Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1886 — Our Ex-Presidents. [ARTICLE]

Our Ex-Presidents.

The Drawer referred some time ago»» to the young man who is. one day to be President of the United States, and the desirability of his fitting him-elf for this position. But on reflection the subject assumes a graver aspect. What the young man ought to be thinking of is his ability to ‘become an ex-Presi-dent. Anybody can be President who gets votes enough: the ability, to get the votes is quite distinct from the qualifications to fill the office. And when a man is in, thanks. to the excellence of our machinery, he cannot do much injury in four years, except to himself and his party. Moderate ability will carry him through respect : ably. But it requires a great man to be a successful ex-President. The office of President is a very exalted one. And when the man lays it down and retires and stands alone, and people compare him with the position he has just left, he must have very large proportions to stand the comparison. This aspect of the case has not been enough consid- • ered. Men are very anxious to get the office, and their fr ends push them for it, without thinking of the figure the successful man may make when his term is over. The fact is, that in the contrast lie may appear much mo,rei.U-. significant than if he had remained in private life. There has been a great deal of talk lately about giving the exPresidents a pension in order to place themin a position of dignity, and enable them to maintain something of the state the people have been accustomed to see them in. It has been often remarked that a king out of business becomes an Object of compassion, even if he has invested money in foreign funds. Nothing but the possession of great qualities can sav<s him from contempt. It is so with an ex-President. The practical suggestion to be made, therefore, is that the young man to whom we have alluded should fit himself to he an exPresident. If he cannot attain the character and the qualities needed for that; he may be sure that the office of President will be but arliollow satisfaction.-"- Charles Dudley U'arner, in Sarpir’s Magazine. When Hannibal Hamlin Was a Boy. A story of a youthful prank of l Hannibal Hamlin is told. When the exVice President was a boy in Paris seven persons were Baptized in a stream north of Paris Hi.-l* Hamlin was one of a party of boys who, hearing M ceremony, smuggled an old cannon and seven cartridges into the woods near the stream. As the dripping converts, one by one, were lead out of the stream, one by one the cartridges boomed in the old cannon. The unholy salute caused great consternation and anger, but the mischievous youngsters were not caught. —Norway (Me.)Advertiser: All the cables of the Brooklyn bridge are found to be magnetized in the direction of their diameter, the upper surface of the cables throughout their length being of south polarity, and the lower surface north. designed, as it Were, in imitation of the peculiarity winding course of the river Meander, from which it derives its name. ~ Answer not a ward when unjustly accused, and you are the eonqtleror. J- :