Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 2.djvu/382

 35 6

��COL. IOHN B. CLARKE.

��'79, being the present incumbent of that, important office, and to say that he well sustains his past reputation for energy, promptness and skill is but to do justice to the work he has given the state.

Mr. Clarke is a very positive man ; forms his opinions quickly, whether right or wrong, and acts upon them with the utmost directness. He will decide upon a project, map out a plan for its execution, select the men to carry out its details, and have the whole thing substantially disposed of while many men would be halting and trying to determine whether the matter was feasi- ble.

He never does anything lukewarmly. Whatever cause he espouses he enters into heartily, bending all his efforts to bring about success and make certain the desired end.

If he would do his friend a favor he devotes himself to that purpose with as much zeal as if its attainment were the chief object of his life, He is not the ideal politician, " all things to all men," for he never wears two faces ; whether your friend or foe, you will know his position from the start. Nat- urally a man so positive and determ- ined as he makes many enemies, but it is seldom that the malice of rivals, or the bitterness of opponents deters him from pursuing his own course.

Doubtless much of his success is due to his knowledge of men, by which he selects the best suited to carry out his purposes, whether as assistants in the various departments ot his business or to attend to details in any measures in which he takes an interest.

Not to speak of him as an ardent lover of the horse and dog would do Mr. Clarke injustice, for no man in the state has done more to bring before the people the value of a good horse, or the rare sport found in anight's hunt for that much hunted animal, "the coon."

An enthusiastic believer in the say- ing, " Blood will tell," he has brought into New Hampshire the best blood of the best stock-farms in the country and urged upon all, through the press and in private, the necessity of breeding

��well if they would improve their stock. Seen at his best one must meet the Colonel socially, and with him visit his farm in the suburbs of the city, ramble over his well cultivated fields, learn of him of his stock, view the excellent horses always in his stable, and at night with his dogs capture the wily coon : then one sees it all ; the determined business man, the successful publisher, the thoroughly generous man, and the affable and agreeable gentleman.

He has learned by experience that there is a limit to the amount of care and business the strongest man can undertake, especially when everything is done with the intensity characteristic of his nature. Being obliged by advice of physicians to abstain from all busi- ness for several months, in 1872 he visit- ed Great Britain, France and Ger- many to regain the health too close attention to business had temporarily de- stroyed. He now applies the wisdom thus dearly bought by limiting the time to be devoted to business, rarely allow- ing himself to overstep the bounds.

Generous to a fault, Mr. Clarke has contributed liberally to all measures calculated to advance the interests of his city, and hardly a public work in Manchester now exists that does not owe something to his influence or pe- cuniary aid.

Mr. Clarke's family were strong in the Orthodox Congregational faith, two of his uncles having been ministers of that denomination, viz., Rev. Wil- liam Cogswell, d. d., for a time profes- sor of History in Dartmouth College, afterwards president of the Theologi- cal Seminary at Gilmanton, and Rev. Nathaniel Cogswell ; and he has always adhered to the faith in which he was reared, being a liberal supporter of the Franklin Street Congregational Church in Manchester, a constant attendant up- on its worship, and has been elected to the various offices in the society.

He married, July 29, 1852, Susan Greeley Moulton, of Gilmanton, and they have two children, Arthur E., and William C, both of whom graduated at Dartmouth. College and are now employed as reporters on the Mirror.

�� �