New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-01-22
RANDALL GIBSON.
4 GLIMPSE OF HIN Al YALE COLLbDE AND
WHAT HIS CLASSMATES THOUGHT
OF HIN

.,,h,;o ,,, ii coreer have l,cnn | imagine. bet
tor known and moe Justly appreciated III We
South than IN the Noith IN hi- own state ana ID
Washington best Of all /. Is the edric' memo
ries of him which seem freshest and most cndH
Ing TO those Of IL who knew him IN Yale iom
Isa0 90 Isl; The fist IMPRESSION has never
faded II j. moe distinct and not less "S'Ihc''
now than 1t was forty years ago
To boy who came from Puritan nome anu
from a society which. with al It's admianl" NOR
,ts and fine influences. wa- o'eo au>tere. Randall
Gibson was Il revelation. lie was. Ov common
consent, the flower of the small company Of South
.rners who made part of the class: think some
fifteen in all A> company. they hcl1 item
selves a little aloof The election q l,iS was
Int inst over: the anti-slavcIy icht was way
ING hot The Abo.itionists had begun. cot by
themselves but nv their pupils. 10 make an lm'
preston in politics. The moral view had madc
On impression The Golden cloquence Of "c"del
Phillips had long before caught the pnoHc ear
and il had now begun TO convince me pup"c
conscience: or. il not 70 convince. 70 OCCASION
twinges and 10 lead good many people IN WHOM
that troublesome organ was wei developed &c
pass uneasy hours and 20 consider the question OF
slavery as not purely. nor even primarily COM
mercia question
The Sontherncrs. for tho first time In tie MS
tory of that generation. found themselves on thc
defensive II was not an attitude which suited
them The chivalry of the South preferred the
Aggressive. and were the more aggressive betaA>"
they resented the imputaton OF in!0nty ana
immortality which lad begun 70 fast"n on tic
slaveholdcr as olass They were race or class.
and most OF the Young men who came from that
part Of the world were as individuals, slightly
naughty in their bearing toward other less Ia
vored mortas The sentiment OF southern snpc-
riority-how remote II now secnls'-was common
not only in the South. but IN some sections OF
Northern society. and those the best sections.
socially speaking. ! know we boys from Massa-
chusetts and other Ncw-Eneland States-thcre
were not many in Yale from Massachusetts,
thought Southern friends gave themselves
airs.
The exception was Randall Gibson. Whether
his Southern comrades understood his superiority,
] don't know We understood it. We saw that
Randall-he was always known as Randall or as
Randall Gibson-had all The qualities and none OF
the prctcnslons of his fellow. SouthcrneIs. He
had birth, station, wealth. capacity, and the
most charming manners that ever We're seen. IL
is not often that the word charm is used with ref
crcnce to mere man. None other so well
describes him. lie was the product of condl-
ton of society perfectly alien TO us. and he Easel
mated us We were of to be fascinated;
of the hcro-worshipping ace: and n good many
of us, boylke thought Randall Gibson hero
Even now / am not sure that we were wrong,
or that mere novelty and the contrast between
the Southern and Northern types OF character
swaycd our judgment, or rather our feelings, too
much.
Tyne he was not: no was individual He was
typcll OF much that is best in the Southern nature.
but when every allowance has been made for race
and climate, there remained something which you
could assign to general cause The people
who think heredity explains everything-no doubt
il explains auckland that nobody Is anything
moro than an expression of his ancestors-ony
carry the difficulties of character. study few
steps back. If you continue TO account for per
sonal traits and mental states by referring them
90 series of more or loss grcat-Grand fathers
and mothers. the personal traits and mental states
OF the more or less grcatsrand fathers and mothers
have still TO be traced You find them in earlier
progenitors, and those of the earlier progcnitors
in progenitors earlier still. At last YOU arrive
either at Adam or at the primeN al ape. Once
there, are you much the wiser? And II YOU pre-
fer Buckles theory and thinl, latitude and long
tude have most to do with the growth and forma-
ton of character, you do not from all your
difficulties you create new ones. If Randall
Gibson was what he only or mainly because
he was born in Louisiana, why in all Louisiana
was there only one Randall Gibson?
There was, at any rate, hut one in the class Of
p53 at Yale Him we admired at first rather in
spite of ourselves. We started. / imagine, with
a prejudice against Southerncrs Southerner to
lis meant first Of all Shareholder and then perhaps
aristocrat We liked neither in New England
Randall Gibson was both. ] am sure he never
gave himself the least trouble TO overcome any
bcdy's prepOsscssiOns against him. II might not
occur to him that there prcpossessons; it
certainly would not occur TO him that it was bis
business to remove them. lie was quite free from
anything like excessive regard for the opinion Of
others, and from morbid self-cOnscioLsness. lie
had come into the world like some semi.tropica
flower Of his own country, and grown into beauty
with the sunlight and soft air about him. He
was an aristocrat in the good sense He had. as
most men have who are born into superior sta
ton, extremely simple manners. lie was devoid
Of pretence: that was one moro proof OF his nat
ural superiority. lie took the lead because he was
@ leader, not because he wanted TO lead 1t was the
others who wanted to follow. lie had distinction
Of manner. which was all bis own. with perhaps
more refinement than energy: more dclicacy than
vigor. There arc men whose superiority is on
trely intellectual. but his gently dfuscd.
and superiority of the whole man. not OF
q part OF him
once asked Wendell Phillips what was the
best speech he ever heard. We'll. answered
the Incompatible orator. the Apollo Of the Amcii
can platform. there are several kinds Of good
speeches, but l will tell you story" And he
narrated how he went one day to public meet
ing in Fancuil Hall. and saw the platform
man whom he did not know, and whose very
name was unknown. All that was known was
that he came from Tennessee. lie spoke fuenty
and well, with something of that independence
of grammatical restraints which then character
lied the favorite of that State. II was
hot afternoon in July. Presently tic Tcnnesscan
took OF his coat sort Of thrill went through
the audience Who had ever seen within the
Of tho Grallc Of iknrt,. N ORR