Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1872-12-13
Mrs. Greeley.
"REMINISCENCES OF HER LIFE AND CHAR
ArrER


ter that Mrs. Greeley was once very
beautiful. For years she had been an
invalid. During her life she was al
ways eccentric, showing spells of stoi-
cism, and then love and kindness, to Mr..
Greeley. She was woman of iron will,
and Spartan endurance. When asked
Mrs. Youmans what caused Mrs. Gree
leys uneven temperament, she replied
''Well, she was born in the lower walks
of life. The Cheneys were Litchfield
county farmers. She came from the
toiling millions, the starting point of all
American nobility. She once had very
strong will, but sickness has broken her
constitution, and she is governed entire
ly by impulse. Her eccentricities are
strikingly peculiar. She was formerly
accustomed to occupation, and even to
hard work, as mother and head of q
family, but of late years Mr.. Greeley's
financial position prevents the necessity
of labor ON her part, and her mind has
become eccentric"
"Was she like Mr.. Greeley ?" ask
ed.
Yes, there was great similarity.
They were we'll mated She was full Of
new ideas, and brave enough to carry
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 q
zeal worthy of Roman mother. Mr..
Greeley tells, even now, with great pride,
with what Spartan stoieism Mrs. Gree
ley used to preside before company at
their simple Grahamite meal, when he
was running the New Yorker, in 1885,"
"How do you mean ?" | inquired.
"Why, neither Mr.. nor Mrs. Greeley
ate meat or drank tea or coffee. Their
diet consisted of Graham bread, boiled
beans, 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 country"
Glow was that p
"Well, she would set her 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 intelligently,
and leave the dinner to explain itself"
Sometimes" said friend Of the FAM
lily, Mr.. Greeley used to suggest to
Mrs Greeley that some explanation
ought to be made to the visitors, but she
would look up very seriously and say !:
" No, Horace, what is good enough for
us, is good enough for them The re-
suit was, Mr.. Greeley used to say, laugh
ing, that people who came to stay week
generally 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 sickness
Mr.. Greeley has watched over her with
patient devotion. Sometimes during past
years she has been very queer in her
notions, but he has never fretted ur child
ed her.
"What were Mrs. Greeley's peculiari-
ties ?" / asked an intimate friend of the
family.
"She bad an iron will, and often took
into her head to carry out certain radi-
cal ideas at any cost. Once" continued
the friend, e went up to Chappaqua to
spend Sunday. Mrs. Greeley had two
goats at the station, and she thought no
one could drive them to the farm but
Horace, so he, to humor her, walked the
whole distance and drove them in. She
was the soul of honor and integrity, and
would never submit to dishonest or
: tricky action on the part of any one
else. During that ride from the station
: to the farm, she inquired of the driver
his price, and when she found he wanted
to take dollars advantage of her, she
refused to pay it, and we all got out and
walked the rest of the distance"
"And Mr.. Greeley?"
"Why after while, in he came with
the goats. He neither smiled at the idea,
t nor complained at the long walk. In
: fact, in his treatment of Mrs. Greeley, and
D her eccentricities, he is the best man ]
: ever knew. He never forgets himself,
: but waits on her with all the devotion of
e young lover. Indeed there is some
] thing grand in Mr.. Greeley's devotion
] for his wife. He says he had hard work
|, to get her, that he married her for her
t love, and that he shall always love her,
: sick or WE'LL
f Mrs. Greeley had some peculiar ideas,
! which her future biographer will no
/ doubt notice She believed in nature,
/ and in letting nature alone. She used
9 to believe that children ought to be
y brought up in state of nature, untram-