The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1890-03-08
POLITE SENATOR'S.
Why No Ambitious Man Can Afford to
Cold and Distant.


Cold and Distant.
Politeness is Il great power in this
world. No ambitious youth can afford
to disregard it, whether his object is
mere personal success or the public
good. A striking example of its lasting
effect is afforded in little book pub
lished lately entitled Great Senators
of Forty Years Ago" by Oliver Dyer, of
the New York bar.
In this book particular mention is
made of Jefferson Davis, as he appeared
in the Senate Chamber when he was in
the prime of manhood, and full of prom
ise of great career.
Mr.. Dyer was then young short
hand reporter: Colonel Davis was forty
years of age, lame from the wound he
had recently received on one of the
bloody fields of Mexico, and looked
upon by the public as one of the
heroes of that war. The young re-
porter, although fervent Abolitionist,
became so warmly attached to him that
he always afterward remembered Mr..
Davis with pleasure, and laid his
chapter, like a tributary wreath, upon
his tomb.
The reason was his genial personal
kindness" Reporters were then having
q hard time of it, on account of the
many Mexican names and Spanish words
used in discussions of the treaty, and it
often became necessary for them to get
a sight of the words as printed in the
documents. Mr.. Dyer used to apply to
Colonel Davis for aid of this kind.
10. n1, u.
ment," he says, mo matter how much
trouble it gave him to do so, and he did
it with such genial courtesy and kind
ness that his manner went straight to
the heart, and stayed there"
In this instance it stayed forty years,
and survived the passionate antipa thies
of long war.
The same author mentions other ex-
amples of the ineffaceable impression
which is often made by gentle and
persuasive manner, even when the mo-
tive may not have been entirely above
suspicion.
1t is plain that the ex-reporter, now
that his hair is gray, has a soft place in
his memory for the late Senator Doug
las, of Illinois, who used occasionally to
stray over to the reporters gallery and
chat familiarly with him, laying his arm
upon the young journalists shoulder
'in companionable way" as though he
were younger brother in whom he took
an affectionate interest.
There were some Senators whose man
ner was the reverse of genial and polite.
Mr.. Dyer refers particularly to Daniel
webster as one who, at times, was
"freezingly Indifferent" when strangers
were presented to him. 1t is easy to
imagine the effect of this behavior upon
the stranger, as we'll as upon the mem
ber of Congress who had introduced him.
Mr.. Dyerremarks that he has seen mem-
bers turn crimson with indignation at
Mr.. Webster's ungracious reception OF
their constituents"
Now there are men who would prefer
Daniel Webster's style of receiving
strangers who had no claims upon his
time, to a free and easy but insincere
mode of fiattering all comers; but rude
ness is ungenerous, and always wounds,
and such wounds seldom heal If even
the semblance OF good-nature IS potent,
how irresistible and enduring the effect
of manner which gracefully expresses
kindly feeling and genuine friendship
Youths Companion.
The hardness of hairpin in the
hands of woman has long been no secret
or mystery. From buttoning boot to
mending an umbrella it is useful in al
most any emergency, but New York
woman has capped the climax by utiliz
ing the eyer-present hairpin for stabbing
. policeman,