The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-12-05
"REMINISCENCES.
Detailing the Cosmopolitan Traits
Of Lincoln In Public and
Private Life.
HIS Manner of Storytelling
What he Thought Of
Horace Greeley.

HIS Manner of 5tory-Telling-
What he Thought Of
| Horace Greeley.
His Literary Tastes and Re.
ligious Belief.
Gath's New York Letter in the Cincinnati En-
| quirer.
I was introduced at Saratoga to a
gentleman by the name of Milton
Hay, who was said to have been
! Abraham Lincoln's very near friend.
! and to abound in "reminiscences OF
him. Mr.. Hay was singular man,
originally fine looking, I suppose,
and still of q 'leaslng, generous face,
though his skin had the dark tan
color so often found in the bottoms
of the Mississippi valley, espe cially
among persons Of Kentucky descent,
as I understood he was. An 0ppor-
tunity occurred while returning to
this city from Saratoga to have som e
talk with Mr.. Hay.
Said I, "You knew Mr.. Lincoln
very well?'
nent of the United States I knew
him almost as we'll as anybody. We
were of the same general stock. /
liked him, and was glad to be in his
company"
t;an you give me an idea," said I,
"of Mr.. Lincoln's voice-that voice
which none can hear again, and
which but few had had the privilege
of hearing?'
II do not know enough about mu-
sic," said Mr.: Hay. Ito describe that
voice exactly. I hardly know
whether it was tenor voice or net.
1t was pitched a little high. 1t was
not entirely pleasant to hear, particu-
larIy after he had proceeded some
time in his speech. It was reach
ing voice with pathos in it, but it
was high pitched
"What was the color of Mr.. Lin
coins eyes; were they brown?"
@."Well, now, I should say" said
Mr.. Hay. "that he had kind of
grayish-blue eye, but do you know I
never looked at that matter closely.
I was under the influence of his eyes
and did not analyze them. I think,
however, that he had light eye"
"Was he man who laughed out
loud?"
eyes, he was as hearty laugher
as ever you heard. When he would
get off his stories he would laugh
when he came to the point, and his
laugh was as infectious as the story
had been sharp. Now" said Mr..
Hay, 1T has been denied recently
by some distinguished men that Lin
coin told stories off color. There is
no use of gliding the lily or painting
the rose. Lincoln did tell many q
story which I have heard that was
what might be called smutty. He
did not tell them for the sake of the
smut or the coarseness, but to illus
trate his point, and no stories that
ever [ heard were so cogent to that
end. I recollect," said Mr.. Hay.
that after he had been nominated
for President delegation of Metho-
dist ministers.concluded to pay him
\ visit. He received them in very
good style. He got the gauge Of them
very qnickly, and he could not resist
the inclination to try the brethren
with a good yarn, and my recollec-
tion of it was that it was a little bit
fragrant"
Mr.. Hay?"
"No, I don't think he did. He
picked them up among the homely,
common people with whom he had
lived so long, IN the woods, at the
country store, on the f1at-boat, in the
legislature and around the court
houses. He haG an extraordinary
memory of stories. He also had
gratitude to the man who could tell
him a good new story. recollect
on one occasion that some one who
had told him a first-rate story went
into the rebellion, and Lincoln tell
ing the yarn that the man had told
him, said to us: If I ever catch that
fellow fighting the Union l think !
will let him off a good part of his
share of any punishment he may get
on account of that story He took OF.
offense at Horace Greely when he
came to lecture in our town for say
ing in the lecture that he thought
humor was a very small part of abil:
ity. Lincoln somewhat admired
I Greely, out he concluded, after hear
ing that statement, that Greely did
not know as much about human
nature as he had supposed. He ex.
pressed his dissatisfaction with that
particular view of Greedy after the
lecture. "When Lincoln told these
stories," said Mr.. Hay, "he would
almost always rise from his seat and
give the ancedote or the best part OF
It standing, and then, when he came
to the point, he would perhaps tan
his hands and bend with laughter
"When you say he was cosmopol'
itan do you mean that he was not
sectional man."
Eyes, I mean Unat Lincoln recog
nized his fellow-citiZens in every cor
ner of country. He had been to New
Orleans. He had been to New York
He could get along anywhere. HI
was not a local patriot. He was
general patriot"
us it true that he was man o
certain sadness or melancholy
eyes, I think it is. He had dis
position at times to take q forlorI
view of himself and of human nature
and of mans situation in space
These fits did not annoy his friends
but seemed to be a kind of inward
depression"
1T is true, as Mr.. Herndon says
that Lincoln was for part of his lif'
rather an unbeliever or skeptic?'
"Yes; guess that is true" said Mr.
Hay, 'Almost all serious men pas
through condition of belief to skep
ticsm, or vice versa. Unbelief Il
merely the parssion to believe some
thing else. I think that Lincoln hat
formed views different from thos'
he had been brought up in, and per
haps different from those he died in
because I do not see how he coult
have made some of the speeches b
made as his presidency proceeded
unless he had been a believing man
and in that case he must hav
changed. Perhaps the great res pom
sibilities thrown upon him made bin
grope his way toward a supreme re
sponsibility."
"What author did Lincoln rea
, most?"