Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-05-18
THE HON. HeNav ". oaAov.
a Pen Picture % the Noted 0essyss RAJ.
cor end Orator.

non. ncnTy w. otauy 10 tHe view lOrh
centennial proved that the star Of his
northern popularity had not lost any Of
It's luster. The newspapers, without ex-
ception. also agree that his speech before
the Southern society sustains his rep,ita
tion for brilliant oratory. rivaled, as yet,
by no other southerner.
The term brilliant as applied to Grady
Is exprcssive--it fits the man exactly. In
everything he undertakes there is snap.
agiowing audacity which other public
men may possess. but which is too fire.
queDtly unaccompanied by successful
achievement
Mr.. Gradys Office Is on the third foor
Of The Constitution building. He is very
accessible and wholly without the usual
trappings OF great man. One Is invari-
ably struck with the baroness, almost
carelessness, Of the apartment II ad-
joins that Of Mr.. Harris c'Uncle Re
mus, who. II need scarcely be remarked,
is little more of an aesthetic than his
chief. In the center is long deal table,
generally used to recline upon, as there
are no chairs to be seen. Posted upon
the somewhat severe looking walls are
couple Of colored chromos, remarkable,
II nothing else, for their extreme inap-
propriateness. One of them represents,
in all the colors at the lithographer's
command, a British naval veteran gazing
soulfully at his beloved Union Jack,
seated over patriotic scroll and legend.
The other is Partisan architectural de-
sign. There are no books or even papers
visible.
Before one Of the windows stands a
person Of medium height and somewhat
robust build. He has straight, shiny
black hair, piercing black eyes of the
same shade and a swarthy skin. The
visitor has plenty of time to study his
surroundings, as the gentleman at the
window takes no notice of his entrance
whatever. After lapse of some ten
or fifteen minutes he slowly turns
around and commences to pace up and
down the floor with his hands thrust
into his pockets. Suddenly he stops and
turns on the stranger cold inquiring
stare, and the query, "What can do
for your mt tho same time pointing him
to seat on the table. He pulls out
spittoon for your benefit, and in few
moments you are chatting amiably with
the editor of Tho Atlanta Constitution, a
man who wields more power and in
fluence, both as an editor and as a citi.
zen, than any ten other men in Georgia
combined.
Grady's literary method is unique; in
fact, think it would be beyond most
men. He goes TO the window, stares ut
brick house or cotton compress for
an hour or two, puts his main ideas in
shape, adjusts each sentence, and even
syllable, in its proper order, mentally,
and then rattles the whole thing off to
his stcnographer, rarely committing
single error. While under the influence
of an idea which he is putting through
the literary process he is utterly oblivious
to his surroundings. Sometimes the fit
strikes him under peculiar circumstances,
but the people of Atlanta are rather
proud Of this weakness than otherwise,
and delight In respecting it,
Mr.. Grady secretary, Mr.. Halliday,
accompanies him everywhere. That
now famous editorial which completely
changed the attitude of The Constitution
upon the tariff question was dictated
upon the steps of Whitehall street car
which he had unconsciously signaled.
1t is jokingly related that the car was
full at the time and that one of the pas
sengers who dared to murmur at the
stoppago was threatened with bodily in
jury if ho opened his mouth. 1t is told
of Senator Edmunds, of Vermont, apro-
pos of his recent visit to Atlanta, that
crowd had gathered on one of the prin-
cipal thorougbfares, and traffic was tenn
porarily blockaded. The sad eyed SEN
ator asked his colored driver what the
matter was.
81 'spects it's Mistah Grady, sab! He
got one o his thinkin' spells ag'in!' he
said as he turned tho horses heads into
an adjoining street. This is only sam
pie of the stories told at Grady's expense
The success Of the Piedmont exposi-
tion, the Georgia Chautauqua and numer
Gus other enterprises is popularity cred
tied to his personal efforts. His latest
achievement well illustrates both Grady's
character and influence.
For some months past n movement has
been directed at New York to obtain sub
scriptions by public benefit and other
wise for tho erection of an asylum for
the Confederate veterans residing in the
state of Texas. Many noted men lent
their names, including that old Union war
horse, Gen. Sherman; but the fund lag
ged slowly, even pitifully, along; Maj.
Stewart, the agent of the enterprise, sent
appeal after appeal, but still only few
hundred dollars lay in the treasury.
Grady watched it from afar and chafed
under what he thought was a deep hu-
initiation.
Finally he could stand it no longer
and late one night dashed off an edito-
rial, 1.-The finest he ever wrote" said Mr..
Wallace =. Reed, the southern story
writer, as he told me the incident. Its
force and pathos were wonderful. Come
home, Maj. Joe Stewart" he said;
"come home, and let our SCARED old vet
erans relapse into the honorable obscu-
rity from which they should never have
been dragged!" 1t was then proposed
that Georgians build IA home for their
handful of gray warriors, fast thinning
out, to live but a few years more except
in the hearts Of the people. The ink was
scarcely dry when the money began to
pile up in the Office of the newspaper.
In a fortnight, among the very numblest
classes, nearly $500 had been raised.
The home will be located near Atlanta,
and tha work ia already in proorpsS