The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-12-13
INTERESTING STORIES TOLD
AND THE EVENING is SPENT IN so.
CIAL ENJOYMENT.
President English Welcomes General
-Brief Remark by Others.

rriendS might nave the opportunity or wei
coming him home after his long sojourn
in Paris. 1t was the intention of the club
to make the generals reception more
formal, and there were several speeches set
for the occasion. but acting in accordance
with General Harrison's expressed wishes,
the committee announced the i~nformality
of the reception, and the clubroom became
Immediately a place of friendly sociability.
When the guests first arrived they Were
escorted TO the large reception room, where
General Harrison, Captain w. E. English.
president OF the Commercial Club, and DR..
F. ". Hays. chairman of the committee
on arrangements, stood in the receiving
line. After shaking hands with the general
the guests dispersed themselves in friendly
groups around the room and occupied
themselves in intercourse until Captain
English announced that a buffet lunch
had been served In the banquet hall. After
the guests had been sufficiently RECALLED
with the fine buffet luncheon they returned
to the reception room, where Captain
English in a quiet and informal
way made some very happy remarks on
the part of the club, In which he welcomed
General Harrison home. Captain English
said that the club felt that 1t wanted to
give General Harrison an opportunity to
meet his friends in a social way. Said he:
1--WE have taken this way Of showing our
appreciation of our greatest citizen and We
welcome him home tonight, not as the
ex-President of the United States, not as
the great legal representative, not as the
man whom the crowned heads of Europe
delighted to honor, but as plain Benjamin
Harrison, our neighbor and our friend. we
honor and esteem him as the greatest OF
our citizens, as the man OF the greatest
attachments the foremost citizen OF his
day. Long may he live in his greatness
entwined in our hearts as our friend
GENERAL HARRISON RESPONDS.
In response General Harrison said That
Captain English must have known that 1t
would be quite impossible to sit still with
out replying to such words OF welcome as
had lust been uttered by him. Said he: Il
am glad to come home again and meet my
n~eighbors and friends. In fact, the joy Of
going away lies in the joy of coming home,
and feel somewhat repaid for going away
by the welcome accorded me this evening,
and the Joy of it all lies in the home
coming. But L could not have come home
unless 1 had gone away. l was not long
enough in the European countries TO ac-
quire a full understanding of their political
policies, and therefore / have been chary
of saying much to my worthy newspaper
friends concerning these things. In fact, l
have been nauseated on more than one oc-
casion by the reports which some hasty
travellers have been only too eager to give"
The general relates a story on himself
in a way which must be heard to be prop
erly appreciated. Said he: THE other day
1 received a copy of a New York news
paper which bore a very peculiar address.
The paper was addressed Repres Harrison.
At first 1 was somewhat nonplussed. as 1
could not imagine what they wanted to re-
press me for. But after some thought on
the matter l concluded to investigate. l
wrapped the paper up very carefully and
sent it to the editor and on 1t wrote the
one word, 'Why?'"
w. p. FISHBACK TALKS.
In response TO a number Of calls W. P.
~Fishback, the old-time friend of General
Harrison, was induced to relate a few
stories at the expense of the general and
himself. Mr.. Fishback said: This is the
first time in fifty years that / have ever
known General Harrison to refuse to make
a speech when he had the opportunity.
Captain English has spoken of what nature
has done for General Harrison in the way
of endowment, but I want to say that Gen
eral Harrison has never let an opportunity
slip away whereby he could improve him.
self. He has been a hard worker, both as
boy and man. When we were at school he
was just as fond of playing tricks on the
schoolmatser as any other boy in the
school. Our schoolmaster was a horticul-
turist and he had a very large apple or
chard. Several of the boys, among them
the general, concluded one night that they
would like to have some of those apples,
and they arranged a scheme whereby one
of the boys was to climb the tree and the
others were to wait below. Well, when the
boy got I'D the tree someone fired a gun
and the boy dropped out of the tree and left
part of his clothes on the picket fence The
boy who fired the gun was General Harri-
son. and he had fixed up the scheme be-
fore.
II also remember that he succeeded in
getting me into a rather embarrassing posi-
ton once upon a time. We boys who were
stopping at a certain boarding house had
come to the conclusion that We were getting
too poor fare for the money we were ay-
ing, and We decided TO lay In a complaint.
The night before we went up to the gen.
erals room and drew lots to see who should
make the complaint. Well. 1t happened
U mean that 1t was cut and dried) that /
should be the one. The next morning when
all the boys were assembled at the table
1 arose and. in as gentlemanly a manner as
possible, told the landlady our cause OF
complaint. When / had finished what l
had to say the general spoke up and said:
My dear madam, we do not know how
Mr.. Fishback has been faring, but as for
ourselves l want to say we are perfectly
satisfied
In conclusion Mr.. Fishback said that he
had known the general a long time and the
of his mind was the fruit of his
labors. Said he: IF you are ever en-
gagged in the trial OF a case with General
Harrison and you have anything to say,
say 1t first or you Will find when he has
ceased talking hat he has left nothing for
you to say"
JOHN w. KERN'S REMARKS.
John w. Kern, city attorney. was then
called upon TO make a few remarks, and he
responded in a very felicitous manner. Said
Mr.. Kern: ~ worked as hard as anybody
else for the nomination of President Harri-
son at Chicago, and when we came back
from there 1 was on the front tallyho that
led the procession here in the city. and
didn't forget to wave my red bandana
handkerchief. / didn't work for General
Harrison's nomination just because / want
ed TO see him President, but because he
had been at one time the reporter of the