There Is No Doubt That
Horace Greeley Owed His Vast Influence In The Country To His Genius,
Nor Much Doubt That He Owed His Popularity In The Rural Districts To
James Gordon Bennett; That Is, To The Personality Of The Man Which
The Ingenious Bennett Impressed Upon The Country.
That he despised
the conventionalities of society, and was a sloven in his toilet, was
firmly believed; and the belief endeared him to the hearts of the
people.
To them "the old white coat" - an antique garment of
unrenewed immortality - was as much a subject of idolatry as the
redingote grise to the soldiers of the first Napoleon, who had seen
it by the campfires on the Po and on the Borysthenes, and believed
that he would come again in it to lead them against the enemies of
France. The Greeley of the popular heart was clad as Bennett said he
was clad. It was in vain, even pathetically in vain, that he
published in his newspaper the full bill of his fashionable tailor
(the fact that it was receipted may have excited the animosity of
some of his contemporaries) to show that he wore the best broadcloth,
and that the folds of his trousers followed the city fashion of
falling outside his boots. If this revelation was believed, it made
no sort of impression in the country. The rural readers were not to
be wheedled out of their cherished conception of the personal
appearance of the philosopher of the Tri-bune.
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