Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-07-16

Tribune he refused to familiarize him
self with the business details Of
newspaper publication because he
wanted to keep his attention fixed on
the current events which he had IN
terpreted IS brilliantly certainty as
any writer in the days when journal
ism was more personal than nov, so
he also later on decinde to become
acquainted with any of the ways OF
the hack writer constantly studying
the market for opportunities OF plac-
ing his literary wares. What he wrote
was written from conviction, and
from knowledge that he had some
thing worth saying. Consequently
from the class poem at his graduation
from Brown university in 1858
drought the brilliant "Castilian
Days" the first essays of which Mr..
HoweIIs hailed as an important dis
covery for the Atlantic Monthly, and
on through the celebrated Pike
County Ballads" the life Of Lincoln
and the occasional papers of the last
few years, nothing unworthy or per-
functory came from his pen. More
than any other man in public life in
the United States, with the possible
exception of Roosevelt, of whose
power of keeping in touch with
many things Mr.. Hay sometimes ex-
presses envy. he was an enthusiastic
student of the best that has been
thought and said, delighting in read
ing in the quiet Of his castle-like
home at Washington, able in CONVEX
sation to quote from a surprising
range of literature.
Honoring such an alumnus, Brown
university will witness the erection,
as a very important addition to its
apparatus of scholarship, of a great
modern repository of books. How
glad Mr.. Hay, himself, would have
been to see his name thus perpetual
ed may at least be conjectured. His
attachment to his alma mater was un-
wavering. 1t was shown by the charm
ing ode in which he commemorated
/ his duties as secretary to President
! Lincoln and even more directly years
after in a letter which he wrote to
the librarian to the university to &C.
company a copy of his life Of Lincoln
which he asks to be accepted "as a
token of the reverence and ratitude
with which I regard that ancient
seat of learning" This letter, framed,
IS now one of the treasures in the
Office of the Brown librarian, Nr. H.
! l.. KOopman.
How great the value will be TO the
university of the gift of a memorial
to this noble American is easily ap-
preciated if the details of It's con
struction are studied. According to
( the plans prepared by the architects
of the John Carter Brown library, al,
/ ready on the university ground at
| Providence. and of the Harper Mem
orial library of the University of Chi
| cage, the John Hay library will be
erected at a cost of a quarter OF a
/ million dollars. The building will
have frontage Of little more than
12O feet. facing the university grounds
| and will extend 103 feet down College
| street. The style Of architecture is
the English Renaissance of the Period
! OF Sir Christopher Wren. The build
| ing will have basement ground
| first, mezzaine, and second floors. the
main entrance. being Prospect street
with only a few steps Of ascent
{ The interior Of the John Hay IL
brary has been planned on the basis
! of suggestions made by the librarian
after months Of study, including a
tour Of inspection made in company
with an architectural expert to the
/ principal libraries Of the east. The