The Irish standard., 1895-08-17
Pen Pictures Of His rlental and
Other characteristics by
His. Daughter.
A Great Reader. a Deep Thinker
and His Love OF rlil-
itary Life.
Had He His Life to Live Over He
Would Be a Cavalry Officer
and Break Squares.

It is melancholy fact that the imme-
diate surroundings of a great man are
usually the last quarter from which he
can hope for unalloyed acclamation. Yet
it must be that the littlenesses Of the
hero himself are to blame for the decay
of his cult, for when some fortuitous con-
junction of circumstances does produce
hero great enough to be tender and con-
siderate at home, it is in his family that
he will reap the richest harvest of ador-
alton and at his fireside that he will find
his most faithful adherents, writes Vari-
ma Anne ("Winnie' Davis in the Chica-
go Tribune.
1t was my estimable privilege to be
born the child of such man; one whose
sense Of justice was SO exact that he rev
erenced the rights of every creature In
his environment with the same scrupu-
lous consideration that he applied to
great political questions one who COW
cred the failings Of others with a mantle
Of charity and sympathy SO large that
every penitent could find shelter beneath
its folds and every weak or helpless crea-
ture assurance against oppression.
/ We children always believed that there
was no problem too abstruse, no natural
upheaval too stupendous, to be dominat-
ed by our father. I remember distinct
ly crying to be taken to him in an earth
quake and feeling perfectly safe and hap
py when placed IN his arms. Nor, on the
other hand, did we ever feel that any
thing which annoyed or hurt us could
be beneath his notice, for he was one Of
those delightful people who seem always
possessed of an abundance Of time to lis
ten and an endless store of sympathy to
expend. The confidence we reposed in
him was probably the outgrowth Of one
Iof his maxims, to which he strictly ad-
shered. He would often say: !.'Never joke
with a child or a savage; they will not
understand, and you will only destroy
their confidence in you Indeed, he car
ried this rule so far that he would give y
:
scientifically accurate answer, although
expressed in the simplest possible terms
to any queries put TO him, and it is won
derful how universally he made himself
understood by children. He contended
that even were his explanation beyond
their comprehension, they at least grasp
ed the sincerity that animated his re-
sponse to their honest questions.
After recit:ng his love for all living
things and his tenderness for his slaves,
the writer continues, extracts only being
made from the article:
+. He never conferred a favor as though
it cost him anything. 1t always seemed
to the recipientas if it pleased my father
SO much to be giving that he considered
the obligation entirely his. Indeed, he
managed to throw SO great a charm Of
perfect courtesy around the most init
mate intercourse that the thousand little
sacrifices of time and inclination he daily
made were endowed with a cheerful
grace which gave them double value. He
paid the most scrupulous attention to
personal neatness. He was narvelously
graceful, and always arrayed in well-fit.
ting, refined garments scrupulously
clean and carefully worn, though mot
expressed in fancy Once, when my
mother pleaded with him to go to dinner
In his dressing gown, as there was no one
there except herself, and he had been
and still was i'll, he declined, saying: Il
know of no one for whom I have more
respect than yourself hope shall not
take cold, but cannot sit at dinner with
you in my gown" At80 he rose with the
same alacrity to offer his seat to a young
visitor as he had done at 20, and gave
him his courteous attention.
AS raconteur he had few equals, and
happy, indeed, was the child who could
crawl up into his arms, as we used to DO,
and sit listening with bated breath while
he told the same, old fashioned fairy
tales, made radiant and fascinating with
a new charm or stirred the blood with
wild stories of Indian warfare, Of hair
breadth escapes, Of the hunting Of big
game, or of horse fights and the wild
dances of the red men. Nor was it only
the stories endowed with personal inter
est that we loved to hear him tell. His
splendid memory was stored with an in
calcnlable treasure of poetry. I renaem-
her sitting on his knee in the winter twi-
light, with only the fire to illuminate the
ireessses Of the library, listening to him
recitea in his wonderful voice <Blanche'of
:DeVon's Death" The Fight at Coilan-
togles Ford, and other cantos, only
breaking of here and there to bridge
alton I could not have understood.
Although he was an omnlvor0us read
5er, Sdegouring political and historical
cid