Show SHYNESS TRAIT OF MANY GREAT MEN famous figures of bistor history y among them there Is ample authority for the assertion that president hoover to Is shy by president coolidge was also shy ly and so was president wilson no one ever noticed shyness in president roosevelt but the list of our shy presidents Is a long one grant was shy and some said lincoln was that Is they seemed shy to some of the people they knew or met who wrote their personal impressions pres press lons of them afterward jefferson was a highbrown highbrow high brow and no mixer you could not slap him on the back there was nothing of the shrinking violet in john adams but his eminent son jolin john quincy was reserved and distant henry clay thought he was a prim little puritan as cold as a fish when he met him at client george washington according to a clergyman who knew him nasf was shy silent slow and cautious this clergyman rev jonathan coucher boucher was an anglican churchman who returned to england at the outbreak of the revolution and the manuscript containing his recollections of the first president Ident was recently sold at auction in london for 95 rev mr boucher saw washington socially and also in connection with the edu cation of a young relative ills ilia testimony lias has some soine value so many presidents of tile the united states have been described as shy buy e ven even the most eminent of them that shyness must have been exaggerated as a personal handicap in the struggle for or success what seems to be genuine shyness may be overcome by a strong will ambition and determination to get results outside of public life some of the most successful men have been said to be shy henry ford has impressed many people as very diffident even the late J P morgan prince of financiers shunned publicity as if he were obsessed with the desire for privacy he would never attempt to make a speech an audience of schoolboys frightened him cut but even an orator may be naturally solitary some great ae actors have been shy edwin booth who was accustomed to take flye aye curtain calls in succession was said to be and what of president elin denburg hels lie Is very different from william shyness signifies no lack of essential strength it Is isa la superficial not a fundamental weakness springfield republican |