The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-02-23
last OF THE GREELEYS.
o.RRrELLE, THE EDTTOR-sTATEs-
MANS FAVoRITE DAUGHTER.

CaCR-ll6 OA4 SGCC-Og A4OAAC- lE0
8ineso Where the Great Political
pa-becues of 1879 Were Hsld-Ths
old Farmers CLUB ard the Meadow
17arm-A House OF Memories and
shadows ,cou,r,,tt,
Cu,PPAoUA, n. Y, Feb. 20-There is no
,-ovsier village in the whole of sleepy
,I-,.tchester than this, which lies snugly
,-,bosomed in nest of low hills, almost
vitbin echoing distance of the big metrop-
dis Everybody in Chappaqua sleeps late.
I. nav he the rule of the village not t. rise
~ sun-up. but if so it is a very accommo-
7a+iny one. for the sun never gets around
inc eesterly ridge of those wooded nights
.bst keen the valley in shadow until long
Il ,fter the rest of creation is awake and about.
Last of all to catch the sunlight and to
.o,arge from the mists that hang about the
tiIlsides in November. is lonely, half desc
late house. up on the western slope. 1t is
s,r from any other dwelling. Passing
,brouph the village, with its white, smart
11oting structures, we get to nearer view.
Tie villagers look at it and tell me that it
: a very quiet place now, that lonely
fo1se no there on the hill, but that in
+,rmer DAYS it was the scene of many q
merry gathering. II the woods that sur
-onnd It the great men of the nation have
met for a midsummer political f.olc, and
there have been ringing speeches mads
Tnier those old naples and beeches, too,
nat have been heard all over the land. But
| now it is little else than a home of shadows
| and memories. 1t is the home of the last of
the Greeleys.
Everybody knows everybody else n
| tbaDpauua 1t is little better than a pict-
MOSQUE hamlet-a sort of happy, rural
family. If there are not many rich folks
IN Chappaqua, there are fortunately very
few really poor Yet, rich and poor alike
hive word of praise and affection for the
sseet-faced woman who moves among them
ike Lady Bountiful, doing good wherever
she enters, and giving so much that people
wonder that she has anything left to give.
saw her yesterday. l had passed
through the village street, and coming to
turn, southwark, entered the woods at the
hillfoot through wide-open gate. To the
left stood small frame cottage sheltered
from the winds of winter by a curve in the
hill that framed 1t like an ingle-nook. This
was the home that Horace Greedy first occu-
pied when he came tc live in Chappaqua
many years ago-so long ago that the
Younger generation have no recollection of
it. Old Israel Haight, the postmaster who
was a comrade of the great editor, shook
his head when l asked about
it, and averred, that it must
be well nigh ''onter twenty-five or
thirty year." But he did not live there more
than year OF two, for the romance Of the
mountain side, with its splendid cover of
oaks, poplars, hickory, naples and beeches,
tempted him, and besides, there at it's foot
lay a great reach of meadow land, level as
d lake and as smooth and clear as lawn.
SO he bonght it in, piece by piece, and at
last, when he had become the owner of the
hillside and valley bottom, he built and
moved into that great, lonely house on the
mountain, from whose roomy porches he
could look over his possessions see the vii
lage ut q glance and command a view of
the valley almost as far as Pleasantville, to
the southwark.
Miss Gabrielle Greeley is a woman of per-
haps 35, although she looks much younger.
The sun had just peeped across into the
valley, and the morning birds were cut in
hundreds, making the hillside ring with
their chorus, when she walked down the
long wooden stairway that hangs sheer
over the edge of the hill, and with the light,
Sprlngy step of a mountaineer, struck out
on the path to the village below. The old
watch dog Ben, and the only cow on the
farm-a meek-eyed Jersey, were vocifer-
ously responding to the feathered orchestra,
and the little woman smiled as she listened
It was the matin song she had heard every
morning of her life since childhood.
On the landing of the wooden stairway
size stood a moment, looking down into the
valley, and 1 had charming view of a
Madonna-like face, deep earnest eyes and
wavy hair. The profile is purely classic
and in the morning light the eyes seem to
be hazel. The mouth is firm and sweet,
and the poise Of head and neck are such as
ortisr SvOI1IH Ha1iUhf in Tho Obi 10
strong and the whole face is full of charac-
ter. OF medium hight and with a frame
that has been strengthened by continuous
exercise in the open air. Miss Gabrielle
Greeley looks every inch woman capa-
bic Of taking full charge of her
rural estate. And she does, for she is u
good deal of practical farmer and is her
own overseer. Clark, the hired man who
does the work of the farm, regards his
mistress as the cleverest of women
Whether the matter under discussion be the
garden, the growing crop, or the timber,
che is equally interested, and personally
superintends everything that goes on in the
place. She weighs probably about 1875
pounds. With two cid domestics who have
been in the family for many years, Miss
Greeley lives the life Of solitary in her
hillside home. But she has too many friends
to be altogether recluse, for they drop in
upon her from New York, from Pleasant
vile and from the village, SO that she can
not be really said to be much alone.
Within the house is but little altered since
the death of the father of Miss Gabrile
The library seems unchanged; there are the
same substantial looking leather lounges,
the easy chairs, and the rows upon rows of
miscellaneous volumes are there by the
hundred, just as they were when the great
war editor used to sit there and discuss
politics with his friends, Oliver John
son and Mr.. Choate of Pleasantville lat
whose home he dIed), Joshua
Carter, village maglate; ex-Gov. Ashley
OF Ohio, Israel A. Haight, Congressman
Reagan Of Texas, and others with whom he
used to love to talk over the politics of the
day-more particularly during the trying
time when he was the liberal candidate for
the presidency. One can almost people the
cosy library with those departed guests,
some of whom are now with the master
Ct the mansion in TIE land of
spirits. A few weaka ago Oliver
johnson, the last of the famous band of
abolitionists of which Greeley was a leader,
ard which numbered among its apostles
william Lloyd Garrison, Moses Thacher
joshua Coffin. Isaac Knapp, Henry K.
stockton, John e. Fuller, and Robert Hall,
passed away at his home in Brooklyn.
All the others, who were then the foremost
advocates Of emancipation, had already pre-
coded him. All at different times were en-
tertained by the kindly sage of Chappaqua
Ii. l..