Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1898-09-01

Intercourse with Lincoln himself, as
a subordinate and a friend. He
knew the giant as no one else could
know him. He saw a little of army
life, winning his title of colonel in
a staff position, as adjutant to Presi-
dent Lincoln in the field, but his ser
vice as private secretary was vastly
more important to himself and to the
country.
Col. Hay is not exactly ashamed of
having published the Pike County
Ballads, but he's sorry he ever did it,
No c-py CT Little Brooches or Jim
Bludsoe can be found in the Hay
mansion in washington. Their auth r
cons nted to a republication soma
years ago, but he has never quite rec
Cnciled himself to the fact that these
newspaper jingles, limitations of Bret
Harte, should be better known than
Castilian Days. 1t was, however, one
Of those rare cases where the imita-
ton is better than the original. The
Ballads were an instant success. The
author of Alice in Wonderland, as
much classic as Robinson Crusoe,
would never avow his work. He had
written some stuffy mathematical
treatises of which he was proud. Rud-
yard Kipling threw The Recessional
into the scrap basket, whence his
wife rescued it. Longfellow thought
he could write prose. Col. Hay, like
other authors, is not the best Judge
of his own work. The monumental
te0-volume Life of Lincoln, by Nico-
lay and Hay, will always be a stand
ard work. These young men had the
rare sense to realize that they were
living in stirring times. They
planned their great work in 1868, and
saved fer it the mass of original ma
terial which makes it the necessary
basis of all subsequent Lincolniana.
They worked for years upon the act
ual writing. The book is exhaustive.
authoritative, necessary; but it is not
literature. 1t is too continuously
IaudatOry. 1t is written in the
spirit of herO-worship, which is not
that of the critical historian Abra-
ham Lincoln was big enough man
to have big faults-a warm man of
flesh and blood, not demi-god His
character must be read between the
lines Of The Life of Lincoln. It is
nowhere clearly expressed in them.
Perhaps his secretaries wera too close
tc h1m to see him in his true per
spectlve. Their work is such as
n might write Of a father long
dead. 1t bears no comparison with
Sloane's Napoleon.
But Jim Bludsoa and Little
Breaches are literature. No one knows
Why they are. Universal consent is.
in such cases, the law from which
there is no appeal. And universal
consent indorses the sentiment of
Little Breaches:
An l think that savin' a little one
An bringin' him to his own.
Is durn sight better business
Than lOafn' round the throne.
In all his instincts Col. Hay is a
literary man. If he had not led such
a busy life, in camp and court and
office; if he had not married wealth
and incurred responsibilities, he would
have written much more in quantity.
But he has done well as it is, with the
Ballads to his credit and a half share
in the composition of the monumental
Lincoln. There is one thing more:
He is supposed to have written The
Breadwinners, an extraordinary serial
which appeared in the Century mag
aZine in 1888 and which has bpp0 n T.
terly denounced by labor union leaders
Col. Hay does not acknowledge its
authorship. Perhaps he, like others,
realizes that it was written in a per
iod Of storm and stress AID that some
OF its views seem now too pessimistic
Miss Helen Hay, the co'oreI's Oldest
daughter, besides being a society IA
yorite, iuherits his knack OF Thyming
One who meets Col. Hay notes in /
his manner a strange ningling-Or ,
rather a mingIing that is not strange
but perfectly natural-Of the suave
diplomat and the brusGue managing
editor. For Mr.. Hay has been a prac-
teal newspaper man. That he was
under no necessity Of doing Office
drudgery as the political editor Of the
Tribune, after his marriage, is con /
coded; but he has real liking for .
academic problems of politics, and in
the Tribune Office devoted himself /
much more to political than to genera +
news. In this respect he belonged
distinctly to a school Of journalists