pondence, which is enormously large in one of the great city journals, or was before the telegraph was used as freely as at present; likewise the literary, local and news departments. In a word, he wants to know what is in the paper. Of course he is kept exceedingly busy, and has little time to write anything himself beyond a paragraph. Some of these men have all they can do without writing a line. Mr. Dana was an uncommonly ready man. He acted intuitively. He seemed to know what was in an article and decided upon its merits when he had read the first half a dozen lines. He was able to perform a vast amount of work in his line. He had rare qualifications for the post he occupied. He could give a plain answer to a plain question as well as any other man. He never deliberated-he had no time to deliberate-but acted upon impulse; not always wisely, but he acted somehow. There was not the least hesitation about him. There are many excellent qualities about Charles A. Dana.

The Tribune staff at this time was a very strong one. In the Tribune directory, corrected May 10, 1854, it was stated that the editor was Horace Greeley, the managing editor Charles A Dana, the associate editors, James S. Pike, William H. Fry, George Ripley, George M. Snow, Bayard Taylor, F. J. Ottarson, William Newman, B. Brockway, Solon Robinson and Donald C. Henderson. Ottarson was the city editor, Snow wrote the money articles, Ripley the book notices, Robinson looked after agricultural matters and the markets, while the other assistants named had specific duties assigned them. In addition to these there were about forty reporters and correspondents on the regular pay-roll, and many others who were compensated for special work. The Tribune was a great journal thirty years ago, in some respects a greater one than it has been at any time since. Mr. Greeley was in the prime of life, full of physical and men

tal vigor, and most of his assistants were middle-aged men, who had been chosen for the positions they occupied because they had been suspected of having opinions and of being willing to express them. Though he did not look after details, his great and marvelously active brain energized the whole staff, and distinguished its work from that bestowed upon other journals, and gave the Tribune an influence such as no other paper has ever wielded in this country. Its earnest words went down to the popular heart, producing an impression that forced people to think and act. There was a clearness and power in Mr. Greeley's utterances that compelled the multitudes to see things as he did, to esteem those which he prized and despise those he hated.

Mr. Greeley was a great man. He was remarkable as a boy. He was a great reader, and remembered everything he read. As an illustration of this truth, I relate the following, which was communicated to me by the late Colonel John Atwood, formerly a clerk in the insurance department at Albany, and has never been in print: "Horace Greeley's father," said the colonel, "moved on to a farm adjoining my father's, in New Hampshire, being then our nearest neighbor, in the spring of 1818, and remained there two years. As Horace was born in the spring of 1811, his age at the time of my early acquaintance with him was from seven to nine years. During this entire time his prodigious memory was a matter of the greatest surprise throughout all the neighborhood. Being a boy myself, only two years older than Horace, of course I have only a boy's recollection, but I give you a single fact occurring within my own knowledge that will show young Greeley's wonderful memory. A girl had recently come into the neighborhood, by the name of Asenath, popularly called 'Senith. One morning, at our house, a dispute arose in our family as to the spelling of her

name. While the discussion was going on, Horace happened to come in. It was at once proposed to refer the matter to him, and all agreed to the proposition. He spelled the name without hesitation and correctly. One of the disputants, still doubting, inquired where the name was to be found. (Most readers, of course, understand that the name is a Bible name.) After scratching his head a moment, Horace replied, "In the 41st chapter of Genesis, 45th verse," and a reference to the family Bible confirmed the accuracy of the boy's memory.

"He and I attended together," continued the colonel, "the same district school in the winter two or three months. We were of too much importance on our farms to be spared during the rest of the year. While at this

school he commenced the study of grammar in the oldfashioned way, and I have a distinct recollection that he recited Murray's grammar, 'orthography, etymology, syntax and prosody,' entirely through in two lessons! Two whole forenoons were occupied with these lessons, and before winter was out he was able to answer all the questions in the book." On this subject of grammar Mr. Greeley himself wrote in 1845, "Grammar came hard to me. I commenced at six years of age, and having but little schooling, wasted the best part of what I had, for it was several years before I discovered that our standard anthors on that subject knew nothing about it-Lindley Murray especially, the intense blockhead, whose gross blunders I ought to have detected at seven years of age, but did not till ten or eleven. That obtuseness of perception put me back sadly, and I had to learn what I know of grammar after I had devoted more time to it than should have been required in all. Ten weeks with the books we now have are worth more than ten months with such as I learned from.'

"How did you succeed in arithmetic?" Atwood inquired of Mr. Greeley, when both had become young men.

"Well, when I reached that," replied Mr. Greeley, "I didn't find anything to learn;" that is to say, when he took up this study in the school-room he found there was nothing new in it; for somewhere he had got hold of a copy of Daboll or Pike, gone through it and mastered its contents. Mr. Greeley says, in the letter from which I have just quoted, "No higher branch of learning has come so easy to me as arithmetic, which seemed but play. I cannot remember when I did not know the multiplication table, though I must have learned it, of course. After learning what figures mean, and what relation they bear to each other, all beyond seemed to flow naturally from the axiom that two and two make four."

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Horace Greeley as Seen in Daily Life-Habits of Work-His Remarkable Memory-Command of Language-Intense in Everything-A Courteous Man-The Strong and Weak Points of the Later Franklin.

I was in the office with Mr. Greeley, as I have already stated, two years. I saw more or less of him every day when he was in the city, and will give the reader some idea of the man as he appeared in daily life.

Mr. Greeley was not, ordinarily, a man of many words. His custom was to come to the office between twelve and one o'clock in the afternoon. Usually his capacious pockets were filled with newspapers, and he often had in his hands the latest edition of the Tribune, which he was engaged in reading. I don't remember that he ever said "Good morning" to anybody, but, proceeding straight to his desk, he relieved his pockets of their contents and entered at once upon his work. If there chanced to be anything in the paper that did not suit him, or if any matter was treated in a way he did not approve, he did not hesitate to make known the fact and state his own convictions in the most unmistakable terms. He criticised whatever he considered deserving criticism-even to the make-up and mechanical appearance of the paper, and was especially severe on typographical errors. For these he wanted no apologies and would hear none. "Typesetters," he was wont to observe, "are not expected to know anything; but we employ the best talent that money and good prices can command for proofreaders, and there is nothing to be said in extenuation of their short-comings." Unlike some editors who fail to read their own papers, Mr. Greeley read the Tribune