The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-04-17
Some Reflections Prompted by the
Recent Death Of Squire
Abingdon Baird.
A Genus OF a Sort not Of Much
Good Use to the
World.
Society Will not Miss Baird, but There
Arc More Like Him Coming
Up Yearly.

Of our contemporaries Lave been doing
over a career like that Of Mr.. Abingdon
Baird, the Scotch millionaire, who died al
New Orleans from q chill caught while Al.
tending a prize fight. sayh the London Speo'
tAtor. He was the last of n family who, W
are told. have been distinguished for nearly
century by the came qualities. They have
all been able 80 to command and guide great
masses Of men as to make money in guam
sities out OF their labor; they have oil gone
their WI way exactly as they pleased;
and they have all been described by their
enemies as 'roughs." with half-dsvelopsd
consciences. and . sort of intelligence. II
4 Mrs. OlipLant did not sketch Pat Torrance
I in''Yhe Ladies Lindores' from one OF them.
{ she might have done 60; and 1t 10 related,
: uly or falsely, of another who gave G50O.
GOO to the Scotch church., that he was the
cause of the best and most charRcteristio OF
all Scotch eoclesiastioal stories. He con-
templated his mighty benefaction long Le-
fore 1t was made, and with true business
acuteness asked OIL expert as to his chance
of getting a full return for his money.
twill it help me-" he inquired of his min
lister, 'out yon2" Am no just FREQ to
guarantee ye." replied the ecolesiastic,
SCOTCH as himself. but It's an experiment
weel worth trying"
The race ended in the man Just deceased,
who, left at 10 heir TO the whole family,
with 80. 900 acres in land and accumulations
worth ten times as much. devoted himself
entirely to pleasures such as a trough en-
joys-to keeping racers on a huge scale; TO
riding himself. as q gentleman Jockey, in
every part of the kingdom. and to instigat-
ing. rewarding and associating with pro-
fessional prize fighters. He was not q fool,
and he did not, IL Is said, scatter the prin-
cipal of his fortune, but his vast
income was spent on. aome of the
lowest of men and women; be
broke his constitution by sweating him.
self to ride light, and he died. at so, of a
chill caught while holding the sponee at an
American prize fight. We meyer heard of
his cheating any one, or betrayinp his back
err, ms some men of his type have done; but
his career was. Of course. utterly indsfensi-
ble-a steady and consistent misuse of the
the three great powers intrusted to him by
Providence. namely: vast wealth, a sound
constitution aud the faculty of com
polling himself to do what he wanted to do.
even il it involved physical risk or suffer-
ing.
D. Az WSA0 oub 40 WAS I82lly
one of a GLASS az old, probably, as history
certainly as old as the Roman empire,
under which young men Of vast fortune
constantly appeared, VIII o devoted them.
selves to Rladiators as Mr.. Baird to prize
fighters; exulted in rare breeds Of horses
his stud; and even themselves descended
into the aroma. as he rode for himself in
matches between gentleman jockeys. All
through the histories Of France,
Germany and England we find
aH1,'' . seRss''H she "'t sourP R.ss'sss' d II.
ferinR little. except In dignity, from the
arena, and the hunting felds OF the oonti-
nent becoming places for a contest in indi-
vidual prowess. distinRuishable from a
race only in this. that plebsians were not
10 ride all day. 10 drink ali night, to watch
animals or men fighting, and to vie with
one another in struggles taxing the physical
energies to the utmost. were the amuss-
ments OF our own squires of tho eighteenth
century, and are the amusements Of a seq
ton among their descendants still.
There is not a countryside, or, for that
matter, a prosperous town. in which q few
mon are not known whose lives, though
less conspicuous, are those of the maronis
OF Hastings and Mr.. Baird. They love
sport" in its " ~forms-wild riding,
hard drinking. tsticuffs among others OF
suouuooAVcb, ot6Ey ulog1aCGlCn. IN
fact. which we think natural, and excuse
among sporting miners. prosperous grooms
or men OF the lower class who live by the
turf or gaming. There Is hardly a
family outside of the hereditary pro-
f%essionals which has not one such member
in 1t. or which could not relate his
tories nearly az strange as that of Nj.
Abingdon Baird. His only separatsness
from the ruck of his kind consisted in the
vastness of a fortune, which made him CON
spicuous. and which, inasmuch as IL was a
trust, justly increased the regret
the contempt with which he was re-
garded by good men. Apart from that. he
was nothing but a rough" enjoying him.
self. or, at all events. seeking enjoyment as
"roughs' OF every grade, and In every ace
and country. have always done.
The truth seems to be that there 10 Q good
deal of brutality still surviving in man. and
that in every civilization there are msn. or
families. whom civilization does
touch, who, in spite of oil tho refining
influences around them. Of training and
polish. and the pressure of q soitsned
public opinion. remain like tho six elder
sons OF Squire Osbaldistons in Rob Roy,'
nncleansed OF tho fierce element which once
unless excited; and they cannot DO excited
except BY appeals to tho lower passions, or
by the feroe delights OF a struggle Of some
kind. whether Joined in or witnessed, or
as you may soc IN half the boys in the king
and in soma strange instances among
grown men-sven read of. Did not the
ttecorn Tor a time quote reports
or prize fights, to the be-
wilderment OF its evangelical con
s~tituency? The men cannot study. cannot
oven read; society in its ordinary forms
seems to them tame imbecility; they can
not rest without excitemont of a kind
taxes the physical energies: and If
cannot work off the spirit on the sea.
or In dangerous sport, or in EXPLORATION
are apt to expend it in methods al In.
furious to themselves. and to all aronnd
them. as Mr. Baitd's are reported to have
been. Imagine the strain benvenuto Gal.
lini must have put npon himself before he
could have lived like other men, and Won
have some idea of the power OF the motor
which drives these men to their ruin, and
against which they occasionally seem "A
powerless 20 struggle az lemmings are 10
from rushing periodically 10 the
sea. They are not powerless, OF course.
unless they turn to drinking; but to their
relatives. and to the public mt
they often seemed possessed, 80,
whitley become fewer? We Huppoae "a:
and. indeed. are inclined to think We see al,
improvement, especially in tho universities:
but the process will be very slow. lntelli.
1t IL true. Is inc easing and reaching
unexpected quarters. women ale becoming
better cultivated, and public opinion in
in weight and potency; but these
causes will all operate with n motion like
ndes TO the inch. A heavy minority will be
unintelligent up to any time Of which il is
useful to think. Tho ''rougha'' OF degree
are seldom iuHuenead nv oond wop,or..u