Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-11-06

=. G:.'Wilsdn; sd Dist, j. E..Sullivan.:
THE PRIVATE SECRETARY,
How Famous Men are Annoyed by Cranls
and Gushing Women.
had a short talk, says the Man.
Abott-Town in the brooklyn Eagle,
with the private secretary Of one oftAp
notable men who came to the; Grant
funeral. The secretary was. safaallow
young Chicago man. and undergoing
his first experience as 6, pffYate. secre-
tary for a famous mani. .v
He chatted about Ibis position with
great tluency. "Ihaye not vet become
accustomed TOMMY work." he said,
land the illusion which ! formed re-
%garding.. ailsi duties Of a confidential
secretary@aied hard, Ihad always had
an ideaJ when l took up my duties as
secretary l would lead a life of elegance
snd, luxury interrupted by a certain
amount of work. Instead of that I
find an amazing amount of work, not
the slightest INDICATION of elegance ;'or
luxury, and nearly my whole time is
taken up with dealing with. cranks.
The number Of people who write to
men who are at all kpown'is apparent
ly limitless. We arrived this morning
at 10 o'clock and ! have within two
hours, received three letters. One,is
an invitation to- dinner to my principal
from a man whom he never saw OF
heard of. This, is another ,of the let
ters." He pulled a 'crumpled sheet. of
paper from his pocket and showed it to
me. At the head"was. a photograph
pasted on the sheet Of an English actor
who is at present stopping in New
York. The date of his birth and atfew
Biographical details were under the
photograph, then followed several
lines announcing that the English
actor would star on Henry Irving's
route next season, and under this in
turn were n DR. two extracts from
English papers of which l had never
heard. All of this took up nearly" one
half of the sheet, under itiwas scrawled
In bold hand, my Very Dear Sir
l have but now learned that you are in
town; hasten to welcome you, extend
the Inequalities of the city; and hope
that you will have a pleasant stay. If
l can do anything in my power to
tighten the tedium of your visit. COM
mand me. l have the honor to remain,
very truly yours" etc., etc. This is
a man of whom the secretary has never
heard. l happen to know that he was
an English actor, who had certainly
not been in this country more than six
weeks. His %etfrontery' in offering the
hospitality 'ofSthe city to one Of the
most prominent Americans in public
was amusing:
The other letter, which the secretary
showed me. had a mourning band q
quarter of an inch deep and was close
ly written in a feminine hand. After
giving the man to whom the letter was
addressed the benefit of all his titles,
the letter began airily: "Methinks that
you may not be adverse to descend from
the pedestal upon which all truly great
men habitually dwell, despite all 70!
ports to the contrary, and engage in
pleasant converse and cheerful recrea-
ton with one who has been an ardent
admirer of yours for more than forty
years. No one can understand more
thoroughly than l the manifold temp
tations which beset the path Of the tru-
Iy great, and hence L have thought
that you might enjoy q bucolic trip to
my humble home in Westchester
county," etc. This crank has also
never met the man T. whom she
wrote.
..They are fair samples" said the Sec
rotary, tearing the Two letters up in
small pieces as he spoke, ..:.of the sort
Of mail my principal gets. He is man
Of exemplary and rigid habits, and his
life has been always fully open to
public investigation and opinion. I
open all Of his mail unreservedly, and
if l did not know the man so thorough.
ly | am bound to confess that at times
the letters would excite suspicion. Wo-
men are the Chief criminals; the slush|
they write is simply amazing. AS a
rule ! pay no attention whatever to
crank letters, but once in a while one
comes along that must be answered,
and the answer requires more care on
our part than the preparation of q
great state paper" Private secretaries
are luxuries which very many men al
low themselves nowadays. Most of
them are young men Of suave manners
and considerable knowledge of the
world. In nine cases out of ten they
are much better takers than the men
by whom they are employed. A good
many OF them are not private secreta-
ries in the strict sense Of the word, but
more like confidential business men,
although there is a goodly number who
maintain close and intimate relations
with the families Of the men who en-
ploy them as well as with the employ
ers themselves. -. ....