The San Francisco call., 1899-10-29
EDITORIAL VARIATIONS.
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BY JOHN McNAUGHT.

!
! South Africa to take command OF the
British forces and act with free hand
against the Beers, has been termed "a
brute in sundry reports given OF his
character when his sudden attainment OF
fame made him interesting to the Amerl-
can public. There are other reports, how
ever, that do him more honor and are
more to the credit of those who circulate
them. He won the Victoria Cross by
risking his life to save that Of a trooper
under his command who had been wound
ed by the ZuluS and had fallen from MS
horse. Butler saw the man fall, turned
and rode back in the face of the pursuing
foe, picked up the wounded Brton and
carried him to safety. The Victoria
Cross bears the simple inscription, For
Valor." Perhaps Butler won it by brute
courage" but it will be conceded at least
he is not common brute.
From an account given of his life IN the
Westminster Gazette it appears Butler
came of an old and wealthy Devonshire
family, and had he chosen might have
lived the life of a country gentleman
hunting foxes and playing golf 'all the
same Bingum." He chose, however, to
do other things. Eagles do not catch
flies" is the motto of his family, and he
has lived up to it. He served in South
Africa working hard in training the
blacks to be soldiers instead of staying
at home to train puppies to hunt par
trdges He also raised a troop of light
horse, of which he took the command.
This regiment was recruited from the
wild. adventurous spirits with which cape
Colony abounded. Many of them, it Is
said had been no better than lawless
brigands, but Butler so infused into them
his own intrepidity and discipline that
they were as tractable as any regiment Of
the line, and their prowess during the
Zulu war was unrivaled.
Until Buffers character Is revealed in
the red, fierce light of war for all to read,
we must perforce rely upon the testimony
of others in forming an opinion concern
ing it, and perhaps as good an account
hof him as can be obtained just now is
that given years ago by Archibald Forbes
| in describing his career during the Zulu
campaign. Forbes said
Here was a man with some six thou
sand a year, a beautiful house in fair
Devon waiting for his occupation; a seat
in Parliament all but secured: and yet
for the patriotic love of leading that
strange medley of reckless adventurers
he was living squalidly in the South
African veldt, sleeping in the open for
three nights out of the six with a single
blanket thrown over his body; his hands
SO disfigured by cattle sores the curse Of
the Veldt, that l never saw them not ban
daged up. With his intrepid heroism he
had saved the lives of so many of his men
that. in talking to them, it almost seemed
that he had saved all their lives.
strange, stern, strongtempered man,
whose pride it seemed to be to repress all
his own emotion and to smother it's dis
play In others, he would order man per-
emptorily back to his duty who came into
his tent to ask him to read a letter in
which a mother thanked him for saving
the life Of her SON.
Butler, like Dewey, had to wait a long
time for the opportunity of supreme
command at a crisis in the history of his
country to come to him. He is 60 years
of age. 1t is said he has seen more active
service than any officer in Europe, and
his friends assert he has genius. Such is
I the brute" who will lead the Briton
against the Boer, and it looks as If Dom
| Paul had his match.
There have been many descriptions Of
Dewey as an admiral, as a hero, as a
modest gentleman, as a Presidential prob
ability and as an ornament for parades,
but have seen but one effort to describe
him as any ordinary fellow would be de-
scrbed by a casual acquaintance; and
that is sufficiently excellent to be worth
quoting A Philadelphia man told the
Philadelphia Record thus:
i saw dewey. COnNeTSed Win MIN.
He had his hand on my shoulder-on this
one, the left-here, just over the shoulder
blade I observed him well. His gray
morning coat and waistcoat were not ex-
cellent. They did not balance, and the
waistline was not well marked. They cost
no more than $50, 1 am sure. His patent
leather boots were pointed, actually point
ed. / shuddered when my eye fell on
them, and mentally put their price at IS.
In CHI kN,,t
laundered with a gloss and by machinery.
All collars should be laundered by hand
and have no gloss of course. His tie was
made-he had not tied 1t himself! You
can buy such ties anywhere for half
dollar-only. of course, you wouldn't"
That impartial account of the heros
dress given with the Calmness of a Phila-
delphia society leader, is all that was
needed to lift Deweys popularity to the
highest pinnacle. 1t IS now clear we can
say Of him with strict veracity: Hes a
dandy, but he's no dude"
There is one more Dewey story to be
told. 1t is one that has something Of a
mystery in it, and may raise a stormy
controversy between Vermont and Con-
nectcut. The correspondent of the Hart
ford Courant, in giving an account of
Dewey's reception at Montpelier, init
mates that the hero is not a Vermonter.
He says: I'VE Connecticut people consent
to temporarily consider Montpelier as Ad-
miral Dewey's birthplace. We have heard
on what we decide to be good authority
that he was born in Connecticut, but 1t
seems ungracious at such a time as this
to make too much of a matter of detail
now that all Vermont has turned out to
welcome him." And again, in describing
the appearance of the admiral, the writer
says: "A few of US think he shows unde-
niable traces of the distinction Of his Con-
necticut birth"
That is the story as it stands Vermont
so far has not deigned to notice the insin-
uations treating them in fact as If they
were no better than Connecticut nutmegs.
1t is, however, to be hoped the challenge
will be taken up and the issue decided;
not that it makes any difference to the
nation whether Dewey were born in this
or that locality of the republic, but be-
cause 1t will add much to the enlighten-
ment of all to learn what are the undeni-
able marks Of the distinction of Connect
| icut birth.
To the discussions concerning the prob
lens and the policies Of American uni