The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1879-02-22
THURLOM WEED.

Youth lives in the future. adult age IN
the present, and old age in the past; that
Is, all preponderantiy but none absolutely
so. Each has its sunshine aud each its
tain. tie is wide Of the mark who thinks
that the aged are in the course OF nature
unhappy. That depends. The feeblenes,
Of body. the failing senses. the solicitud~
that closes around. and the silence thai
comes with the hushiug Of the living voices
about Us in our active livcs-all this b.
longs 10 age; and all this to the adult with
his active impulses of today would be
nnhappiness; and to the youth, with his
yet 10 be bonanza of life still before him.
it would he wIetchedness supreme Tie
surroundings of each period are the brs,
fnr that period, aad the man that has lived
well can be As happy in any one as il
either of the others. All that the author
Of De .Ssnectute has SO gracefully written
amounts u no more than this, that he Kim.
self was, no doubt, as happy when making
that brilliant argument as he had been
either when a youth he sat at the feet of
Archas. or when 4 man he thundered de-
uunciations on a traitors head.
The life of Thurlow Weed has been a
VERY ACTIVE ONE,
full of intense effort Incessant energy and
manifold achievement, aud this full in the
glare Of public attention for more than
hity years-an editor, n leg islator, a party
leader. the friend aud adviser of presidents
aud secretaries. the confidential agent of
government in its most embar RAISING hour,
aud the oral Ambassador to the TWO most
powerful courts in Europe: and his old
age, dating that from his retirement from
the editorship of the New York Commercial
.idrsr;iser, in 1868 has been a quiet on.
he events Of his life are too well known
TO need recounting here. In brief, this:
lie was born AT CAIRO, in the State OF New
York, on the 18th OF November, 1877:
served in the war of 1912;
EDITED NUMEROUS JOURNALS
among which, in the way of eccentrcities,
were the Norwich y. Y -iqriculturis,.
aud the Rochester .iHG- Masonic Inquirer.
was twice elected TO the Legislature as an
anti Mason; moved to Albany in 1890: has
been an active and successful leader on the
anti Mason, Wing. aud Republican side OF
politics; worked against Jackson, PIERCE.
Polk and Buchanan, and for Harrison.
Tyler, Scott, Taylor, Fremont, Seward and
Lincoln; went To France and England AS a
c"Liidential commissioner in 1861 and came
within half an hour of being captured inst
as Mason and Slidell had been; moved To
the city of New York in 1865; edited the
Commercial -idrertiser about three years:
published - Letters from EuIope and the
West Indies " in 1866. having visited Eu-
tore four times; and in 1865 at the age of
seveu,y-one, retired from active public life,
mainly on account of failing health.
lie lives To- day. he has lived these ten
year. of
PEACEFUL RETIREMENT,
in his clrg ant home ON West Twelfth street,
ia Nrw York city, blessed with the devoted
love, lender attentions. and practical as sisi.
auce of Miss Weed, his eldest daughter
and cheersd with the presence of some Of
his grandchildren. Here he lives, sur
rounded with the substantial comforts aud
elegaucies of 4 well appointed metropolitan
home. He goes out fr, qusnriy, never much
regarding weather. and visits many friend.
aud attends meetings of societies. HIS
library is marvel of autobiographic ma
ieriai, a sort of crystallz ition of the stir
ring events of the half century that pre-
ccd. Il his retirement. There are not many
printed books, but the peculiar wealth Is
in the manuscripts and pictures. the letters
and likenesses OF hundreds Of leading men,
Of men prominent not only in politics and
party craft, but in
LITERATURE, ART, SCIENCE, RELIGION.
and life generally; not only Americans, but
also English. French. Germans, Belgians,
and other nationaities; and not all in Eng
lish, but many in other languages. OF let
tiers, there are between thirty and forty
bound volumes, one or more being devoted
/" each Northumberland As J. q Adams.
Lincoln. Seward-each volume lettered
with names of writer's aud with dates and
Ia these bound letters, there are in pigeon
holes, Alphabetically arranged more than
five Thousand miscellaneous letters. These,
with those in the volumes, are addressed to
Mr.. Weed, and from the prominent men of
his day-the past tw" generations of let
ter writing men. OF course, the most valu-
able are from the trusted leaders of his own
party OF parties-Adams, Harrison, Gin
ton, Scott. Webster, Clay Lincoln and his
Cabinet, and
HUNDREDS or LESSER LIGHTS.
and besides these Gov Marcy, George P.,
body. Father Matthew, and Father De
Sme', whom Mr.. Weed pronounces =. the
best mau God ever made
All his manuscript treasury the distiu-
gui>hed owner fondly attributes TO the
Gsughterly love Of his faithful amanuen
sis, whose wonderful faculty of order aud
watchfnlness has thus preserved and thus
put into shape. for immediate use, a mass
of material probably not equaled OF its
kind in America. This daughter is the
genius of his home She took. so far as a
devoted daughter could, the place of ms
wife twenty years ago. and became his
amanuensis also when the younger Seward,
who had been his secretary for many years
went TO Washington with his father.
All This material lies before him: and he
is engaged in putting together. out'of it,
the
Inns oF MS AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
lie was first moved To this course by a
letter from his friend, Gen. Winfield Scott,
written in April, 1865, strongly urging the
importance aud value "f ths work This
autobiography is now the only work before
him, and 1t will be his magHum "pUs, donbt
less an able reflex of his varied and active
life.
Around him, too, i'll that library room of
his. are scores of pictures. almost all o.
them nkeuess-in many farms nil ,h,, -