The weekly Shasta courier., 1873-02-08
Mrs. Greeley.


was born in Lltchfeld County, Connecticut,
in 1914. She was somewhat younger than
her husband, who was sixty-one on the Sd
of last February. Her maiden name was
Mary Cheney Young.
In her youth she came to New York and
established school. boarding at the Ora
ham House, where she first met Mr.. Gree
ley. He was then conducting the New
Yorker. Their acquaintance ripened into
affection and they were soon engaged Mr..
Greeley and Miss Cheney were married Ju-
ly s. 1886, in Warrenton, N. c., where she
was engaged in teaching school. Mr.. Gree
lev has two children living-Miss Ida and
Miss Gabrielle.
Mrs. Prof. Youmans told me last winter
that Mrs. Greeley was once very beautiful.
For years she had 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 woman of
iron will and Spartan endurance.
When l asked Mrs. Youmans what caus-
ed Mrs. Greeley's unequal temperament, she
replied
"Well, she was born in the ordinary walks
of life. The Cheneys were Litchfeld county
farmers She came from the toiling millions,
the starting point of all American nobility.
She once had very strong will, but sick
ness has broken her constitution, aud she
was governed entirely by impulse. Her &C.
centrcities are strikingly peculiar. She
was formerly accustomed to occupation, and
even to hard work, as mother and head of
family but of late years Mr.. Greeleys f.
nancial position prevents the necessity of la
Dor on her part, and her mind has become
eccentric"
Was she like Mr.. Greeley?" I asked.
"Yes, there was great similarity, they
were well mated. She was full of new ideas,
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 zeal worthy of Roman mother. Mr..
Greeley tells even now, with great pride,
with what Spartan stoicism Mrs. Greeley
used to preside before company at their SIM
pie Grahamite meal, when he was running
the NeD Yorker, in 1885,"
How do you mean 2" inquired.
"Why, neither Mr. nor Mrs. Greeley ate
meat or drank tea or coffee. Their diet con-
sisted of Graham bread, boiled beans and
salt, and cold water, and Mr.. Greeley often
amused US by telling how Mrs. Greeley act
ed when she had friends to visit her from
the country"
"How was that?"
"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 intelligently and leave the din
ner to explain itself.
Sometimes" said a friend of the fam
! ily, 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 result was,'
Mr.. Greeley used to say, laughing, that
people who came to stay week general
days, and never repeated the visit till COM
PEELED to. They were never tempted back
by rich living.
During all Mrs. GreeIeys sickness Mr..
Greeley has watched over her with patient
devotion. Sometimes during the past years
she has been very queer in her notions,
but he has never fretted nor chided her.
"What were Mrs. Greeleys peculiari-
ties ?" asked an intimate friend of the
family.
"She had an iron will, and often took
it into her head to carry out certain rad
ical ideas at any cost. Once" contn-
ned the friend, i 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 the ride from the station to the
farm, she inquired of the driver his price,
and when she found he wanted to take
pay it, and we all got out and walked the
rest of the distance" ItJ
And Mr.. Greeley?"
why, after a while. in he came with
the goats. He neither smiled at the idea,
nor complained of the long walk. In fact,
in the treatment of Mrs. Greeley, and her
eccentricities, he is the best man l ever
knew. He never forgets himself but waits
on her with all the devotion of young
lover. Indeed, there ia something grand
in Mr. Greeley's devotion to his wife, He
says that he had hard work to get her,
that he married her for love, and that he
shall always love her, sick or WELL"
How true this has proved -Four days
have passed and Mr.. Greeley has watched
faithfully by the bedside of his wife
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 to believe
that children ought to be brought up in a
state of nature, untrameled by clothing.
In her religious belief Mrs Greeley was
a strong Universalist She believed thor
oughly in rewards and punishments as we
go along. and that if the wicked escape
the penalties of the legal code, that con-
science. (which doth make towards of
us all" will infict penalties of secret
sting. In the end she believed in the
universal salvation of all mankind, but
she thought, with Ben Adhem, that he
whose name was writ as one who loved
his fellow men, would one day. in the
purer world beyond, lead sll the rest"
Religion with her was not in the cant of
creeds, but in the grander acts of such
great philanthropists as Wilberforce and
Howard-in the sublime stoopinps of the
Christ child when he bends to lift
struggling orphan from the gutter, or
grandly and bravely breaks the shackles
of the slave.
Mr.. James Gordon Bennett, now in Eu-
rope, will return in March. and, Dame Grun-
dy says will be married to Brooklyn young
lady.