Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-12-17
APEN.poRrRAIT OF THE PRESIDENT
By Republican Correspondent That is
Anything but FIatterfBg.

ST.. PAUL, December 16.-The w ashington
correspondent OF the Pioneer-Press says the
President, as his photographs indicate, is
what would commonly be called good
looking" man. He is of good physique, and
stands up we'll. His appearance is neat, and
his manners, in society parlance, elegant.
His hair is we'll brushed, his nails are care
fully trimmed into the most approved shape,
and a glance downward reveals a pair of
brightly polished boots. In short, he is a
good average specimen of good average
New York gentleman, and as such has no
more aptitude for dealing with the great
questions which daily come before the chief
magistrate of the nation for his considera-
ton than a thousand other New York gen.
tlemen upon whom fortune has showered her
gifts with more sparing hand. To that
tar-away, longing look, which was such a
marked characteristic of Lincoln's lace,
Arthur is perfect stranger. Kind hearted
man, though he may be, and doubtless Is, he
is, nevertheless, cast in another mold. There
Is more of the earth earthly in his compost
ton, and he feels not the power of grand
aims and aspirations-those great motives
those unseen currents which have 80 power
fully influenced the lives of our greatest
men. | would not have il understood that
the President is an imbecile, or a bad man.
He certainly is neither. His faults and fail
ipgs are negative rather than positive; his
sins Gins of omission rather than COM
mission. As "Touchstone" says In response 10
"Corin's" question as to how he liked a shep
herds life:
Corin-And how like you this shepherds life,
Master Touehstone?
ITSELF it is good life; but in respect that it is
shepherds life, it is naught.-As You Like II, Act
III, Scene 2.
So we may say of President Arthur. In
respect to himself he is good man, but in
respect to the mighty dead who have occu-
pied the presidential chair, the influence of
whose lives is priceless legacy TO those who
live after them--in respect to those "dead,
but scep'ered spirits who still rule us from
their urns," ne is indeed naught, and naught
can be.
A lew days ago | noticed an item in one of
the daily papers which throws much light on
the Presidents character: president Arthur
has had billiard table taken ont to the
Soldiers Home, in order to amuse himself
when not engaged in official duties, for the
President is not a reading man, The
Who more than the chief rs sgistrate of the
greatest nation on The face Of the earth; of
nation dedicated to the eternal principles of
Justlce and equality before the law; of a
nation on whose perpetuity the successful
solution of the problem of self-govern-
nlent depends; who, more than the man in
trusted with such gigantic responsibilities,
needs to multiply his own experience and
receive the hoard of accumulated knowledge
enshrlned IN the works of the greatest minds
and choicest spirits of every agei A man
who spurns such legacy should be an intel
lectual CToesus. The lowest motive that a
man can have for reading is its utility, and
the President OF the United States feels not
EVEN this.