The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-09-25
John Hay, Many-Sided Man, Was
Statesman; Author, American

, novel, THE Bread Winners" was
| written by this versatile man in the
winter OF 1928.
Hay never acknowledged the author
ship. Silent John Hay. AS / gazed
his face grew stern again. Was he
| bored2 The speeches, l remember.
| were rather tedious. Something in
his face seemed queerly familiar; then
/ remembered that when Zorn etched
Hays head it was said that he gave to
him the badger-like appearance
which the admirers of Zorn SO greatly
| value"
Was Proletarian.
Later in the evening l drew closer
to John Hay. 1t was in the prosaic
and democratic cloakroom. i had
made my way to the table, and was
about to tender my ticket, when l To-
ticed that the man behind me was
John Hay, patiently waiting. looking
rather amused at being one of the
bowling proletarist.
l vacated my place, and motioned
! him, forward. He thanked me with a
smile; today that smile is he. In
! glimpse / saw the man, and under
stood the charm he had for those who
knew him. That smile seemed TO
lubricate my memory, for. on the way
home. the passage 1 had been trying
| to remember, the passage wherein he
set the standard for writing the Life
of Lincoln, and gave his creed as an
historian, came to me.
Two Everlasting Angels.
l discovered afterwards that II Is
printed in a letter addressed to Nico-
lay, on August 10, 1885: I'VE must
not write a stump speech in eight
vols, 8vo. We will not fall in with
the present tone of blubbering senu-
!, ment, of course. But we ought to
write the history of those times like
two everlasting angels who know ev.
erything, Judge everything, tell the
) truth about everything, and don't care
a twang of our harps about one side
, or the other. There will be one ex-
ception. We are Lincoln men all
, through. But in other little matters,
|. let US look at men as insects. and not
!, blame the black beetle because he is
not grasshopper"
. There we have Hay in his best epis-
, tolary style. the scholar rejoicing in
: the raciness of his Pike County Bal
, lads attitude. He could write as well
, as anybody when he was moved. Car
! lyle might have signed his description
= of Napoleon ILL., and his pen picture
Of the portrait of Helen Fourment by
Rubens should be included in any
: anthology of art prose
, Add to these his analysis of Angus
= tus Saint Gaudens' monument to Mrs.
O Adams in Rock Creek cemetery
Infinite wisdom; past without be-
y ginning and future without end; a
n repose, after limitless experience; a
! peace. to which nothing matters-all
:. embodied in this austere and beauti-
;, full face and FORM
p ripe man. a wise man, A witty
O man. A good man, who said in an ad-
dress on American Diplomacy" in
n 1901, THE briefest expression Of our
Il rule of conduct is, perhaps. the Mon
n roe Doctrine and the Golden Rule.
p With this simple chart we can hardly
a go far wrong"
- Hay and Adams.
Il John Hay and Henry Adams. so diff
ferent yet so closely allied, one so
~ effective, the other so ineffective. one
! seeing the world through telescope,
~ the other through a magnifying glass.
b to me stand out as the two finest
i American minds, short of genius. of
h their time.
At Washington. Mr.. Thayer tells us,
,s they walked together every afternoon
q Hay with one arm crooked behind
his back-two small men, busily dis
!. cussing great topics, or
Every honor came to John Hay, ev-
cry success. including a rich and
Is charming wife, but all his honors, in
~ these days of lesser squabbles. fade
a before one honor that was supreme.
G For four years he walked and talked
,f with, watched and listened TO that
h Great Observation-Disclosures Lincoln.
# The knowledge that he was a Lin
" CON man sd.e ~ 'onn nay WIS
70 and poets.