Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1886-09-23
HOW PROMINENT READ.
"reminiscences Of Grant, Lincoln Mcclellan,
Mccullough and Charles Dickens.

| character shown In the way men read the
/ papero?" said a we'll known hotel clerk to
the reporter. "Of course, you don't see it,
amy more than an ordinary observer sees
character in the way men eat; but there
! is nevertheless. l have seen all the prom
inent men in the country read the papers
time and again, and not two in thous-
and read alike Ny attention was first
called to the subject several years ago
| by Horace Greeley, who was an ON
niverous reader of the papers. | have
been a constant observer ever since.
Horace was the queerest reader you ever
saw. He would begin at the first column
and read every line down to the adyer-
tisements. According as he read he
would crumple the paper up in his hands
/ When he got through the paper would be
rolled up in a ball. After he left the
hotel in the morning to go down town to
his office all the papers would be strewn
around the floor like SO many paper balls
1t used to amuse the guests of the house,
and was the occasion of many bottles of
wine. Some folks said it was affectation,
like Mr.. Greelys great white coat; but |
never thought So To me it indicated an
Inconsistencies, sturdy character which
| looked straight ahead for results, while
paying very little attention to details or
circumstances.
"Oh, yes; General Grant also had his
| peculiarities. He usually read one paper
through and through. He would stop in
the middle of an editorial and reflect
Grant was slow reader, but when he put
down paper he could tell you all the
news and discuss question with great
] ,atf Vl..t al 20 hot
paper was all he had time to read in a
day. He would never feel satisfied glanc
ing carelessly over several papers. He
said this practice of reading several pa
pers was responsible for a good deal
of the superficial thinking in vogue
nowadays. Whatever was worth read
ing, in his estimation, was worth digest
ing and remembering. People who knew
Grant will recollect what an exhaustive
memory he had for detail. He could re-
lat e every circumstance connected with
any important event that occurred long
before the war He use to say he
didn't remember all about the war, but
he knew more than any one else about
! the great events in which he had per-
sonally figured. There is no doubt
whatever that General Grants pre-
sominenant characteristic displayed it's
self in his minner of reading. He was
slow, patient and painstakidg in every
thing, but when he once arrived at a con
clusion there was no dislodging him.
"Lincoln never cared for the news of
the day-that is, he never cared to read
it. He usually had his private secretary
tell him what was in the papers. He
would read editorials, through, by the
hour. When he stopped at the hotel he
would reaS the editorials in every paper
the first thing in the morning, He used
to say mems views were all he cared
about. 1t made no difference about the
details of how thing happened. If he
knew the causes of it, and the bearing it
would have upon matters in general, that
was all he wanted to know.
General Mcclellan was just thu oppo-
site. He cared more about the circum-
stances of good story than the result
If he knew that certain bill was passed
or defeated in congress he would read all
about its career, and then form his own
judgment. Mcclellan, of course, re-
spected the opinions of Others, but ne
always made il q rule 10 be self reliant
IN thought as well as in action. On q
certain occasion, a few years before the
war, Mcclellan and Greeley we're both
staying at the hotel They
were fast friends. One even
ing the conversation turned upon
the slavery question, and Mr.. Greeley,
who was an ardent admires of Wendell
Phillips, called General McClellan's at
tention to an attack made against his
character IN. a leading New York paper
1t had grieved Horace so that he almost
shed tears. Mcclellan burst into a
hearty laugh, and turning to Mr.. Greedy
rather peintedly asked him if he hadn't
had experience enough to know that it
mattered little what any newspaper said
about man. Horace was shocked at
unexpected remark, and couldn't be made
10 believe that the General meant it.
! "a. r. Stewart was another man who
paid very little attention to the news of
I The day. He would read the market re-
ports eagerly, and that's about all. 1t
surprised MIR. Stewards friends that he
could so successfully carry on his mann
moth establishment without keeping in
| formed OF how the world was moving
Mr.. Stewart told me one day that the
reading of newspapers proved dlstrac-
ton TO him. If he had had no business
he said, nothing would please him more
than to read, but his mind was so full of
dry goods that there was no room left for
murders, suicides and congressional de-
bates. Even to read book, which to
the average man is relaxation, would
be to him, he said, positively danger
GUS"
"The friends Of the lamsnted John
Mccullough used to wonder how he
could read so much. He was in the hab-
I il of spending from three to i've hours
daily porting over the papers. Once
hears him say that he felt lonesome when
/ he hadn't read daily paper from every
\ large city in the Union. Hs was ran
dom reader, though, OF course he read
/ everything that the leading critics had to
4 say but Tor the general news he would
glance over it, selecting what happened
! 70 strike his fancy at the time. ] never
knew better posted man on stage mat.
I ters He knew what was going on every
where, and could tell how given actor
or actress had been received
for yeats and years back. He
entertained the highest respect for Eswe-