St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-02-18
HIFALUTIN, OR HIGH JINKs.

The man who speaks IN representa-
tive gathering, formally or informaliy3
must be sure of his facts, and of his
tact. Occasionally the latter quality is
the most desirable in any speakers
gift, yet SO Few have 1t as natural i'm
stincT that they oftentimeS do more
harm than good when addressing the
public. For example. DR.. Burchard, in
three words. the most inapposite.. the
most unexpected and the most compact
for deStructiveneSs of any ever uttered
in this country, bllghted beyond repara-
ton the presidential ambition Of his
favored candidate, Blaine. No prear-
ranged blow OF calculated malice could
have been so deadly as the smart ALTER
alton of the strenuous friend at that
famous social consistorY In the Fifth
Avenue hotel. %.
At the Press club reception to Henri
Watterson, Capt. ii. A. Castle made
some happy remarks upon MIR. Waiter
sons Courier-Journal predecessor. the
world-famed George ID. Prentice"
The captain said ''he was born and
raised on the banks of the Mississippi,
and had vivid recollection of the
times of Prentice, who was then the
demi-god Of all parties and classes"
Surely, the captain must have some
confused notion of Preptice's identity,
or his recollection of those times is not
so vivid as he imagined-because most
ssuredly the Courier-JOurnal editor
was very far from being the univers al
demi-god he describes. In fact, as long
as the Ohio runs by Louisville, Prentice
will be remembered as having melted
the most sanguinary Know Nothing
the United States. This alone throws
him of all consideration as wise and
able editor, and renders him as unfit for
laudatiOn, in honoring his successor, as
praise of-say Vaillant-would be, were
the captains army record the occasion
of special reception by his Grand
Army comrades.
Only by abetting slaughter and dye
ing his name in the blood of people
whose constitutional rights he endeav-
ored with incredible malignity to de-
stroy. does the name of George D.
Prentice land his ''times" live in the
memory of one multitudionus .'class."
For the rest, Mr.. Prentice was the
merest sophomore in newspaper writing
beside the Northern school. 1t Is doubt
full if the man whose mind runs to
poetry ever becomes master in prose,
at least to the extent of authoritative
and convincing strength. Once ' or
twice in century the conjunction may
be manifest, as when Byron wrote his
memorable letter to John Wilson, which
was such splendid evidence Of his
manifold ability as to make Kit North
grieve that Childe Harold was not an
essayist for his beloved BIackwootl.
The poetry of Mr.. Prentice was inter-s
changeable with his prose. Each saf!
fected the other into an Indeterminate
weakness of similarity. AS an editor
he achieved no especial distinction.
except as an incendiary writer of MUIR
derous prejudices. Hence, when the Z
suave Henri WattersOn heard him called
"demi-god' he must have felt that it
was detection from himself as theI
gallant champion of the ''star-eyedG
goddess" whose vacillating fortunes the
imaginative Kentuckian has jealously
-
watched for many year. But, now
ever imaginative The Blue Grass Henri
may be in regard to his astral-eyed
eidolon, he cannot distance our Mime
sofa Henri and his ''demigod of all par
ties and classes" George ID. Prentice.
Last but not least, where was Press
Club President Conway's memory of
orators, when coming down to our own
country he could name but four, and
they were Webster, Clay, Calhoun-and
Henri Watterson? Alas for fame!
Where is the other nobler trio. Wendell
Phillips, Roscoe ConkliEg and George
William Curtis, that Mr.. Watterson
could be hitched to, and gain more
momentum by the association?
Tradition is hard to disIodge. A vast
constituency that was not born when
Webster died In 1852 is so imbued with