The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-07-04
.BrairE AZ numn.

non-Dinner Table Wit and Domestic G,of
Will.
MI. e v Smalley writes from St Paul &c
the Chicago Tribune his recoIlections Of dr
Blaine In the early y>Aars OF his public life
Mr.. Smalley says: II irst knew Mr. Blaine
In the Thirty-ninth congress-the one which
met in 1866, just after the war closed. He
mad served in the preceding congress but
had only fairly got hold of the WAYS of leois-
lation. In fact, he had made so little
impression that Speaker Colfax put
him well down toward the tail of
the military committee--an absurd place for
MIN, because he had always been a civilian.
An the rest OF the members, except two Dem
ocrats, were generals fresh from the field.
biaine's mouth was closed, for how could he
pretend TO any right TO be heard on military
matters in the presence of six brigadiersy
VI course, he was uncomfortable. was a
clerk OF the committee. Blaine appeared to
take q liking to me because I was q newspa-
per man. remember to have thought thar
IL ever there was a born journalist it was that
Bright young congressman from Maine, who
was q complete cyclopedia of political facts,
ana had a terse, interesting, paragraphy
way or talking. He told me in the course of
a confidential chat one day that session.
when the proceedings in the house were dull
and we sat alone in the committee room by
3 blazing wood fire, that he meant TO get
upon the appropriations committee in The
next congress, and in the following congress
he hoped TO get a craftsmanship. Then, he
said, he should look forward to the speaker
ship. 1t all came about as he had planned
only he became speaker two years sooner
han he had hoped would be possible. He
as always a man who laid out his line of
re IN advance and worked up to it. There
was nothing Academia. in his career.
AT rrst he lived in Washington in a no.
madic sort OF way-in hotels or boarding
houses. as do most congressmen-but when
he was elected speaker he bought a house on
Fifteenth street, in the best quarter of the
town. Opposite lived Hamilton Fish, then
secretary of state; next door lived Fernando
Wood; Gen. Sherman's house was only a few
doors distant; and Gen Butler could be
found just around the corner. Blaine's house
was thought 9 handsome one at that time,
but it was only a plain brick structure in a
row, and it cuts no sort of a figure in
these days when big mansions in the
Queen Anne, El1zabethan, Norman, and /
know not how many other styles abound at
the capital. There were two big parlors ON
the first floor. n back of them a sitting
room and dining room, and all four rooms
connected by folding doors, so that the
crowds that used TO surge in at the speakers
official receptions were measurably well ac-
commodated In the belongings of this, his
first Washington home, Blaine bowed a fond
ness for engravings, for substantial furni-
ture, and for books. He was much given to
hospitality, and never appeared so
happy as when entertaining a congenial
dinner party at his big round table. For his
dinner table talks he had an inexhaustible
fund of anecdotes and witticisms. / never
heard hin tell the same story twice. He did
not resemble in the least the hand organ
type of man who has only one little set of
tunes. Indeed, | think he might dispute
with Henry Ward Beecher for the honor of
being the most original mar in America
No matter what the topic may be, he is
sure to contribute TO the conversation some-l
thing particularly bright and entertaining.
When not entertaining friends at his wi
house he usually dined out | remember TO
have warned him once of the perils of the
d~iner-out-how many an eminent man had
come TO an untimely end by eating big din
ners. He said he observed a strict rule at
dinner parties-he took soup and roast beef,
but no prepated dishes. No dessert, a little
ice cream, and no wine save dry cham
paigne. BY sticking closely to this dietary
programme he could dine out every
day in the week without injuring his
digestion. In those days Blaine was not a
great letter writer, either with his w hand
| or yicariously through that of his secretary.
He did not, like Garfield, reply TO all the let
tiers he received. He was q great newspaper
reader, and always knew the attitude of every
/ really important journal in the country on
the dominant issues OF the day. He knew the
history of these Journals, too, and something
Oh UIC u1Eu WIZ ulQlC IlCIn, dnA ~ ACl
was any power behind the chairs OF their
editors he was pretty sure to be informed
about 1t. He was not accessible at oil times
and to all the world, as many men who cher
ish great political ambition think it necessary
to be. The impossible black guardian OF the
hall door was never quite sure that Mr.
| Blaine was in, but he would see. III the visi-
tor was not welcome he would manage to
make him believe that the speaker had just
gone out a few minutes before. This colored
person had a fine instinct for discerning the
men whom his master would probably wish
to receive. They were shown into the front
parlor: others waited in the hall
In the Fifteenth street house Blaine lived
| while in Washington until after the death of
Garfield. He had previously begun to build
q huge, expensive red brick pile out on the p
| street circle, deeming himself comfortably
of secretary of state carried with it duties of
enlarged hospitality. The house was a mis-
take, as he soon found. He lived in it only
about a year. As q private citizen 1T was
much too large for his needs; be-
side, a considerable share of his
fortune melted away In the great shrinkage
in stocks, and he did not feel able to support
the expensive establishment which the house
demanded. He considered himself very
fortunate to be able to lease it for q sum
Then he condensed his household into q
dwelling Of moderate capacity, facing on
Lafayette square. From hisfront windows he
| could see the White House through the
trees in the pretty park. Not many of his
own belongings came with this house save
his books and a few pictrres. In it he did
most of the work on his Twenty Years OF
Congress, = living as retired as his friends
would let him, and getting his exercise mainly
from a Gaily morning walk to the capitol,
whittier he went to cor suit the books IN the
congressional library.
All this time his real home, If the attach
! ments of himself and the members Of his
family were considered, was the large, old
fashioned, broad-fronted white house, with
it's green blinds, its naples, and it's grassy
yard, which stands on a quiet, shady street
near the state capitol, in Augusta. Me.
This house typiies the well-t0-do phase
of village life In New England as 1t ex-