Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-06-13
TILDEN NOT A CANDIDATE
HON. HENRY WATTERSON RE
ITERATES THE STATEMENT

Visit to the Sage at Greystone-Fhe
aged Statesman Wonderfully Robins,
The Historic Mansion Beng Thor.
oughIy OVerhauled-AmOng the Books
and Fields.
NEW YORK, June 12.-HOn. Henry Wat.
terson, the noted Louisville editor. who
mas been spending some DAYS with Mr..
Illden, has written the following account
OF his visit for the Courier-.J0uyn0I in
which paper it win appear tomorrow
morning:
nave Deen spending a few DAYS al
UfeystOne with Governor Til1en. and moi
merely because his old friends in tbf
west ana South have an ever present per
sonar interest in him. but because his
hadle at the moment is upon the Inns OF
pohIlclans OF every class all over the
country, propose to give the readers OF
count of him. ''A''i ~
w hen parted with him year ago
Ilu never expect to see him again. Indeed
was so skeptical of the stories concern
ing his restoration to health as to feel >
dehcacy about intruding upon his privacy
he was good enough to send for me. and
went over to Gramercy Park in n some
What sOrrOwful, sympathetic state OF
mind. VI
MY surprise almost exceeded my gratifi.
cation. The old house is UNDERGOING re.
construction and enlargement on mag
innocent scale, but the old library is still
the same, being held from the hand of the
despoiling splendOr for the last. / take il
as tribute of affectiOnate remembrance
OF Old times, old friends and old books.
There L found the Governor.
II an apparltlOn had stood before me
could not have been more astonished
The days of '75-6-'7 seemed to have come
pack. His low voice was found again,
HIS eyes We're bright and his cheeks ROSY,
MS intellect is as sinewy and clear. and
ms wit as incisive as they were when he
made nothing of riding Blackstone Ia
Harlem and back or driving the Kentucky
pays from Gramercy Park to GrevstOne.
He took me all over the new house.
pointing out various changes. explaining
his general design, and discussing archi-
lecture and architects with characteristic
intelligence.
HE quite tired me out by afavorite and
maleyOlent way he has of furnishing his
friends, climbing long stairs, meandering
through labyrinths of decorative art, and
threading tapestries and frescOd mazes of
corridor and chamber.
ION current affairs he talked with his
usual pungency and candOr.
when endurance had ceased to be a
virtue, said:
" Governor, don't you think we have
had enough of thisp
HE smiled, and!in his dry ,ihalf-pitying,
half-sarcastic way replied:
stairs
AT GreystOne his life is of the simplest
and busiest. He has farm hard by and
no END OF pigs, poultry and blOOded stock
Ot course l had to be dragged over this
farm, and the devices which the old GENTLE
man put slyly forth to trap me into some
unguarded treason to the butter and eggs of
my blue grass country were many and
ingenious. l stood my ground like a hero.
but it must be owned that the Governors
farming is like everything he undertakes.
thoroughly well done.
Il asked him whether he tried to make
any money out of it.
"'Oh, no. he said; 1T is easier made
some other way"
"While at GreystOne not so much as a
shadow or ghost of politician crossed
the threshold or appeared on the grounds.
Surrounded by his nieces and his books
the old statesman and philosopher was as
unreserVed in his conversation as he
was, and always is, simple and cordial in
his hospitality.
''One of the young ladies told me that
the little household had got through over
200 volumes last winter. The Governor
is a vOraciOus and versatile reader, no
less than an attentive and wise observer
of affairs, and we talked of everything
from Thomas kempis to Thomas a.
Hendricks.
''He playfully observed that the chief
objection he had heard to the election of
Mr.. Carlisle to the Speakership was that
in some recent volumes published by one
Mr.. FrOude, there was a suspicion that he
had mistreated his wife.
Here | must stop. l know that the
public is most curious to learn what are
Mr.. Tilden's views of political affairs,
current and prospective. | have little
doubt that if l had the right to speak
could, by faithfully reporting him, make
myself at once entertaining and instruc-
tive, but the opinions of every man are
his own, and his house is sacred.
81 never knew man more entirely frank
i'm his intercourse with friends than this
sage Of Greystone, but [ am not his mouth
piece, and it is not for me to come all the
way from Kentucky to New York to do
that which he is SO much better able to
do for himself. ] can say, however, for
myself that nothing passed which leads
me to modify the opinion | have so often
expressed, thai no power on earth could
induce him to accept the Presidency.
"H. W."