Blocked

                   CORNEAU 0057 (Road of Remembrance) says of him: Aunt Mary's [and
Uncle Charles Hay's] house was much larger than Uncle Henry's, and when
a fashionable mansard  roof was added, it was larger still.
on a terrace, surrounded by an iron fence.  In the rear of the house her
husband [Charles Hay], who was a lover of flowers, had built a
greenhouse for the cultivation of orchids.  No one else in the town, not
even the florists, grew orchids.  As we children gazed up at them they
seemed like suspended butterflies, as they sprang from their boards.
Charles Hay, was the brother of John Hay, later our Secretary of State.
Very early I learned that he was an important person in the great world
outside of the town where I lived.  Because of his relationship to John
Hay, Uncle Charles was in no awe whatever of the large Ridgely family to
which his wife belonged.  He tolerated us, I should say, rather than
revered us, for he was quite aware that though the Hays could not
compete with us in number, they were clever people, quick to learn,
swift to retort, with extraordinarily tenacious memories.  If Uncle
Charles made a statement which any of us was slow to understand he
said impatiently Shall I parse  it? which was terrifying.  When he was
running for mayor and a heckler shouted What are you going to do about
the saloons if you are elected? Uncle Charles retorted I am going to
keep out of them.  What are you going to do? and the audience roared
their appreciation.
The Hays were not only quick of speech, they were purposeful.  When
Aunt Mary's kindred gayly drifted, the Hays steered a course.
Charles had come to Springfield from Warsaw, Illinois [with his brother
John].  John was the elder but they were much alike, with shining brown
eyes, full red cheeks and quick witty tongues. Then Lincoln was elected
to the presidency and Milton Hay, the Hay boys' uncle, persuaded Lincoln
to take John as his secretary .  John never was in Springfield again
except for short visits.  Mary Ridgely married Charles when they were
both very young and just before he enlisted for the Civil War.  Uncle
Charles had been on Hooker's staff, had served as Mayor of Springfield,
was the senior member of the vestry  in the Episcopal church and a
leading business man, but he had no such glamour as his brother John,
who kept going straight up the ladder of fame.
If any of our numerous relatives came to visit Aunt Mary who were
unacceptable to Uncle Charles he immediately departed for his boyhood
home, so that it was not infrequently that we read in successive
personals in the daily paper Mrs. Blank of Missouri is visiting Mrs.
Charles E. Hay, and directly under it, Mr. Charles E. Hay
to Warsaw.