Mr.. Greeley tells even
new, with great pride, with what
Spartan stoicism Mrs. Greeley used 10
preside before company at their simple
Grahamite meal when he was running
the NeJU Yorker, in 1888" .i -t.--.
e "How do. you mean ?n [ enquired.
why, neither Mr.. nor Mrs. Gree
ley ate meat or drank tea or coffee
boiled beans and salt and cold water,
and Mr.. Greeley often amused us by
telling how Mrs. Greeley acted when
she had friends to visit her from the
Chow was that ?n
"Well, she would set her little table |
with Graham bread, milk, beans, salt |
and water, and when they all sat down /
she would never apologize, or even !
explain anything, but talk very INTEL |
ard leave the dinner to ex-
plain itseif.n
Sometimes" said friend of the /
family, Mr.. Greeley used to suggest |
to Mrs. Greeley that some explanation
ought TO be made to the visitors gh |
she would look up very eriously, but 1
say, No, Horace; what is good enoand 1
for us is good enough for Them 1.-The /
result was" Mr.. Greeley used to say,
"that people who came to 1
stay a week stood our vegetarian diet |
about two days, and never repeated
The visit till compelled to. They were
never tempted back by rich living ~
During all Mrs. Greeley's illness
Mr.. Greeley has watched over her
with patient devotion. Sometimes
Turing past years she has been very
queer in her notions, but he has never
retted or chided her.
"What were Mrs. GreeIey's peculi-
irities ?" l asked an intimate friendof |
he family. -tH 1913
"She had an iron will, and often
ook it into her head to carry out GER
ain radical ideas at any cost. "0nce,n
the friend, Il went up to
Jhappaqua TO spend Sunday. Mr..
ireeley had two goats al the station,
md she thought no one could drive
hem TO the farm but Horace, so he,to
lumor her, walked the whole distance
md drove them in. She was the soul
# honor and integrity, and would
lever submit to a dishonest or tricky
Iction on the part of any one else
During that ride from the station TO
he farm, she inquired of the driver
lis price, and, when she found he
wanted to take dollars advantage of ,
Ter, she refused TO pay it, and we all
,ot out and walked the rest of the dis
"And Mr.. Greeley? ?"
"Nhy, after while. in he came
With the goats. He neither smiled at !
he idea, nor complained about the !
ODg walk. In fact, in his treatment }
{ Mrs. Greeley, and her eccentrici- 4
les; he is the best man l ever knew +
lie never forgets himself, but waits :
n her with all the devotion Ofa young !
over. Indeed, there is something /
rand in Mr.. Greeley's devotion to his !
rife. He says he had hard work to
ct her, that he married her for love,
nd that he shall always love her-sick
T WELL" |
How true this has proved! For s
ays have passed and Mr.. Greeley has d
'atched faithfully by the bedside Of Q
is wife. I
Mrs. Greeley had some peculiar 4
ieas, which her future biographer I
ill no doubt notice. She believed in I
ature- and in letting Nature alone. g
he used to believe thatchildren ought I
be brought up in a state Of Nature,