“The new Young Men’s Christian Association building on Pearl and Main streets was opened yesterday to the public....
“A resume of the life of the Young Men’s Christian Association in this city will be of interest to the readers. The association was first organized in this city in 1855 by C. C. Hine, and is said to be one of the oldest in the country.”—[New Albany (Ind.) Tribune, 1893.
THE PATRIARCH RAISES HIS VOICE IN SONG.
“I thought I knew the Patriarch fairly well, and that I was ‘on’ to all of his varied accomplishments. I knew that he could get upon his feet before an assembly and make an interesting talk, but I never knew until recently that he was a singer! I read in a report of the last meeting of the Fire Underwriters’ Association of the Northwest that ‘Father Hine was then introduced, and after a few jokes sang a song which evoked continuous laughter’. There is something droll in the idea of it to me, but I would bet another (dinner) with whosoever would take me up that Mr. Hine acquitted himself with his usual completeness. He can do a good many things, and i’ faith he can do ’em all well. He would not undertake anything he could not.”—[Insurance World, November, 1896.
AFTER THE BANQUET WAS OVER.
“In his October Monitor, C. C. Hine modestly refers to ‘a little occurrence’ that followed the recent banquet of the Northwestern Association. The ‘little occurrence’ was a one-minute speech made by Mr. Hine himself, in the presence of a company of fifteen, in response to a very complimentary toast proposed by H. C. Eddy of this city (Chicago). As near as we can recall it, this is what the Patriarch said: Gentlemen, I am nearly three score and ten years old. It is getting to be half-past eleven with me, and the longer I live and the older I grow the more I appreciate the friendships I have made and the more I appreciate such friendly expressions as this.’ Then, taking up his glass, he added, ‘I became a teetotaler at the age of twelve, and must therefore drink with you in cold water.’ The Patriarch said this from his heart, and the late hour and the deserted banquet hall added to the impressiveness of his remarks. But was he quite sure as to his own age? His eye is as bright and his voice as clear and ringing as when first we knew him, and his form is as erect and upright as his life has been. We repeated Mr. Hine’s little speech to two grandmothers that we know, and they repeated it to ‘the boy’, and the grandmothers told the boy that they hoped so good a temperance advocate would live a thousand years. ‘So say we all of us’—God save the Patriarch!”—[Insurance Post, October, 1894.
YE PATRIARCH AS A HOOSIER.
[Communicated.]
“Recently my travels took me to the quiet, yet beautiful, city of New Albany, Ind., and while walking through its shady streets I remembered that the former home of Mr. C. C. Hine, the well-known underwriter, the accomplished writer, the able statistician, and the eloquent orator, was in this identical city. That here, when a local agent, he distributed blotting pads and cultivated the art of soliciting, which has served him many a good turn in later years. Here the foundation was laid for the broader work which fate had in store for him. The bright, young Hoosier, full of wit and good humor, was to become the grave and thoughtful ‘Patriarch’, honored and beloved as a leader in his chosen profession.
“There is a ‘touch of nature’ in us all, which inspires a curiosity to know something of those who have succeeded in life—who have become distinguished. That a great humorist should have wept at the tomb of Adam was to me no joke, provided that the spot selected was the genuine burial place of that eminent citizen. Who would not like to walk in the garden where Plato conversed, or view the forum from which Cicero spoke? To visit Avon and spend a day where Shakespeare sleeps will always be indeed a pleasure. Who, that is thoughtful, goes to Springfield, or Galena, without seeing the modest houses where Lincoln and Grant lived, when unhonored and unknown.