The Washington critic., 1886-06-14

Philosopher occasional ejaculation.
He reads on until ii Is time to go. And
strange as 1t may seem, Old Magnifying
Glass reads nothing but fiction. But he
is select--none but the best gains his at.
tention. 1t Is quite wonderful to see
this sound minded old gentleman spend
every leisure hour at this task. 1t
seems to be his last mission in life to
read every good novel ever published.
The trouble he takes fairly iustifles
the belief. lie uses large magnifying
glass altogether, and struggles on line
by line II is Herculean task, but
his only pleasure
."a
In a reminiscent letter about the late
Edwin M. Stanton, suggested by the
recent debate in the House, Carp" of
the Cleveland Leader says "Mr. Stan
ton did not know that President Lin
coin intended 10 appoint him Secretary
of War until the day before the nomi.
nation. The matter was kept quiet,
and when the nomination was pro.
posed to the Senate, II came with
surprise to many of the friends of the
administration. 1t might have been
defeated had it not been for Senator
Charles Sumner, who rose and said: I
urge that confirmation, Mr. President.
Mr.. Stanton, within my knowledge, Is
one Of u.s. The confirmation was then
voted upon and passed. Stanton then
went into the War Office and he worked
so hard there that he died within four
trnn oft tl,. ,1Aaa1 Ia
one of the hardest working Sccro-
taries of the war period. His
department was one of the most inn
portant, II not, indeed. the most 50.
and 1t is not eXaggcration to say that
he killed himself in 1t. He came down
to the department at about II o'clock
and worked along until . or 3 o'clock
in the morning. lie used a stenographer
and dictated daily hundreds of letters
and telegraphic dispatches. He started
in with strong constitution, but he
paid no attention to eating nor to OK.
ercise, and the only exercise that he
took outside of going to and from his
Office was his marketing, which he did
himself. President Lincoln had great
confidence in Stanton, and he often
said that he did not wish TO take any
important step in war matters without
consulting Mr.. Stanton. Shortly before
Lincoln's death Stanton rendered his
resignation as Secretary Of War, on the
ground that the war was over and the
purpose for which he had gone into
the Office had been accomplished.
President Lincoln is said to have
Torn the resignation to pieces, and then
going up TO Stanton to have thrown
his arms around him and said Stan
ton, you have been a good friend and
a faithful public servant, and it is not
for you to say whether you are no lon
ger needed by the Government or not
Stanton remained in that position un-
til two years later, when johnson sus-
| pended him. But he was reinstated in
Office by the order of the Senate a few
months later, and Notwithstanding
johnson kept up his effort for his re.
moval he stayed there until May, 1868,
when he resigned. The following
year he was appointed Justice in the
Supreme Court of the United States,
but died few months after his ap.
pointment A good life of him has
never been written, and l understand
that his son, who lives somewhere in
the Northwest, has q large amount of
valuable papers and data for such awork
when the right author appears to take
hold of it. Stanton died poor, and
during his last illness tried to borrow
$500 from the Washington Bank, but
the bank would not discount his note.
While Stanton was having his contest
with Andrew johnson he slept for q
time in the War Department, and Cap.
tain Loefler. who now acts as President
Cleveland's doorkeeper at the White
| House, was with him."