He
(or she) must know all about that." Too late! Too late!
Still, now and then one saves a reminiscence that means a good deal by
means of a casual question. I asked the first of those two old
New-Yorkers the following question: "Who, on the whole, seemed to you the
most considerable person you ever met?"
Now it must be remembered that this was a man who had lived in a city
that calls itself the metropolis, one who had been a member of the State
and the National Legislature, who had come in contact with men of
letters and men of business, with politicians and members of all the
professions, during a long and distinguished public career. I paused for
his answer with no little curiosity. Would it be one of the great
Ex-Presidents whose names were known to, all the world? Would it be the
silver-tongued orator of Kentucky or the "God-like" champion of the
Constitution, our New-England Jupiter Capitolinus? Who would it be?
"Take it altogether," he answered, very deliberately, "I should say
Colonel Elisha Williams was the most notable personage that I have met
with."
--Colonel Elisha Williams! And who might he be, forsooth? A gentleman
of singular distinction, you may be well assured, even though you are not
familiar with his name; but as I am not writing a biographical
dictionary, I shall leave it to my reader to find out who and what he
was.
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