Evening journal., 1914-10-16
New News Of Yesterday
A New Appreciation of
Gen. Butler
By Holland.

William r. Davis, who was for his
entire seventy years OF life a citizen
Of Plymouth. Mass, was always a
jealous and enthusiastic student Of
the history Of the Pilgrims and Of the
Plymouth colony which they estab-
lished. II was due in part TO his
labors that the excellent Pilgrims
Museum was established Although
he was a banker by vocation, yet he
possessed an attractive literary style
which he was able to use in his de-
scriptive narrative Of Plymouth and
In his "reminiscences Of some of the
men of distinction Of his time with
whom he had the good fortune to be
in association, notably Daniel Web
ster.
Mr.. Davis for many years looked
upon General Benjamin Il. Butler as
man who wully deserved the criti-
csm and some OF the scOrn which II
was Buffers lot 10 meet with during
his long and very active career as a
, lawyer, as a politician and public
man and as an officer in the Union
army.
But there came a time when Mr.
Davis changed his opinion, or rather
modified Il. He was speaking Of Gen
eral Butler to a group OF friends, one
of whom narrated to me the Incl
dent and he began his. anecdote by
saying.
~ learned that there were two
sides to Ben Butler For years | had
I eli 1 IN
as the brusQue. almost brutal, law
yer and soldier. apparently having
not the slightest respect for the feel
ings of any man ! looked upon him
as something Of a swaggerer and was
among those who thought that he
owed almost all his notriety to auda-
cious self-assertion, although had
no doubt that he was a man OF brill
liant intellectual gifts
There came time when / was
brought into touch with General But
Ter. To my surprise / found him no
ogre. He was intensely interested in
the history of the Pilgrims and / dis
covered that he had made a thorough
study not only OF the facts and his
torical events, but also of the prin-
ciples which were characteristic of
the Pilgrims establishment of Ply
mouth colony.
II found. also. that General Butler
was one Of the few men who were
able to make the important distinc-
ton between the Pilgrims Of Ply
mouth colony and the Puritans of
Boston and Salem I found that he
was an admirer of Sir Henry Vane.
He was able to place the funda-
mental distinction between the
gentle, God-fearing Pilgrims who es-
tablished theocracy and the more
aggressive Puritans who founded the
Massachusetts colony.
"Now, in my conversation with Gen.
Butler, / speedily forgot all that
had heard said against him. ! found
him man OF singular gentleness
His manner was extraordinarily at
tractive. He possessed an unusual
amount of courtesy. He had pro
found appreciation for the qualities
Of the Pilgrims and he expressed
that appreciation in terms charged
with kindly sentiment. sympathy and
admiration. His voice was singularly
soft and gentle, accumulated,
thought, by slight lisp
Il did not believe It would be pos
sible for me, I'm the course of an af-
ternoons conversation with any man
SO completely TO modify my opinion
of that man as was the case with me
after my meeting with Gen. Butler.
In thinking It over after We parted,
/ came to the conclusion that Gen.
4 Butler had two sides 10 his charac-
ter, and that one was as charming
and delightful as the other was re-
pugnant to so many people with
whom he found himself in opposition