The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-08-14

quereu agony and was as fine as Bis
marks. When he was suppressIng
his pent up fire he had habit OF IN
haling the surrounding air to cool his
temper, displaying when he did so tins
cruel bullet burrows, and when ne
was perplexed and was winnowIng
subject he whistled softly. His ma
turally violent temper was never loos
ed against the weak and against no
one unless his Judgment willed it. So
anxious was he to do his part that
when locomotion became irksome to
him he had a room in the Observer
building fitted up for a chamber so
that he could be at his work. But
the ravages OF the disease were SO
furious at this time that he had to
go TO the baths and he was but little
in the office proper from my first sum-
mer until on the death of his much
loved former partner ana brother-in-
law, Major Engelhard, whom he sue
ceeded as Secretary of State.
/ shall never forget an editorial
which / wrote on a subject which is
matter of Indifference now, but
which at the time seemed to me to
be of moment. The editorial was
written in an ironicai vein and to my
mind was very savage. 1 read it TO
him for suggestion. He seemed to
relish it immensely and chuckled just
at what seemed to Tne to be the pro-
per places to show appreciation and
enjoyment. When'I had finished he
took the copy and said with a far
away look, which I did not just then
comprehend in it's full force, that he
wanted to keep that to show to some
friends. He. kept it and 1 have never
seen 1t since, but good long while
afterward he remarked to me, in the
course Of one of our long sittings, that
while ironical writing was very en-
joyable, and showed wonderful clever
ness, he feared our North Carolina
reading public was much too serious
and too apt to take it literally. 1t is
not an extravagant statement to say
that a great light dawned on me about
this time and I tried to walk in its
path for many days.
He was a most entertaining CONVEX
sationalist and his English was as
simple as if he had studied the Bible
exclusively as his model of express
sion. He seldom used big word
He was fond of illustrating the
meaninglessness Of all the logomachy.
as the country people call it, and gush
about reconciliation. the blue and the
gray ETC., by reciting an incident that
occurred at Charleston, S. c., when
the crack Boston company visited
the Boston company was an officer
who had been n college mate at Har-
ward of an officer in the Charleston
Blues. After all the speech-making
was through and when these two
chums had retired to the Charleston
ian's residence and We're smoking a
farewell cigar, the Boston man asked
his Charleston friend to tell him in
very truth if the fire-eating South
10,
professions of good will, etc. Hush,
was the Charleston mans answer; 1--WE
are just as much in earnest as you
Boston Yankees are
His love for his State was intense.
and l really believed that he thought
the Governorship of North Carolina
the greatest office on earth. Above
all things, he resented anything like
dictation from Washington and es>a-
ciallv from the North Carolina dele
cation in Washington about State af-
fairs, and his attitude towards them
while personally as kind as could be
politically was little better than arm
ed neutrality.
His was a great power In politics.
He somehow by his very silence in
vited the confidence of men. The
leaders, specially young leaders, came
to consult him like Pilgrims, and he
knew their ambitions and aims Very
little cared he for place. but he valued
poWer. While in name the Senates
clerk, he was in fact the friend Of the
court. A mere secretary to the Board
of University Trustees. he was more
than any one its guardian. If asked
to name his greatest work as an editor
would say it was the Constitutional
Convention of 1875. 1t does not fit
in the design of this contribution to
make mention of his great permanent
work, the Colonial Records, further
than to connect the two editors as
editor and printer working together
again in harmony on a subject so dear
TO them and which they saw grow into
volumes, recognized for intrinsic
value and beauty of book making arr
as a great book.
You can search the files in vain for
quarrels and chickering's between The
News and The Observer. OF course
there We're the keen rivalries for bust
ness and news, but they did not run
on lines to destroy the amenities. There
could have been no more courteous
gentleman than Gen. tombstone Jones,
editor of The News, and George Jor
dan, now a handsome, prosperous
business man in Washington was n
manager of real ability and discern
Gus and there never was and isn't,
couldn't be, a cleverer co-laborer than
Fred. Olds, the then local editor of
The News. Both senses of the word
clever belong to him. He would Ill
vide the last thing he had with you,
even to news, and would go around
devising good turns to do you. One
of the best news gatherers of his day
anywhere, he has grown in breadth
and power of writing and is still
growing. His good works would fill
volumes and all for the betterment
and education of North Carolina.
How / Broke Into the Paper.
There were few struggling belated
cases of yellow fever lowering in the
depression over Memphis, where bust
ness, and you may well fancy it war
important business, called me in the
late fall of 1877, and detained me un-
til the early spring of 1873. Just here
it ma not be too personal TO note the
rather curious fact that in three con-
secutive generations every member but
one in each generation of NV moth
er'S family lived in or near Memphis
at some period of their lives. the stay
at-homeS being my grandmother, my
mother and myself. ] felt quite at
home among SO many kinspeople and