Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-06-13
A Doubling Thomas Visit to the Sage
of Gramercy.
INJECTING TO COMMISERATE
lie is AstOniShed to Find Tilden Well
and Vigorous.
rYE ASPECT OF AFFAIRS CHANGED
No Doubt OF His Ability to Endure the
Fatigue Of a Campaign.

NJ" IOdhs q uHo lZ-A6ury! w aII0rsOn.
who has been spending several days with
Mr.. Samuel j. TiIden, writes the follow
ing to the Louisville Colrier-JouInal:
Il have been spending a few days at
Greystone with Governor Tilden, and not
merely because his old friends in the west
and south have an ever-present personal
interest in him, bat because his name is
at the moment upon the lips of politicians
Of every class ell over the country, pro-
pose to give the readers of the Courier
JourBu. some particular account of him.
When l parted from him year ago, did
never expect to see him again. Indeed
was so skepEcal OF the stories concerning
his restoration to health as to feel deli
cacy about intruding upon his privacy
He was good enough to send
for me, and 1 vent over to Gram
Grey park in a somewhat sorrowful
sympathetic state of mind. Ny surprise
almost exceeded my qualification. The old
house is undergoing reconstruction and
enlargement on a magnificent scale. But
the old library is still the same, being held
from the hand of despoiling splendor for
the last. 1 take it as a tribute of affec-
tionate remembrance of old times, old
friends and old books. There 1 found the
governor.
II an apparition had stood before me I
could not have been more astonished; the
days OF 1861 seemed to have come
back. His low voice was found again.
His eyes were bright and his cheeks rosy.
His intellect was sinewy and clear, and his
wits as incisiTe as they were when he
made nothing of riding Blackstone to
Harlem and back, or driving the Kentucky
boys from GrammercY Park to Greystone.
He took me all over
the house, pointing ont. the
various changes, explaining his general
design, and discussing architecture and
architects with characteristic intelligence.
He quite tired me out 4 favorite and
malevolent way he has of Furnishing his
friends-climbing long stairs, meandering
through Iabyrinths OF decorative art and
threading the tapestried and frescoed
nazes Of corridor and chamber. On cur
rent affairs, ne talked with his usual pun
gency and candor.
When endurance had ceased to be q vir-
tue, I said: Governor. don't you think
We have mad enough OF this:" He smiled
and II his dry, half plying, half sarcastic
way, replied: If you are tired, We viii
20 down stairs." At Greystone his life Is
Of tas simplest and busiest. He had q farm
hard by, ana no end to pigs, poultry an
blooJe5 stock. 0fcourse I had TO be dragged
over this farm. and the devices which the
old gentleman put slgly forth to trap me
into some unguarded treason to the butter
and eggs of my blue grass country, were
many aud ingenious. I stood my ground
like hero, but it must be owned that the
governors farming is like everything else
he undertakes, thoroughly well done. I
asked him whether he tried to make any
money out of it. ''Oh, no." he said, sit is
easier to make it some other way
While I was at Greystone not so much as
the shadow or ghost of politician crossed
the threshold or appeared upon the
the grounds. Surrounded by his nieces and
books, the old statesman and philosopher
was as unreserved in his conversation
as ne was and always is,simpla and cordial
in his hospitality. One of the young
ladies told me that the little household had
got through over 200 volumes the last
winter. The governor is voracioas and
versatile reader, no less than an attentive
and wise observer of affairs, and takes
note of everything from Thomas A. Kempis
to Thomas i. Hendricks. He pIayfully
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
theirs was suspicion that he had mis-
treated his wife.
Here l must stop. I know that the pub
tic Is most curious 10 learn
what are Mr.. Tndeu's views of political
affairs, current and prospective. l have
little doubt that if had the right to speak
/ could, by faithfully reporting him, make
myself at once entertaining and instruc-
tive, but opinions of every man are his
own and his house is sacred. never knew
sman more entirely frank in his inter
coarse with his friends than this sage of
Greystone. But am not his mouthpiece.
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. 1 can say, however, for myself,
that nothing passed which leads me to
modify the opinion 1 have so often express
ed, that no power on earth could induce
him to accept the presidency.
(Signed,) H.W.