My uncle was quite stout, although not at all overgrown, and you could not see him without observing that he was a person of distinction. Although he was of so stout a build his foot was rather small, and I often noticed how lightly and quickly he walked. He was very quick of apprehension, and there was very little going on around that he did not know and understand. He has told me that when he was in his prime his hearing was so acute that he could often hear whispering in the adjoining room, and he very often heard things not intended for him to hear.
Owing to a difference which there was between his eyes, one being near and the other far-sighted, he held his head to one side, particularly when looking at any person or thing. When listening to any one he would hold his head in this way, close one eye and gaze very steadily, and so conveyed the impression that he was looking the speaker through and through. I have heard him say that he did not know until he was forty or fifty years of age the cause of this habit. Some friend walking with him suggested to him to try his eyes and see if he could not see better, at a distance, with one than with the other, when, to his surprise, he discovered that with one eye he could not distinguish the landscape at all, while with the other he could see very far. Whether this peculiarity was the cause of his long continued sight I do not know, but the fact is that up to the time of his death he was able to read everything without the aid of glasses. He found, however, during the last year of his life, or perhaps a little longer, that when he read fine print at night, which he often wished to do, it strained his eyes, and for these occasions he procured a pair of spectacles, but he never used them at any other time.
He had a very peculiar way of reading at night. No matter how many lights might be in the room he always had a candlestick and candle, which he held before his eyes, and by that means read his paper or book. As he grew older we often felt quite anxious for fear his paper might take fire, and, occasionally, on the next morning a hole would be found burnt in it, but, as far as I can recollect, nothing more serious ever came of his reading in this way.
My uncle was an extensive reader and had a good memory for what he had read. His reading embraced all classes of literature, and he conversed intelligently on all subjects. He continued to read a great deal after his return to Wheatland, and enjoyed being read to. Near the end of his life, however, he remarked to me one day, “I am tired of reading; I don’t seem to care about it any more,” and, as if that were the case, he might at that time be often seen sitting without either book or paper, whereas formerly, when not conversing, he was almost always reading.
My uncle’s political life had been an unusually long one, and, in consequence, his remembrance of the sayings and doings of the great people of his time was very interesting. I have heard him say that the first President whom he had met was President Monroe, “a gentlemanly man, wearing a blue coat and metal buttons,” and after him he had more or less acquaintance with all the Presidents. It was, in great part, on account of this wonderful fund of personal knowledge which he possessed, that his friends urged him to have a book written which should contain, not only the facts of his own life, but also the reminiscences which he was fond of narrating.
He was very fond of ladies’ society, and was all his life in the habit of entertaining them at his house. During his different residences in Washington, while in London and St. Petersburg, as well as in Lancaster, he was very hospitable, and greatly enjoyed the society of his friends in his own house. When he finally returned to Wheatland, he saw much less of society than he had ever done before, and, I have no doubt, his life must have seemed very monotonous to him, but he never complained at all, and was remarkably cheerful and happy.
I have written these pages at the request of my father, hoping that some things in them may be of service to Mr. Curtis, in forming an estimate of the character of my uncle. They have no claim whatever to any literary merit, and are only an effort to do some honor to one so truly loved and so deeply mourned. To me, though it would be a great joy to know that men recognized the wisdom and greatness of his actions, it would be of far greater account to have them realize his goodness, nobility, honor, self-sacrifice, courage and honesty. There may, and must, always be a difference of opinion about questions of polity and administration, but the true elements of greatness lie in the soul of man, and are of far higher value than praise and popular estimation, often attained through a turn of Fortune’s wheel.
I close this memorial chapter with some extracts from the sermon preached by Dr. Nevin at the funeral of Mr. Buchanan. Dr. Nevin chose for his text the words: “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.”
...... In connection with this momentous subject, the occasion on which we are now met together is full of more than ordinary interest and significance, such as may well invest it with the most profound solemnity for all who are here present.
We have before us, and will be called soon to follow to the grave, the mortal remains of James Buchanan, the fifteenth President of the United States; who, after taking an active part in the politics of this great nation for half a century, having filled the highest places of honor and trust in the gift of his country, and having represented her for a long time with prominent distinction in the diplomacy of the civilized world, has now, at the advanced age of almost four score years, been gathered to his fathers, and enrolled on the catalogue of the great and illustrious dead. His name has been famous, not simply through his own merits, but through association, also, with the leading political characters and the leading political interests of the times in which he lived.