River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1884-07-03
BLAINE AT HOME.
The Young Congressman's Deliberate Ainhi.
tion-Dinner Table wit and Domestic Good

the Chicago Tribune his recollections of Mr.
Blaine in the carly years of his public life.
Mr. Smalley says: Il first knew Mr. Blaine
in the Thirty ninth congress-the one which
met in 1868, Just after the war closed He
had served in the preceding congress. but
had only fairly got hold of the ways of legis-
lation In fact, he had made so little
impression that Speaker Colfax put
him well down toward the tail of
the military committeeman absurd place for
him, because he had always been a civilian.
All 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 brigadierss
Of course he was uncomfortable | was q
clerk OF the committee. Blaine appeared to
take liking to me because | was newspa-
per man. l remember to have thought that
If ever there was born journalist it was that
bright young congressman from Maine, who
was complete cyclopedia of political facts
and had terse, interesting, paragraphy
way of talking. He told me in the course of
confidential chat one day that session
when the proceedings in the house were dull
and we sat alone in the committee room by
a 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 craftsmanship Then he
"
ship. It all came about as he had planned.
only he became speaker two years sooner
than he had hoped would be possible. He
was always a man who laid out his line of
life in advance and worked up to it. There
was nothing accidental in his career
At first 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 house on
Fifteenth street, in the hest quarter of the
~.
secretary of state; next door lived Fernando
Wood Gen. Sherman's house was only few
doors distant; and Gen. Butler could be
found lust around the corner Blaines house
was thought handsome one at that time,
but it was only plain brick structure in u
row. and it cuts no sort of a figure in
these days when ing mansions in the
Queen Anne, Elizabethan, Norman and /
know not how many other styles abound at
the capital There were two big parlors on
the first floor and back of them 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 hone, Blaine showed 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 him 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 man in America,
No matter what the topic may be- he is
sure to contribute to the conversation some
thing particularly bright and entertaining.
When not entertaining friends at his own
house he usually dined out | remember to
have warned him once of the penls of the
diner outflow many an eminent man had
come to an untime " end by eating big din
ners. He said he observed a strict rule at
dinner parties--he took soup and roast beef,
but no prepared dishes. No dessert, 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 iniuring his
digestion In those days Blaine was not a
great lettcr-writer, either with his own hand
or Yicariously through that of his secretary.
He did not, like Garfield reply to all the let
tiers he received He was 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
of the men who made them, and if there
was any power behind the chairs of their
editors he was pretty sure to be Informed
and to all the world, as many maR who cher
ish great political ambition thinS1t 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 vlsi-
tor was not welcome he would manage to
make him believe that the speaker had Just
gone out few minutes before
In the Fifteenth street house Blaine lived
while i'll Washington until after the death of
Garfield He had previously begun to build
a huge, expensive red brick pile out on the
street circle, deeming himself comfortably
rich at the time, and thinking the position
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 year. As private citizen it was
much too large Tor his needs; be-
side considerable share of his
fortune melted away in the great shrinkage
in stocks, and he did not fee able to support
the expensive establishment which the house
demanded He considered himself very
fortunate to be able to lease it for a sum
which amounted to per cent on its cost.
Then he condensed his household into a
dwelling of moderate capacity, facing on
LAFAYETTE square. From his front 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 few pictures. 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 daily 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
its green blinds, its naples, and its grassy
yard, which stands ON quiet, shady street
near the state capitol, in Augusta, Ne.
This house typities the well-to-do phase
of village life in New England as it ex-
pressed itself in architecture before
the recent mania for colors, angles, bal
comics, and fanciful forms came in. 1t
represents the plainness, solidity and con-
servatism of the last generation, Mr.. Blaine
has modified it very little, and not at all at
the expense of its sober, old-time appear
ance He has added two or three rooms in
the rear-one large library, which is his
work room, and which during the many
- Eohts he waged with the
--..4av8 when he was chairman o.
to be rendezvous for his lieuten-
ants from all parts of the state In
the course of two Maine campaigns / saw a
good deal of Mr.. Blaine He was the busiest
man in the state, hurrying from county to
county TO address mass meetings, writing
kilograms on the trains, getting pocketful
OF dispatches at every town, debating letters
at night to his secretary, yet always cheerful
and companionable, and with good Joke or
anecdote ready to enliven every occasion.
He knew the whole state as well as his own
dooryard, and was acquainted with
the leading men in every town. He brought
the canvass down TO the school districts The
hurrah work of PROFESSIONS banners and big
meetings he estimated at its proper value,
but he never depended on it to produce re-
suits. The real business of a campaign was
to perfect local organizations ascertain who
were the doubtful voters and bring aro1I-
ment and personal influence to bear upon
them through the efforts of their Republican
neighbors
Saturdays we special correspondents used
TO manage to get back to Augusta if we
could to spend a quiet Sunday afternoon
with Blaine at his house In the evening
some musical friends of the family would
usually come in, and we had a good time
singing old fashioned church tunes, for
which Blaine had fondness, and in which
ne would join with his children and with all
The members of the company who could
make any show of a voice.
Blaine has always had dislike of being in
5erviewed, perhaps because he has himself
been behind the scenes of a newspaper office
Yet he has put more of his own ideas IN the
press of the country than any other man in
public life. His way is to treat journalists
with perfect frankness and good fellowship,
giving them his opinions freely and the bene-
fit of his knowledge on all public questions
but to have an understanding with them that
they are to use what he tells them in any
way they like, provided they do not print it
as coming from him. Very rarely has his
confidence been betrayed. Many Washing
ton correspondent has obtained reputation
for skill in forecasting party or congressional
action and for wisdom in the discussion of
the topics of the day, based on ludlcious
use of the information and opinions he has
got in little talks in Baine's library or
ha,7rDot,, LOFT nj NIGHT blaine never asks