The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1886-01-22
NO. 1853
READING IT. lE pAPERS.
PECULIAR CHARACTERISTICS Dis
PLAYED BY GREAT MEN.
"reminiscences of Greeley, Grant, Lincoln,
Mcclellan, Mccullough and Charles
Dickens-A Hotel Clerk Tells
About What He Has Noticed.
[Cor. . Chicago Journal

"Do you know there is a good DIAL of
character shown in the way men read the
papers:o said we'll known hotel clerk to
the reporter. 'Of course, you don't see it.
any more than an ordinary observer sees
character in the way men eat; but there is,
nevertheless have; seen all the prominent
men in the country read the papers time
and again, and not two in a Thousand
read alike. My attention was first called
to- the subject several years ago by
Horace Greeley who was an cmniv-
orous reader of the papers. / have
been 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 advertise
ments. 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 ito his office, all the
papers would be strewn around the door
like so many paper balls. 1t used to amuse
the guests of the house, and was the occa-
sion of many bottles of wine. Some folks
said it was affectation, like Mr.. Greeley's
great white coat; but never thought SO. To
me it indicated an unconscious, sturdy char
acter which looked straight ahead for re-
Su1to, Whiio pay scl iiou1O alICI1tlSlA "
details or circumstances.
GEN. GRANTS PECULIARITIES
"Oh, yes; Gen Grant also had his pecul-
iarities. 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 a paper
he could tell you all the news and discuss
a question with great discrimination. He
used to say that one paper was all he had
time to read in day. He said this prac-
tiee of reading several papers was response
BILE for good deal of the super
fetal thinking in vogue nova
days. Whatever was worth reading
in his estimation, was worth digesting and
remembering People who knew Grant will
recollect what an exhaustive memory he
had for detail He could relate every cir
cumstance connected with any important
event that occurred long before the war. He
used 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 Gen. Grants predominant character
istic displayed itself in his manner of read
ing He was slow patient and painstaking
in everything, but when he once arrived at
conclusion there was no dislodging him.
LINCOLN AND MCCLELLAN.
"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, though, by the hour When he
stopped at the hotel he would read the edi-
torials in every paper the first thing in the
morning He used to say that mems views
were all he cared about 1t made no differ
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.
'T5en. Mcclellan was just the opposite.
He cared more about the circumstances OF
good story than about the result If he
knew that certain bill was passed or de-
feated in congress he would read all about
its career, and then form his own judg-
ment Mcclellan, of course, respected the
opinions of others, but he always made it 8
rule to be self-reliant in thought as we'll as
in action. On certain occasion, a few
years before the war, Mcclellan and
Greeley were 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 anirer of Wendell Phillips,
called Gen. McClellan's attention to an at
tack made against his character in lead
ing New York paper 1t had grieved Hor
ace so that he almost shed tears. Mcclellan
burst into hearty laugh, and, turning to
Mr.. Greeley, rather pointedly asked him il
he hadn't had experience enough to know
that it mattered little what any newspaper
said about a man. Horace was shocked at
such an unexpected remark, and couldn't
be made to believe that the general meant it.
sTEwART-M'CULLoUGH
ga. T. Stewart was another man who
paid very little attention to the general
news of the day. He would read the market
reports eagerly, and that's about all 1t
used to surprise his friends that Mr.. Stewart
could so successfully carry ON his mammoth
establishment without keeping informed of
how the world was moving Mr. Stewart
told me- one day that the reading of news
papers proved q aidistraction to him. If he
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 con-
gressiona1 debates Even to read a book,
which to the average man is relaxation,
would be to him, he said, positively
dangerous.
ttThe friends of the iamented John Nc
Cullough used TO wonder how ne could read
so much. He was in the habit of spending
from three to five halrs daily pouring over
the papers. Once heard him say that no
felt lonesome when he hadn't read daily
paper from every large city in the Union.
He was random reader, though OF course
he read everything that the leading critics
had to say, but as for the general news he
would glance over it, selecting what hap
pened to strike his fancy at the time,
s'Charles Dickens, when he was in this
country, was a constant reader of the papers.
He was great admirer of the American
press Our style of describing things was
decidedly original and refreshing There
was more good writing in the better class of
American journals than in many an ad-
mired English novel What particularly
pleased Dickens Was the terse graphic de-
scriptions for which American newspapers
are noted"