12 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
IN MEMORIAM. 
Major Archibald W. Butt U. S. A. 
Since the relentless sea has re- 
fused to give up its dead in the per- 
son of the late Major Archibald W. 
Butt, U. S. A., the former aide to 
President Taft, Titanic victim and 
heroe, the Breeze now assumes its 
sdd and regretted duty in paying 
its tribute and recognizing the 
worth and popularity of the de- 
ceased as has the press of the coun- 
try. Maj. Butt was a familiar figure 
in club and social life on the North 
Shore or on the shore and woodland 
drives with the President. 
Major Archibald W. Butt, mili- 
tary aide to two presidents was 
forty-six years old, a native of 
Georgia and a descendant of an old 
colonial family. 
at the University of the South, Sew- 
anee, Tenn., and as a young man 
went’ to Washington, and for sev- 
eral vears was well known as a cor- 
respondent of various southern 
newspapers. In 1905 he wrote a 
study of southern life, entitled 
‘“‘The Other Side of the Shield.’’ 
He was appointed a captain and 
quartermaster of volunteers in 1900 
and commissioned in the permanent 
establishment the following year. 
He made a ereditable record in the 
Philippine insurrection and, return- 
ing to the United States in 1903, 
was the voungest officer ever de- 
tailed as depot quartermaster at the 
capital. 
When General Funston was 
placed in command of the second 
army of Cuban occupation in 1906 
he asked for the appointment of 
Captain Butt as his junior quarter- 
master. President Roosevelt about 
a year before leaving the White 
House selected Captain Butt as his 
military aide and became greatly 
attached to him. When the army 
officials complained of the vigor of 
the physical test prescribed by 
President Roosevelt, he proved its 
feasibility by riding more than one 
hundred miles in one day with Cap- 
tain Butt and Surgeon General 
Rixey of the navy. His recent trip 
to Europe was made, it was offi- 
cially announced, because of ill- 
health, but it is known that he ear- 
ried letters from the President to 
the pope. in which the latter was 
thanked for the elevation of the Am- 
eriecan cardinals, 
The high regard in which the de- 
eoasee was held was exemplified by 
the memorial services which have 
been held in his memory. They have 
been at St. Paul’s Episcopal church, 
He was edueated . 
Washington, and at the National 
Theatre, where Masonic memorial 
services were held last Sunday at- 
tended by three thousand people. 
The President, mid tears and per- 
sonal grief, gave in part this tribute 
to his former aide :— 
‘“‘Archie Butt’s character was 
single, simple, straightforward and 
incapable of-intrigue. A clear sense 
of humor lghtened his life and 
those about him. Life was not for 
him a troubled problem. He was a 
soldier, and when he was appointed 
to serve under another, to that other 
he rendered implicit loyalty. I 
never knew a man who had so much 
self-abnegation, so much self sacri- 
fice as Archie Butt. 
‘‘Oecasions like the sinking of the 
Titanie frequently develop unfor- 
seen traits in man. It makes them 
heroes when you don’t expect it. 
‘‘Tle was on the deck of the Ti- 
tanic exactly as he was everywhere. 
He leaves a void with those who 
loved him, but the circumstances of 
his going are all what we would 
have had, and, while the tears fill 
the eyes and the voice is choked, 
we are felicitated by the memory of 
what he was.”’ 
‘“‘The Widow’’ in Town Topics 
pays this admirable tribute to him 
also: 
‘“‘Somehow I eannot get away 
from the thought that when Archie 
Butt—‘our Archie Butt,’ as he was 
so often called—saw that dark, 
fathomless deep waiting to receive 
him, he did not mind very much. 
He must have been very, very tired 
—the tiredness of years of doing and 
living for others, never for himself. 
The smile that came so naturally was 
the smile of cheer for others. It was 
not from a heart that was revelling in 
happiness because of any _ goal 
reached that ke had aimed for. He 
lived all his life close to the line of 
duty as he saw it plainly marked 
for him in the position he found 
himself. Where he found himself, 
however, there was always such suc- 
cess from his close personal attention 
that a glory seemed to follow him. 
He could have died any time, and 
have felt that he had accomplished 
something in doing each day the 
best he could. His own personal 
ambitions were to come later, when 
he would have gotten through with 
the work for others and have earned 
his rest. Each day, hour and minute 
of his life had been freighted with 
responsibilities that had developed 
unselfishness, and through this a 
keen knowledge of what others 
needed to make living easier. You 
can hear him say to those poor, 
trembling women and_ children: 
‘Don’t be afraid; we are going to 
see you through all this.’ It was so 
like him. He always saw that reefs 
were cleared away for everybody. 
‘‘Surrounded as he had been for 
years with people, the handling of 
masses, even before he stood in be- 
tween High Executives and _ the 
country’s millions, there must have 
been a weariness that none of us can 
know or realize. He gave out so 
much and received so little. No hu- 
man being can go on year after year 
as he did in this absolute self-efface- 
ment without growing into a ecray- 
ing for solitude—without, perhaps, 
seeing even there—where we must 
mourn for him with this horror add- 
ed—a place at least where rest could 
come. 
‘‘Major Butt had the knowledge, 
more than most people, of what peo- 
ple do need. He knew so well, that 
you must decide that this under- 
standing, knowledge, was the whis- 
per of his own heart, what he him- 
self needed, and what those who 
looked upon that magnificent man 
never dreamed that he craved—just 
the kindness and consideration of 
fellow men. Those who knew him 
best knew him as the plain, simple- 
hearted man. The gold lace of pub- 
he life was far removed from what 
he would have for himself, only as it 
eame into his military life and mili- 
tary duty. His self-effacing disposi- 
tion, added to his ability to make a 
success of the position in which his 
military duties placed him, made 
the fact recognized that he would be 
invaluable at the White House as 
Military Aide to the President. 
While it was at first much against 
his personal desire to be checked in 
his ambition to go to the top in pro- 
motion and achievement in his par- 
ticular branch of his military work, 
the work at the White House soon 
grew to be one of love—particularly 
with President Taft. He was truly 
happy in doing, saving, protecting 
this appreciative, genial Executive 
from every annoyance and danger 
and in smoothing the way. Tired 
and worn with it all? Yes. But con- 
tented only when he stood in be- 
tween the loved man—the President 
of the United States as secondary— 
and the masses of people who at all 
times thronged the way. He was al- 
ways alert and ready and happy if 
only President Taft could be saved 
from something of it all. His one 
regret in going away for the short 
six weeks for the change he so much 
needed was that the President would 
miss him, want him, and he would 
not be there. His care of President 
