Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1876-09-14
GOV. HAYES.
The Hind Of Man He Is, at Home and at wori


A correspondent of the Chicago
Tribune, writing from Columbus, . /,
describes en- interview with Gov
Hayes, our next President. Having
arrived at the door OF his Office in tho
State Capitol, the writer says:
There was no nonsense OF sending
in cards and waiting 10 be summoned
by an attendant,--and there was
that quiet simplicity of manner in
his reception that puts one at ease ut
once, and that to me suggested o
striking contrast with my reception
upon my last previous call upon a
Governor, which was in the South,
and where | was kept waiting full
hour, TO behold negro carpet bag
Observation-Disclosures aud hotel walt
ers from the North-push by me
and gain admittance forthwith to tho
Executive presence. There was
nothing gushing or elusive about
Gov Hayes manner. He didn't
stiffly take my hand with the awful
Senatorial sel.nnity cultivated by
statesmen about Washington. Nor
did be shake it with pump-handle
fever. Neither did be manifest any
symptoms Of an approach to that
dreadful appreher sion which besets
smal politicians, who 10 every cor
respondent suspect the interviewing
nuisance of the pod-a1ger order, and
who are struck all fiutter at the
thought that there ia no telling bow
soon, by twist or two Of the ped
auger their own awful emptiness
may DO tapped and daylight 1T
through them.
| hadn't anticipated any of these
things of Gov Hayes. | knew him
when he was congressman from
one of the Cincinnati districts, and
in those days nobody knew Ruther-
ford b Hayes without soon finding
out that be was incapable of sham
ming or of posing for effect, while
he was of that rare type of sclf-con-
tanned men who, knowing how and
when, select their own occasions for
making public utterances, and are
invulnerable 10 all the intervie wing
tubes, augers, and gimlets. A glance
sufiiced to show that be remained
precisely that manner OF man, only
more so and look into his large,
steel-gray eyes-keenly observant,
and of the sort that never finch
would have satisfied the most pertl-
nacious Of interviewers of the boot
lessness of attempting to interview
Hayes. Ii wasn't my mission to
attempt it. But, while tho conven-
ton turned on our Cincinnati ae'
quaintances of a dozen or moro
years ago, | made study Of him.
THE PORTRAITS OF HIM,
as far as | have seen, are not quite so
libelous, but they are little like the
man. There is mono of that hard
contour about his face that appears
in them. Instead, his features are
mobile and expressive. Strong and
full of character the photogt apis
show them to be, with his full, high
forehead, broad across the brow, his
prominent nose, slightly aquiline,
and tlpstly trimmed board. But
what is not reproduced 10 the photo
graphs is the open record of cleanly
life, honest purpose. and straight
forwardness, that is writ in evcry
line OF his face, and reflected in tho
unconscious openness and frankness
with which be meets your glance,
and which no man of concealments
could successfully assume. In con-
versstion, his face lights up with
animation; and, while his phrases are
never oratorica or forid but clear
cut and precise, | bave seen his eyes
kindle in q way that betokened
earnestness or enthusiasm quite at
variance with the notion cultivated
10 some quarters that he is cold
blooded fellow, distinguished chiefly
by q moderation not so much judi
cious as the inevitable result of q
sluggish temperament. His fine,
fiorid complexion, bis reddish-auburn
hair and beard, both now tinged with
gray, bis quick glance, and babitusl
Inactive manner, all attest that his
| temperament is of the nervous order.
With less breadth of shoulder and
depth of chest, he would inevitably
have been nervous. But his physique
is too splendid to admit OF his beirg
nervous, and bis self-poise is that
which belongs to perfect health. lie
| is q man of blood and bone, and
nerve, all in splendid order, who, at
81, looks younger than most men at
As is active and alert and nobody
who takes a good look at him would
mistake him for man of cold, slug
eish temperament. He is endowed
with superabundant vitality, mono OF
which has he dissipated. lie is OF
corresponding energy when occasion
requires, as those who know the
inside history of the Ohio campaign
Of last fall, and how Hayes himself
directed it throughout vi ! testify.
His luck has none of it been mere
luck. It vas the result of political
sagaci.y Il thst very uncommon
sort tia. proceeds from enlightened
common sense and that sagacity