Evening star., 1898-12-10
The Secretary Of State Has Led a
Very Active Life.
HAS Won LAURELS IN MANY FIELDS
Every Assurance of a Positive and
Progressive Diplomacy.
ATTRACTIVE PERSONALITY


IL that wild year of the change of
things Mr.. Lincoln. the President-elect
brought with him to Washington as his
personal private secretary young gentle
fresh from college days and law
studies. who in time TO win a high
place In literature, to become ambassador
- Great Britain. and Secretary of State.
Born in Salem. Indiana, October &. 1858,
tue descendant of an ancient Scotch family.
John Hay was graduated from Brown Uni
verstty In 1855. Studying law in Spring
field. with Mr.. Lincoln neighbor and
friend. he won that statesman's regard to
such degree to be selected the as
sOci;tte OF Mr.. John c. Nicolay. the official
private secretary provided by law.
\ Comely young man with peach bloom
face. oId-faShioned speech. smooth, low
toned quick in comprehension, sententious,
reserved; folks not quite sure whether it
V4- the reserve OF difference or OF aristoC-
IaCy. high bred. courteous: not one with
whom the breezy, ovrrfiowing politician
would he apt TO take liberties; touch Of
sadness il his tempeTament. this world
beirg serious business, each days work
requiring the doing of it. He was given
TO verses had the personal attraCuVeness
cs well the youth of Byron; was what
Byron might have been, grounded on good
principles and with the wholesome disci-
pliue of home. Those admitted To his con-
ddenee recall the Rosetti-like verses on
vital themes with which the young secre-
JHry sought to dissipate the gloom in
which he lived
As the storm Broke.
Il was in truth the wild year of the
change of things Hay came in the path
OF the secession storm then working its
cruel will. Taney was on the Supreme
beuch in the obscuration of Dred Scott and
other clouds from which his high merit
& turist is even now but slowly emerging.
As the young secretary, with keen, wonder
Ing eyes looked down upon the Senate, he
but fragment OF that august trtbu-
= nal The seats of the confederate chiefs
were vacant, and the republicans reigned
over what seemed to be the wreck of the
Union. There. grouped around Sumner,
were the leaders of the victorious republi~
can column; Sumner on the outer row of
the Senate. in the seat now occupied by
Senator Wilson of Washington. between
John 2. Hale and David WilmOt. with Ben
Wade and Henry Wilson in front John
Sherman. fresh from the House. and from
his mavailing battle for the speakership,
was the democratic side between James
A. Bavsrd father of the ambassador, and
Andrew Johnson
In the House the young secretary could
have studied the dominant statesmen.
There was Galusha A Grow, on the eve of
the spcs,kership; Thaddeus Stevens. with
his all too apparent wig. lines deepening
his Roman face and tighter4ns the impIa-
cable lips. an intensc. .remOrseless veteran of
Two generations Of strife, in a state of
ttouig Thanksgiving that he had lived to
n" fall Of Babylon There. likewise. were
tha unfortunate and forgotten Colfax, f.
b NasEburne. the aged and illustrious
CtttteI,d-p in the last gasp Of compromise
ami peace: Roscoe Conkling. eloquent, as
sid"pus with his tempest-tossed days TO
cone Frank Blair and John y. Logan,
FCoH ~ ride by the side of Grant as cap
iaiu~ in the great war. There likewise
Arthur T. German in the joy of his promo
IIon Srom the drivershiD OF the Senate mail
wagon 20 he the assistant postmaster and
ruling spirit in base bail circles.
But Few Remain.
OF that group of statesmen how few re-
ain, Sherman sits as an elder within the
gat-- fui of admonitions to a wayward
generation The venerable Morrill,, con-
temporary with Lincoln and Gladstone six
Years senior To Bismarck. remains as the
Nest"r Of the Senate. Arthur p German
state smanship supplcnenting base bah and
the mail wagon, is 4 leader of 4 great
party and through democratic eyes looks
proudly upon the presidency Grow sits
With hts fellows, lusty, resolute. winter
green even as when forty-seven years ago
ne was In Congress with Hamilton Fish.
John &. Breckenridge and Henry Clay The
waves have swept our political seas; the
FeNenScs, ambitions. hopes and achieve
nentS Of those heavy days are no longer
even memories, and the very names of
those who reigned when the young secre-
tarS ctme upon the scene are submerged
into grateful oblivion
II Vas time of war and executive du-
young associate they were severe These,
tWo stood by the captains side as the shin
OF State was steeTed through the tumbling
seas, the heavens rent with fury and syyept
with passion, hatred and death Hay ius-
tiHed the Presidents dIscernment The
young man loved his master. serving him
WIN me loyalty their relations recalling
those between Hamilton and Washington
Vine" Hamilton was aid on Washing
tons staff. There were many speciaI Of
f'e~ which Hay could do FOR the president
lltsfara
grace and precision, with the capacity for
toh''hHous silent industry The touch of
ms pen can be felt in many of the letters
liat went from the Executive Mansion
or white the style Of Lincoln was He
Dralc. That of Hay was as lucid and flow
ing as the style of Addison. He knew the
social gTaces and amenities, and did much
10 make the atmosphere Of the war er,,,
tohea " bite House grateful, tempering un-
reasonable aspirations, giving to dIsaD-
pointed ambitions the soft answer which
turneth away wrath showing as HanfTton
q" IN similar offices, the tact and COM
mon sense which were TO serve him as thev
duty. - P""41o
Dark Days.
tiay had the young mans yearning for
fHe heid' but he remained With the Presi-
Gent through the dreary days; the days Of
Manassas, Fredericksburg and Chanceuors-
Vile every morning with its bulletin of
disaster. the cup Of presidential agony fiIIad
TO oEerfowiEg: those dreary days when the
dearest hopes of the Union rested upon
one man All else had fallen The ma
tionai credit was in the mire, Armies no
longer sprang out of the enthusiasm of
The people. but were wrenched into place
by conscriptiOn- The south was united
the flower of the confederacy under Jack
son and Lee. accepted leaders in comma nd
The men in the field, the slaves protecting
Their families. The republican party was
IN revolt the mutiny finding suferance if
not welcome in the cabinet. Foreign opin-
lon was eoHtemptuOus and unfriendIy even
Lhe pTsScient Gladstone accepting the con-
1edeT5tcy. We are coming, Father Abra-
ham, found a refrain in when this cruel
war Is over. 1t was night without a SIN
&c star, and only supreme intrepid soul
Ike that Of Lincoln could pierce the in
finite gloom.
But Yieksnurg and Gettysburg came. and
lhe tHth OF Lincoln WAS justified. The
stress of the war passed into the hands
- o. The great captains and no longer over