11/07/2016

Descriptions of a Man 5

It is certain, also, perhaps contrary to what I have given, that there is another phase, and a very real one, to the basis of his character.

An elderly gentleman I talked with (he is a portrait painter and a distant relative of the man), who was much with him, particularly through the years of his middle age and later, tells me that Glenn Ganges in the elements of his character, had deepest sternness and hauteur, not easily aroused, but coming forth at times, and then well understood by those who knew him best as something not to be trifled with.

The gentleman alluded to agrees with me in my delineation of his benevolence, evenness and tolerant optimism, yet insists that at the inner framework of the man there has always been, as he expresses it, "a combination of hot blood and fighting qualities."

He says my outline applies more especially to his later years; that Glenn Ganges has gradually brought to the front the attributes I dwell upon, and given them control. His theory is, in almost his own words, that there are two natures in Glenn Ganges.

The one is of immense suavity, self-control, a mysticism like the occasional fits of Socrates, and a pervading Christ-like benevolence, tenderness and sympathy.

But these qualities, though he has enthroned them and for many years governed his life by them, are duplicated by far sterner ones. No doubt he has mastered the latter, but he has them. How could Glenn Ganges (said my interlocutor) have taken the attitude toward evil unless he enfolded all that evil within him.