The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-02-05
cREELEY'S WEAKNESSES.
r,e Great Editors Experience at a
constitutional Convention.

The following is a part OF some inter-
os+ing "reminiscences published in The
Watcrtovn IN. ~ Times by the veter-
an Beman Brockway, who was employ
cd in the office of NeW York Tribune
during Mr.. Greeley's ~editorship.
He had his weak points. He erred in
his Judgment of men. Himself ~artless,
he cave his fellow beings credit for
possessing more virtue and a greater
regard for principle than they really
noSsesscd. He did not know anything
about playing tricks himself, and wa
therefore off his guard when approach
ed by scamps, and was an easy prey to
dead beats and swindlers.
Another of his weaknesses was his
impatience. He thought the world
might be reformed in a day-in his day.
When a thing was to be done, his idea
was that it was to be done now-this
very day and hour. THE way to re-
sumo is to resume" and the remark
shows the manner in which his mind
acted. He was a failure in congress,
and in our last constitutional conven-
tion-mainly in consequence of the
great number of slow coaches and in
compctcnts in those bodies. He thought
100 tirSt-class men ought to be able to
frame a very fair constitution in from
thirty to sixty days, and he was for
commencing the session of the owen
ton ut 6 o'clock in the morning and la
boring right on until the work was fin
ishcd. But he found himself surround
ed by one hundred and more lawyers
who were not in the habit of getting up
at work at s in the morning. Not
much. They thought IL or twelve a
better hour, and that if the convention
completed its labor at nine months OF a
year would do pretty well. They were
getting Sc per day, and that was more
than a majority of them could make at
home. The consequence was Mr..
Greeley became disguised, and af-
ter the convention had been in session
three or four months he packed up and
left. And in this connection a good
story is told, which / believe has not
been in print:
There were three n~otoriously long
winded takers in the convention-men
who were always on their feet. Now it
happened that one of these windy mem
bers was addressing the convention
when Greeley withdrew. Well, he
went away, and was absent about a
month, as l remember, when, happen
ing to be passing through the old Dutch
capital, it occurred to him he would
look into the convention and see what
progress it was making. AS luck would
have it the identical individual who was
holding forth when he left still held the
floor. AS he looked in he raised his
hands in horror and exclaimed:
Great God! Hasn't that DIN fool
finished his speech yeti"
Mr.. Greeley was in some respects odd
and peculiar. as most people are who
make their mark in the world. But i
have had the impression that a good
many of his idiosyncrases resulted from
the fact that he was destitute of a home
of a wife to see that his shirt collar
was put on right side up and his necktie
properly adjusted. / know he was to
some extent careless-perhaps / should
say indifferent to his personal appear
ance; but TOR that very aso he should
have had a companion to care for him,
to see that his clothes were in proper
condition and put on as they should
have been; and If he had had q wife %
that stamp / think he would have es-
capped much of the talk respecting his
dress and personal appearance.
Mr.. Greeley had his gloomy hours,
his seasons of dependency as well as
his cheerful ones. He hadh ups and
downs, and the distance between the
two extremes was unreasonable. When
In an unhappy mood he was simply
wretched, an object of real pity The
revolution in his feelings after the bat
tie OF Bull Run was such as to send him
TO his couch sick, where he remained
several weeks, threatened with soften
ing OF the brain. The attack which ul-
timately carried him off was similar in
KIND, but of a more violent type, while
- MME4MMA
his physical system, from long watch
ing at the bedside of his dying wife,
had become so impaired that he sank
under the weight Of his ills.
Authority on Eggs.
iAAlo nn. CO III