Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1911-06-07
Harrison's Pathetic Desire

fact, any of the thousands of Ameri-
cans who met General Harrison while
he occupied the White House-was
more keenly conscious of this tenn
peramental defect than was Harrison
himself. To his intimate friends he
sometimes spoke of it. To one he
declared he sometimes wondered if
his inability to appreciate music was
not part, or a cause, of his tempera-
mental difficulties Il do not know
one song from another" he confessed.
excepting that at last I have learned
to distinguish one of the military
tunes-I think it is Yankee Doodle"
And some time later, when he was
discussing his great weakness-or
what he looked upon as his great
Weakness-with another intimate
friend, he said-and there was an
unmistakable longing in his voice: 81
want to be good fellow. I have
tried hard to be companionable. It
mas been my great desire But
don't know how"
Clearly, the mystery of his appa-
rent GOODNESS of disposition was as
unsoIvable to Benjamin Harrison as
1t was to the politicians who were
brought into contact with him during
the four years that he was president
But what neither Harrison himself
nor the politicians could clear I'D. a
great Democrat did, at least to his
own satisfaction-and that was
Grover Cleveland, both predecessor
and successor of Harrison in the
White House.
After Cleveland had ~etired from
the presidency in 1893 he fell into
the habit of chatting freely with his
intimate friends of events that had
occurred while he was president and
OF public men he met during those
two periods.
Before I first met Benjamin Harri-
son, when he was president-elect.
said Mr.. Cleveland, IT, of course. had
great respect for his intellectual abil-
ity; and I may add that | had been
told that he was man of phlegmatic
disposition, having no warmth of
heart. But twice ] had good oppor
tunfty to learn that this was not the
truth. The first time we met | ar
rived at the opinion that what was
thought to be GOODNESS in Mr.. Harri-
son was, in fact, nothing but exces-
slve shyness. l think he was the
shyest OF all the men in public life
l have ever met. That shyness. Of
course, caused some seIf-conscious-
ness, and the two together worked to
make him cold of heart, apparently,
And | came to know what his kind.
ness of heart and his capacity for
courtesy were. Nothing could have
been more cordial than his reception 4
OF me when I returned to the White |
House in 1893, after I had defeated |
him; and 1t was due to his thought
full consideration that I found the
executive mansion perfectly fitted fcgoi
our comfortable reception in eveto j
possible detail This service Pamigr
dent Harrison himself had dosture OF
it was done under his direafs small
sight. And this experience dining sho,
me in my earlier impression debts of
eral Harrison's apparer
was due alone to exec taught to lie
which he could not y set foot on Anne
Copyright, 1911, by F. Dunn the other
Rights RSlie from then on VIII
ne padrone. They will
ne truth about their work,
Sn 800 n IS or their parentage. On
49, 1s it is hard to make
against them, such as the fe
but an oil pasn;+a tbis eftean - II
elk boys are annually dep
my district, Missouri, Iowa,
ooinenoa and Oklahoma.
Try seemssTv exnarienca after handling
-rouhe-"
Perhaps
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