I have several good stories about Mr. Greeley for which I am indebted to Miss Proctor who told them to me.

1.  He used to write way up in a small attic in the Tribune building, and seldom allowed anyone to interrupt him.  Some man, who was greatly disgusted over one of Greeley’s editorials, climbed up to his sanctum, and as soon as his head showed above the railing, he began to rave and rage, using the most lurid style of profanity.  It seemed as if he never would stop, but at last, utterly exhausted and out of breath and all used up, he waited for a reply.

Greeley kept on writing, never having looked up once.  This was too much to be endured, and the caller turned to go downstairs, when Greeley called out:  “Come back, my friend, come back, and free your mind.”

2.  Mr. Greeley once found that one of the names in what he considered an important article on the Board of Trade had been incorrectly printed.  He called Rooker, the head man in the printing department, and asked fiercely what man set the type for this printing, showing him the mistake.  Rooker told him, and went to get the culprit, whom Greeley said deserved to be kicked.  But when he came, he brought Mr. Greeley’s article in his own writing, and showed him that the mistake was his own.  Mr. Greeley acknowledged he was the guilty one, and begging the man’s pardon, added, “Tom Rooker, come here and kick me quick.”

3.  Once when Greeley was making one of his frequent visits to Mr. and Mrs. Storrs, the widow of the minister who used to preach at Mansfield, Connecticut, when Mr. Storrs was a boy, had been invited by him to spend a week.  She was a timid little woman, but she became so shocked at several things that Greeley had said or written in his paper that she inquired of Miss Proctor if she thought Mr. Greeley would allow her to ask him two or three questions.

Miss Proctor found him in the dining-room, the floor strewn with exchange papers, and having secured his consent, ushered in the lady.  She told me afterward that she heard the poor little questioner speak with a rising inflection only two or three times.  But Mr. Greeley was always ready to answer at length and with extreme earnestness.  He said afterwards:  “Why that woman is way back in the Middle Ages.”

When she came away from the interview, she seemed excited and dazed, not noticing anyone, but dashed upstairs to her room, closed the door, and never afterward alluded to her attempt to modify Mr. Greeley’s views.

4.  A little girl who was visiting Mr. Storrs said:  “It would never do for Mr. Greeley to go to Congress, he would make such a slitter-slatter of the place.”

Miss Proctor published A Russian Journey after travelling through that country; has published a volume of poems, and has made several appeals in prose and verse for the adoption of the Indian corn as our national emblem.  She is also desirous to have the name of Mount Rainier changed to Tacoma, its original Indian name, and has a second book of poems ready for the press.