The record-union., 1894-06-09
Ohm JAYS CAREEI
of Being Gentleman II
lustrated.


lustrated.
Few readers of the newspapers can
have fail ed 20 note the unusual accent of
sincerity III the expressions of regret
that were published when j Ohm Jay died,
on Saturday. May 9th, within a fortnight
OF com pleting his 18th year. Expressions
of this kind concerning a citizen sc dis
tinguished by his descent and by his long
and active participation i'll public affairs
were to be expected as matter of course,
which is as much as to say that they were
expected TO be perfunctory. But when
they proceeded from writer's who had
known Mr.. Jay they were not per-
lunctory, but were the statements OF the
charm which he exercised upon all those
who enjoyed his acquaintance. 4
Air. Jay might have passed through
life without taking part in its activities.
An ample fortune and the best place in
American society were secured to him
from his birth. He was scion OF one of
the most distinguished OF the Colonial
and Revolutionary families OF New York,
and the grandson OF that John Jay, first
Chief Justice Of the Supreme Court of the
I nited States, OF whom Daniel Webster
said, III famous speech, that when the
ernine fell upon John Jay it touched
nothing that was not as spotless as itself.
His birth, his wealth and his tastes
seemed TO designate him for Il life OF let
tered ease. But his spirit was too ardent
to permit Sloth. Almost as soon as he
had attained his majority he became an
active anti-slavery man, at d time when
activity In that cause was taken IN re-
spectacle circle at the North as the mark
OF an unbalanced mind, If not as an act
ual brand of social disrepute: and he
never faltered in his attachment to the
cause or in his efforts in behalf it, until
the victory had been won.
Slavery disposed of, he turned his at
tention 10 other causes that seemed TO
him good. He was one of the earliest
and most earnest advocates of civil sery-
ice reform, and WAS appointed by Gov
ernor Cleveland memb Der OF the State
Civil Service Commission. The only
conspicuous public office, properly speak
ing, that he ever held was that of Minis
ter TO Austria under General Grant. He
was never politician in the ordinary
sense of the term, but he was a public
spirited citizen who gave himself heartily
and unselfishly to the redress of abuses
and to the establishment of what he
deemed right principles. Until the in
frmities OF age overlook him he was an
ardent controversialist upon subjects
some of which the ordinary politician re-
CARDS as too burning to be safely handled.
one of these was the relation of the Ro-
man Catholic Church 10 American insti-
tutions in general and to the public
schools in particular. That was one of
the topics on which an ardent contro-
versialist would be apt both to exhibit
and TO excite rancorouS feeling. But
there was no rancor in John Jay. His
courtesy disarmed the hostility his
outspokenness might have created. and
it is not likely that his controversies ever
made him a personal enemy. Certainly
that must have been rooted hostility
that could withstand the benignity and
the charm of his presence. or that could
have atfronted a man so utterly incapable
public career, if it may be called so, was
u lifelong illustration of the advantage
of being gentlemen.-Ha Weekly.