Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1879-06-25
Greeley and Taylor.

distinguished men. Horace Greeley and
btyard Taylor, is part Of IA letter from
the latter to the Tribune soon after the
death Of Mr.. Greeley:
My " Intercourse with him (Hor-
ace Greeley though often Interrupted
by absence or divergence Of labor, was
frank at the start, and grew closer and
more precious every year. In all my
experience of men, | have never found
one whose primitive impulses revealed
themselves vito such marvellous purity
and sincerity. His nature often seemed
to me as crystai-clear rs that OF a child.
In my younger and more sensitive DAYS
ne often gave me u transient wound.
but such wounds healed without a scar,
and always found they came from
the lance of n physician, not from the
knife of an euemy.
II first saw Mr.. Greeley in June, 1874,
when was q boy of ~. | applied to
HIM for an engagement to write letters
To the Tribune from Germany. His re-
ply was terse enough, "Nu descriptive
letters he said, ~ am sick of them.
Whet. you have been @ lCng enough
TO know something, send To me, and if
there Is anything il your letters, / will
publish them" | waited nearly n year.
and then sent seventeen letters, which
were all published. They we're shallow
enough, | suspect; but what mightthey
not have been without his warning.
Toward the end OF lS47, while | was
engaged in that unfortunate enterprise
of trying to establish n weekly pap at
Phpnixville, Pa, | wrote to him-fore-
seeing the failure of my hopes--asking
hls assistance IN procuring literary
work in New York. He advised me
as | suspect he had advised thousands
Of young mem, TO stay in the country,
and a year too long; so another month
found me in New York, and in his
office, with my story OF disappointment,
and my repeated request for his favor
able influence. IL think you are mis-.
taken" he said "but will bear you in
mind, II | hCaT of any chance
Six weeks afterward to my great sur
prise (for ] supposed he had quite for
gotten mel he sent for me and offered
me q place ON the Tribune. | worked
hard and necessarily during the sum
mer of lS4S, hearing never a word Of
commentator or encouragement; but
one day in October, he suddenly came
to my desk, laid his hand on my shout
der, and said; You have been faithful;
but now you need rest. Take a weeks
holiday, and go to New England" |
obeyed, and found on my return that
he had ordered my salary to be ~increas-
ed.
/ think none Of his associates at that
time ever wrote II line he did not criti-
cally read. His comments sometimes
seemed rough, but they were always
wholesome and almost invariably Just.
Once he called me into his room,
pointed to a poem ot mine which had
just appeared in II literary magazine,
and abruptly asked: "Why did you
publish that gassy stuff" My indigna-
ton was even greater than my astonish-
meut, ! retorted f~iercely; "Mr.
Greeley, ! should feel hurt by your
question, if | had any respect, whatever,
tor your Judgment in regard to poetry"
He smiled Il sad. forgivipg smile, and
said nothing. Years a%fterward, | saw
that he was right; the poem was only a
piece of something rhetoric, for which
'gasSy" was perhaps coarse but Ger
tainly not an inappropriate epithet. In
this, rs in other respects, the disipline
he subjected me 10 was excellent; if not
the result Of nte.lectuaI perception it
manifested an instinct even more re-
markable.
Two pictures, equally illustrative of
tho man rpmuIn with mo from fhat
first year. One, an afternoon in the
little editorial office under the roof; Mr..
Greeley bending over the yellow trans
fer-paper Du which the Geographic dis
pathes were written. The light from the
window few on the top Of his bald head,
which presented its full circumference
to me rs he leaned down. / was look
ing ut il vacantly, when | saw a fiery,
scarlet flush rise from his neck and tenn
Piles like n wave, and flood the white
crown. The next moment he rose,
threw back his head and uttered a fear
iul shrek. For n minute, nearly, |
thought him mad. He flung his hands
up and down and cried: at has
comet" and laughed in halfdelirious
ecstacy. 1t was the news of the passage
Of the Wllmot provlso.
Another day, his little son Arthur,
whose exquisite features, blue eyes and
golden hair, remain in my memory as
n more angelic apparition than any
cherub face which Raphael ever paint
ed, came into the Office TO meet him on
his return from a journey. When he
saw the boy he gave a similar shrek,
caught him under the arms, tossed him
aloft, and finally clasped him to his
breast with a wordless cutlery Of pas
sionate love and joy, so intense that |
almost shuddered to hear it. | then
felt that ! lad caught one OF the clews