The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1886-04-30
Ole g~lttsLEasmeE.
oaos. Nos. as and AZ Fourteenth street.
GEN. G an WORK.
The ProgrsSs he Is making With His
HiStoFy,

The Progress he Is Making With Hil
HiStoFy.
Gen, Logan is just now the hardest
worker among the statesmen at Washing
ton, writes a correspondent Of the Phila.
delphIa Pres. Besides attending to his
senatorial and social duties and a very
large private correspondence he works
four hours q day on his history. He finds
time for this extra labor by adopting the
good old plan Of early rising. BY the time
that most Of his telloW'Senators have
risen and hreakfasted the Generals pen
has travelled over several pages OF manu-
script. He ia always al his desk at seven
o'clock In the mornings Between that
hour and IL all the daily work on ''The
Great Conspiracy" is done, The room in
whiGh he works ia the smallest Of the
apartments Of his beautiful home near the
Boundary. 1t Rdioins his dressing room,
aud 10 furnished in u style OF soldierly
simplicity. The floor in shining black
oak, covered with here and there q rug.
A bookcase in one Corner contains about
three hundred volumes-mostly historical
and politlco.economiC works-bouud uni
tormly in red leather. Two pictures adorn
the walls, n q line portrait Of General
Grant on horseback aud the other u print
ing Of the battle Of ChRpultepeC, The
Senator sits at the large walnut desk d.
reCtly in front OF the only window in the
room,
The General works in his usual Senate
attire, with his coat buttoned closely up
to hisneCk. With scarcely a movement
Of WEAKNESS he sits erect hour after hour
till the usual daily quota has been added
to the book. lie Ia by no means q fluent
writer, but he il a very palnstaking one,
A page OF about two hundred words 10
his hourly average. He is never satisfied
with the first copy, o does he intrust 1t
10 his secretary to be rewritten. He
writes 1t over again himself, often spend.
ing more time ON the revision than OH
the first draft, At nearly every page
he takes down II oil the books Of
reference from the top oil his desk. lie
can readily find the matter he wishes TO
see, because before beginning his history,
he spent several months hunting up au'
thorities ind marking the pages which he
loresaw would be OF use to him. When
he has referred to a book he does not in
dulye in that habit, 30 dear to the heart
Of most men Of letters, OF throwing II
aside on a chair or on the floor, but re-
places 1t carefully. II thoughts refuse to
come or words decline to express them
the only sign Of annoyance observable in
the General is q vigorous pulling Of the
mustache, At the stroke Of II o'clock he
stops writing, often In the middle OF a
page, wipes bis pen carefully, and sees
that every book and every sheet Of paper
10 In its proper place before leaving for
the Senate Chamber.
A great deal has been said aud written
about the important part that Mrs, Logan
has taken in the composition OF "Ihe
Great Conspiracy" This ia all bosh.
General Logan has composed every page
Of the book yet written, doing sven the
mechanical work Of copying without aid.
In fact, he has imposed on himself much
unnecessary labor. With u mind full Of
information on the subject and a good
flow OF language he might have had his
history in press long ago II he had ayailed
himself OF the services Of a stenographer
and secretary. He loves this work OF
itself, however, and fingers over II as low.
ingly Rs the youthful poet fingers over the
first offspring Of his Imagination.