Rensselaer Standard, Volume 1, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 December 1879 — GENERAL BUTLER. [ARTICLE]

GENERAL BUTLER.

A Pleasant Picture of His Home . Life. * New York Letter. With all of General Butler’s political wickedness he has never had a word breathed against the purity of his private life. Those who nave been accustomed to think of him as “Beast,, Butler, the spoon thief, and Butler, the head devil of all public rascals, would be astonished could they get a glimpse of his home life, at his gentleness, affection and generosity. It was a great blow to him when he lost his wife, rihe was the love of his youth and of his prime. He first saw her behind the footlights, where, as Miss Hildreth, she was an actress. He did not rest until he had made her acquaintance, and then did hot rest until he bad won her. She skipped about the country and he followed her. pressing his suit wherever he got a cnance, and finally captured his bride in Cincinnati. ,He was an exemplary husband. His wife proved well fitted by nature and education for any sphere, and their union was a happy one. Some months ago when he took her to the Massachusetts general hospital to be opperated on for a cancer in her throat, sne died u ruler the operation in her husband's sight. A deep sorrow settled over him, and he has hardly seemed the same man since. His daughter, Mrs. Ames, to whom he is devotedly attatched, is now the feminine spirit that adds grace and charms to his home. She accompanies her father to different houses, for he has several. He owns a house in Washington, furnished for his own use, another at Lowell, and a summer house built of granite over looking Ipswich bay. His actual home, however, is at Lowell, and is christenea Belvedere. He bought the place 26 years ago, and has since that time greatly beautified it. It resembles an English country house, and is in the midst of trees, hedges and vines. It stands on a hill crowned with - trees, and has a broad veranda supported by massive columns. Although Gen. Butler is exceedingly wealthy, there is no touch of Croesus in his home—no gilding, no stucco work tipped with n’ 1 leaf, no painting on the ceilings. as an atmosphere of home about it, Ind breathes an individuality of its own master. Skins of leopards,-tigers, foxes and sheep are strewn about the hall. The adornment of the parlors is that of a tasteful woman, ana notan upholsterer. No client can talk business here. The big, brusque owner bounds through the broad rooms, reveling in the luxury of rest. He works in Pemberton ttquare, Boston, and when the day is done he slips out of a bock alley-way and starts full tilt for Belvedere.