The Hartford herald., 1885-12-09
HOURS WITH GREAT MEN.
BiII Nye'~ Unexpected Meeting wiih
General sherman since the War


lBill NNe. iu noston Globel
presume that could write AN en-
tire library of personal "reminiscences
relative To the eminent people with
whom ! have been thrown during "A
busy lite, tut | hate 81 To do It, because
| always regarded such things n sacred
from the vuiger eye, and | felt bound
Ia respect the confidence Ot "A prOmi-
neni man just ~ much as | would that
of one vino was less before the people
remember very we'll my first meet
ing with General W. 4. Sherman.
would not mention il here if it were
not for the fact that the people EN- to
be yearnlng for personal "reminiscences
ofgreat men, and that is perfectly y right,
too
Ii was since the war that | met Gen
eral sherman, and il was on the line
of the Union Pacific Railway at one of
those Justly celebrated esting-hous :
which ! understand are now abandon
ed. The colored waiter had cut off "A
strip OF the omelette with pair of
shears. the scorched oatmeal had been
passed around, the little rubber door
mats fried in butter and called pan
cakes had been dealt around the table,
and the cashier at the end of the hall
had just gone through the clothes of a
party from Vermont, who claimed "A
rebate on the ground that the waiter
had refused To bring him anything eX-
cept his bill There was no sound in
the dining|roOm eXcent the weak re-
quest of the coffee fer more stimulaats,
or perhaps the cry of pain when the
butter, while practicing with the dumb
bells, would hit "A child on the head,
then all would I've still again.
General Sherman sat at one end of
the table, throwing lite-preserver to a
fly in the milk pitcher.
We had never met before, though for
years We had been plodding along life's
rugged way-he in the War Depart
ment, i'm the Post Office Department.
Unknown To each other, we he'd been
holding ur opposite corners of the great
National fabric, if you will allow me
that expression.
| remember, as well as though il
were but yesterday, how the conversa-
ton began. Gen. Sherman looked
sternely at me and said:
II wish you would 6verpower that
butter aud send il up this way"
"All right" )" said /, "if you will please
pass those molasses."
That is all that was said, but shall
never forget it, and probably he never
will. The conversation was brief, but
yet how full of food for thought, How
true, how earnest, how natural Moth
ing stilted or false about it. Ii was the
natural expression Of two minds that
were too great to be verbose or to mon
key with social, conversational flap
doodle.
i remember once, great while ago,
| was asked 10y a friend to go with him
in the evening, 10 the house Of an ac-
quaintance, where they We're going to
have kind Of musicale, at which there
was TO Ice some noted pianists who had
kindly consented to play IA few strains.
| did not get the name of the profes-
sional, but | went, and when the first
piece was announced ! saw that the
light was very uncertain, 81 | kindly
volunteered TO get lamp from another
room. | held that big lamp, weighing
about twenty-nine pounds, for half an
hour, while the pianist would tinky
tinky up on the right hand, or bang,
boomy to bang bang down on the bass,
while he snorted and slugged that old
concert grand piano aud almost knock
Ell its teeth down its throat, or gently
dwaddled with the keys like pale
moonbeam shimmering through the
bleached rafters of deceased horse,
until at last there was wild jangle,
such as the accomplished musician
gives to an instrument to show the au-
dience that he has disabled the piano,
and will take slight intermission
while il is sent to the junk shop.
With sigh of relief / carefully put
down the twenty-nine pound lamp, and
my friend told me that | had been
standing there like liberty eulighten-
ing the world, and holding that heavy
lamp for Blind Tom.
had never seen him before, and
slipped out of the room before he had IA