St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-02-25
STRAY SUNBEAMS.

LAND passed through tlcnmOnQ. Inc tram
did not stop in the city, but passed over to the
Manchester side, where halt was made to-
change engines. During the wait, President
CLEVELAND stepped to the rear platform of
the car and, looking across the James river to
the city which lay against her hills in beauti-
full relief, he stood for some time in a reverie.
When asked by his wife of what he was
thinking, he replied that he was thinking of
the place Richmond occupied in the countrys
history, and was trying to recall the names
or the presidents who had preceded him on a
visit to the city,
*.x
The theme of the presidents reverie was
one that would naturally be suggested by the
sight before him. From the spot where he
stood could be seen the old church in which
PATRICK HENRY's eloquent voice rang out
the sentence SO familiar to every school boy,
GIVE me liberty or give me DEATH There,
too, was the old capitol from whose portico
nearly half century ago DANIEL WEBSTER
delivered one of his famous orations in the
hearing of $4,000 people, in which he eu-
deavored to square himself with the South
ern people Oh the slavery question by the
following forcible language: II, DANIEL
WEBSTER. standing before a Virginia audi
ence in front of your beautiful capitol, with
and the noble James rolling before me, do
most emphatically declare that congress has
not the right, either directly or indirectly, to
abolish slavery in the District of Columbia"
-
And then, as the presidents mind reverted to
his own predecessors in office, he had but to
cast his eye to Hollywood cemetery, on the
outskirts of Richmond, to look upon the
graves of two observation-disclosures and
TYLER. In the state of which Richmond is
the capital repoSe the ashes of three
others-WAsHlNGToN, JEFFERSON and MADI
son. Coming on down to more modern
times, in Imagination he saw President LIN
COLIN, Immediately after the evacuation,
walking the streets of Richmond, viewing
the smoking ruins of the late Confederate
capital and comforting with eminent
tnionists i'll relation to the re-establishment
of civil government in Virginia. Then, in
1868, Gen. GRANT visited the city and les-
urely walked about the Streets smoking a
cigar and recalling the events OF the war of
which he had been the hero. HAYES and
ARTHUR had each visited the city during
their terms of Office. And, last of all, Mr..
CLEVELAND stood and looked upon the his
toric spot. No wonder that memories of the
past rose up in quick succession or that he
was given to reverie.
~
W. W. CORCoRAN, the aged Washington
banker, who died yesterday, was as noted for
his philanthropy as for his wealth. Yet he
made it a rule never to allow any one 10 i'm
pose on him, not even to defraudmg him out
of nickel. Several years ago, under the al
vice of his physician, he went to the White
Sulphur springs, in Virginia, to spend the
summer season. Having occasion one day
to hire hack, the hotel proprietors charged
him So for the use of it, According to the
customary Washington prices for hack hire
the bill should only have been So. Mr.. Cor
coRAN refused to pay more than what he
thought was just and, gathering up his fam
lily, left the place, in opposition 10 the advice
of his physician, saying that he would rather
die than be made the victim of eXtortion. =:
="
Among Mr.. CoRCoRAN's many charities
one of the most beautiful is the Louise
Home" at Washington, which was founded
for the benefit of aged ladies who had no
support. The institution is home in fact
as well as in name. The old ladies who are
dents, and they are treated with all the con-
sideralion and attention that would be be-
slowed upon them if they were the owners of
the establishment. They are provided with
servants and carriages. just as they were used
to in tn eir prosperous days. The Louise
Home was named for Mr.. CoRCoRANs wife
and daughter and was built as a memorial TO
them