Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1889-08-08
BUTLER AT SEVENTY,
An Interesting Pen Picture of tho Grca
Politician In His Old Age.

At seventy years OF age Butler is a
stout, puffy person, whose unsymmetri-
crl figure, especially when he is stand
ing, strangely reminds you of the late
Henry Ward Beecher's. Somehow his
way OF standing up is almost exactly
like Beecher's. His head is like Ben
jamin Franklins, for whom he was
named, as Franklin's head looks in the
conventional portrait. 1t is large,
long and broad and bald from front to
back on top, while thick curtain OF
gray hair falls all around it, mingling
at the sides with thin gray whiskers.
which do not appear in any picture OF
Butler that | have ever seen. His face
looks elephantine. 1t is in the wrinkles
and the pulled flesh around his eyes
for all the world like an elephants.
When he laughs this flesh closes in all
over both his eyes, and all his wrinkles
come together in most extraordinary
fashion. He does not seem cross-eyed
until you look directly at him, but his
eyes are set obliquely in his head, al
though they are just the opposite angle
to Chinaman's-higher at the nose
than on the outer sides. He has
two plates of false teeth, and they do
not stick very well, so that when he
talks they are very apt to fall together
suddenly and cut every other word in
two. Most of the time he is chewing a
bit of white spruce gum which he car
ries in an old-fashioned jeweled snuff
box, when it is not in his mouth.
His face is one of the most mobile
and, under his direction, one of the
most interesting that ever saw. His
skin, wrinkled more from quantity than
from quality, is easily worked into the
most varying expressions, and he uses
it constantly. Now, he opens his grea,
eyelids wide apart, brings his head up
suddenly, pufts out his lips and, there
fore his thin little gray mustache which
plays so small part amid the wrinkles,
and looks out at you from frowning
beetling fortress. Again. he wrinkles
all his face into smile. makes his
eyes small, tucks in his lips. and looks
very mild and agreeable; or he takes
up book, holds it lovingly to his
breast; bends his eyes closely to it Che
wears no glasses or spectacles of any
kind), and drinks it in.
But his laugh--a deep, dangerous
chuckle, followed by an internal con
vulsion--is most startling of all. Butler
is a great many men in one, and one o
them is an actor. He would hav,
made great comedian. As it is, h,
finds his histrionic talent very usefu
and exercises it all the time. Butler il
always the lawyer in his Office, howeve
social and companionable he is else
where. At his desk he is always alert
on guard, watchful of chances HI
looks much younger than he is for thi
reason. But it is his vigorous think
ing, and his still more vigorous talkin,
which makes him a comparativel
young man. He has a marvelou
memory. He can remember APPARENT
almost any thing which he has seen o
heard, or read, and is seldom at los
for date or name. His perception
are very quick and comprehensive, an
he has one of the quickest tongues, i
spite of the false teeth and the chew
ing gum, that | ever heard-a roug
tongue, too. The half that he say
about his enemies for publication
nothing to the half he says about thel
privately. He likes to be called goo
hater. He enjoys fight, and ever
damaging fact and every criminatin
admission is rolled like his chewin
gum under his tongue. Washingto
Cor. Philadelphia Record.