Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-11-08
ECCENgsRlCHvIEs OF GEM
Some OF Horace esrcciey's Pccuilaritis
"A Strange Breakfast PaxtY.
Croffuts Letter in Kansas City Journal.

Crofut's Letter in Kansas City Journal.
wonder if all Overmastering minds are not
cOnspicuOusly weak in some direction It was
theory of the late eminent scientist. Dr. George
NJ. Beard. that there were no great men; that
IF a man is great in one direction he is limited
in another" We know it was so with old Sam
Johnson, with Milton, with Fontenelle. with
Humboldt. with Franklin, and later Wit sum-
ner, Creole. and Conkling.
worked on the Tribune under Mr. Greeley.
and. though saw him every day. | never vet
heard him Say good morning" or good even
ing" ''hOw do you do" or .'good-bye" or in
qure after auybodys health But he scrupu.
lousy answered every letter that came to him.
and answered it on the spot. so that the writer
generally got the reply in the next mail. His
conscience was abnormally developed on this
subject. and he probably wrote 10000 letters
tfat dld not need writing, and died the sooner
for it, On the street he seldom spoke to even
his nearest friends unless he had business.
have known him to enter street car down.
town, sit by the side of friend and ride mile
without speaking word. then suddenly nudge
him and say: Let me take your paper?' read
the paper for another mile, look out for the
friends house. hand the paper to him lust be-
fore reaching it, and part company without
speaking to him or looking at him. He did not
believe In that expenditure of force which con-
versational cvilities require.
A gentleman who breakfastcd with him in
1860 tells me about it. Mr.. Greeley was not
living at home at the time; he was what Mrs
Greeley calmly called 'boarding somewhere
else. This somewhere else happened to be the
Westmoreland, on Union Square, only couple
of blocks from his house. Prof l.. S. Pack
ard and | were invited to breakfast with him at
o'clock. We reached the dining room of the
hotel before him, inquired for his table and sat
down. Presently he came in, handed his over
coat and hat to waiter, and without looking
toward us ordered a breakfast for one-a
poached egg. some milk toast and cup of tea.
Reaching the table he looked a little surprised,
but said: Have you ordered your breakfast?'
We assured him that we had not. but we Or
dered the same that he had DONE What
paper have youT he inquired of Packard as he
sat down. 1t was the Citizen. after Miles
OReilly left it and while Roosevelt had it. ANY
thing in it?' he asked. Not much except an
article attacking you,' said Packard 1t was a
column and half long, but Greeley read it
through. Absurd he said, to take so much
space for that. 1t isn't good journalism 1t all
ought to have been said in one third of the
space. That article ought never have been
permitted to go below there he said. indicat-
Ing place with his finger. He did not allude
to the substance of the attack at all, but de-
nounced the slovenliness and extravaganza of
using so much space. We took hasty Gun of
tea and departed" Prot. Packards school was
one of his hobbies. The last speech of his life,
believe, was made before its students during
the campaign of 1872