1896.]
The Biography of a Humorist.
nizing many a noted speech and recalling with all their accessories
the tornadoes of applause, the frenzy of enthusiasm at some public
meeting or inauguration, some review or regimental parade; for it
is doubtful whether any public man in Pennsylvania ever carried
with him more of personal loyalty than did Andrew G. Curtin
during the closing years of the war. The profusion of apt
anecdote noticeable in almost every article may strike the reader
as somewhat overdrawn, and as one of those amiable flatteries
into which biographers are so prone to fall; but no one who has
ever heard Governor Curtin "on the stump," or even in chance
conversation when he was at his best, will be surprised at it for a
moment. Indeed it is scarcely possible to adequately represent
the play of humor, the quickness and 'aptness of repartee, the
cutting sarcasm or the torrent of eloquence with which he fascinated
and held the attention of all who came within the range of his
voice.
Some of our readers will recall his last appearance on our
College platform in 1889, when, speaking of the appalling
calamity at Johnstown, but a month before, the distress and suf
fering occasioned by it, and the world-wide source of the relief
that was proffered, he burst out with " the Sultan of Turkey gave
a thousand dollars, and Queen Victoria sent her . . sympathy."
Filling as he did so large a place in the public eye, it was doubtless
fitting that his official life should be so fully portrayed; but not
the least interesting articles are those which speak of his home
life and the kindly nature which he so often displayed, particularly
in his later years. What, for instance, can be more refreshing
than the following, narrated by General Hastings, in his
" Personal Attributes:" . . . The people rushed to the court
house, filling it •to overflowing, to take action with reference to
helping the sufferers. Someone moved that the meeting should
organize by the election of a president, vice-president and secre
taries, whereupon Governor Curtin quickly jumped to his feet
and exclaimed: "My God, neighbors, it is not president, vice
president and secretaries of this meeting the people of Osceola
need, They want bread and meat and clothing and shelter. Go
to your homes and bring these things to the railroad station as
quickly as . you can, and I will furnish the cars to send them for
ward at once." It is impossible to describe the effect of these
words. The court house was emptied in a minute. People rushed
to their homes for their contributions, and soon the carloads Of