The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-07-17
Eradite BLACK lack.

The more is known about John 81
exander Logan the more he is found to
know. The more light is turned upon
his black and burly figure, the more
clearly is he seen to possess the schol-
ar's as well as the soldiers excellence.
1t is wonderful how great is the amount
of learning with which he has filled up
the interstices of his boisterous career.
1t is even more wonderful that his ac-
couplishments have hitherto blushed
unseen. His gifts have been hidden.
but the Republican papers are gradually
unfolding them from the napkin of neg
lect in which an ungrateful people has
lat them rust.
Here is our neighbor, the Tribune,
which no longer ago than in 1875 knew
not the vein of culture concealed in the
profound of Black Jacks massy mind,
and tiouted him in its sinful ignorance.
In 1875. ''he went for his mother tongue
and smote it right and left" and
mashed beyond recognition the Ian
guage of sixty millions of people"
So said the Saul of the Tribune in 1875:
but thorough conversion has changed
his opinions since. Hear the Paul of the
Tribune laud Logan to-day:
Perhaps his English may sometimes betray
traces lof the pioneer habits of third of a
century ago in southern illinois. He speaks
the French and Spanish languages. is an en-
thusiast in Shakespeare, of which he can re-
peat whole plays by heart. He has been
/; known among his brother Senators to correct
/ a Harvard graduate in Latin pronunciation
and Williams graduate in Shakspearean
| quotation, and his familiar acquaintance with
modern tongues is reported to have stood in
the breach when other Senators faltered and
fell"
His English may be that of Jackson
county, but his French is of Paris, and
his Spanish of Madrid. His ear is
quick to catch false Latin quantities,
and he has the Shakespeare Phrase
Book" at his fingers ends. So says
the ex-Saul of the Tribune, his voice
thrilled with respectful admiration, and
we may believe him. He admires
Logan so much that he drops into
Loganese himself: Shakespeare, of
which he can repeat whole plays by
heart" The Tribune Saul-Paul has
evidently studied that mysterious dialect
with care, but he cannot yet rival his
master. Only from the only Logan can
come the deluge of wild and whirling
words, the swIrling syntax, the de-
spairing cry of English grammar swung
tumultuously in dance of death. For
Logan, kind as he may be to the other
modern tongues, is relentless in his
hostility to English. He cries aloud,
and spares it not.
1t is interesting to find that such
man is such scholar. 1t would be still
more interesting to ascertain why he
knows so much about Latin, French,
Spanish and Shakespeare, and yet " be-
trays traces of pioneer habits" in his
English. Apparently he studied every
thing but English when he was an un-
dergraduate at the Louisville University.
Much may be pardoned to one who
knows so much. For Latin, French,
Spanish, Shakespeare works, are only
small part of the acquisitions of Black
Jacks multifarious mind. Our caligi-
nous contemporary, the Cleveland Lead
9r, AYERS that he is also a Grecian, a
theologian, student of comparative re-
ligion and of history, a bibliophile, and
the keeper of a general store of knowl-
edge. One might search through all
the files of our caliginous Cleveland
contemporary and find nothing else so
valuable as its description of the accom-
plishments and pursuits of this ripe and
riproariOuS mind:
He has five thousand volumes. and among
them are many old and very rare books. You
have heard of the book of Jeshur. There
are, understand, only three copies in the
country, and Logan has one of them. Logan
was long time in finding his. He had agents
looking for it in different parts of Europe, but
he finally stumbled upon it himself one day
while oOklng over the stock of an old second
hand bookseller on the Strand, in London.
He has also many rare copies of the Bible,
and his theological library is very complete
He delights in theological study. and has read
closely not only the Christian religion, but the
works of Confucius, the Koran, and the
Hindoo Bible He likes TO discuss the doc
trina points of Christianity; but, as / said
before. all of his belief tends to that of the
MethOdists. John A. Logan has also been a
great reader of history. He has read all of
the classics in translation if not in the origi-
nal, and has wide scope of general knowl-
edge"
How sad it is that an intellect fed
with such profound and various study
should be unable to articula:e its con-
cepts in English IN. Y. San.