St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-06-09

| perate attempt to secure the withdrawal OF
| Robertson's name and then to defeat his confr-
nation in the senate, but being unsuccessful in
both of these, Conkling did just what Blaine
wanted him to do--committed hari-kari by re-
signing his seat in the senate and retiring to
| private life, defeated, sour, and generally
| broken man politically. From this quarrel grew
| the factonal fight between the 'shalf- breeds
| and "stalwarts'' which finally turned the weak
| brain of Guiteau and lead him to assassinate
| Garfield as means of closing the breach in the
| Republican party.
| Mr.. Blaine was with the president on that beau
| tiful July morning in 1881 when the assassin s
bullet put to a painful end career so full of
promise, and during the presidents eighty days
| of suffering he daily at his bedside. 1t was
fitting that Mr.. Blaine should be selected Gar
fields eulogist by congress, and his speech, full
OF touching references to his dead friend, is yet
| treasured by many as a superb composition.
| After Mr.. Arthur's Inauguration on Sept. 10,
| 1881, Mr.. Blaine remained in the cabinet until
December, when he retired. In the meantime
| the new president had recalled the special COM
missioner to South America, and cancelled the
call for congress of American nations. Since
his resignation as secretary of state Mr.. Blaine
| has appeared in public but few times. and has
devoted himself to writing the political history of
the country, during the period that he has been
| in public life, the first volume of which has al
| ready been given to the public.
| BLAINE's BoYHooD
'We mnst be about the same age, Blaine and
l." said the lady with whom I was conversing,
''and saw great deal of him when I was at
tending the seminary. His father came to
Washington at that time to take charge of his
ofice-he had just been elected prothonotary-
| and l became greatly attached to Mrs. Blaine. I
went to her house frequently and knew all the
members of the family except Jim. 1t was q
| great house for young people. Both Mr.. and
| Mrs Blaine were fondsof society and both were
well calculated to attract and hold young people.
Mr.. Blaine was very handsome tall, fine look
| ing man, with the brightest eye ever saw. He
always dressed exquisitely, carried his head high
! and went through the world with stateliness
| that took the people by storm. Mrs. Blaine was
very pretty, proud, and had sweet, winning
way. Their children were fond of
| company, except Jim. 1 never knew him
| to come into the parlor when anyone was there.
| His idea was book, and he would read anything
| he could get his hands on. had been going there
| a long time before met him. l knew there was
| a Jim, but he had never come within range of my
vision. recollect the first day ever saw him. ]
| was going to his mothers, and he was coming
| down the steps as approached. There were four
| or five steps, and he was down before I started
| up, but he turned to look, walking one way with
his eyes another until his foot caught on cellar
door. He went down full length, and the books
\ he was carrying were scattered in every direc-
| ton. had just reached the top of the steps in
! time to see him fall and 1 stood and laughed i'm
moderately; laughed until he had good reason to
grow angry. He got up bushing, but took my
bad behavior good-naturedly.
''Was he fine looking boy?''
''No. He had the frame for the large man he
is now, but then he was very thin and ungainly
| looking. His nose seemed all out of proportion
| to the rest of his face. His clothes never seemed
| to fit, and he wasn't careful about the way he
dressed or kept himself fixed. At that age I
never saw him look like anything. His hobby
| for books told ou him, and his whole appearance
said that he was student He was just at that
age when boys can't be made to look nice. As
he grew older and began to fill out he became
more careful, and by the time he graduated he
! looked better. When he went south, and along
about the time that he was married. he was as
well dressed as any of the young men, and was
beginning to give promise of developing into the
| mt ioohlll9 SeHlleHldH ne lS now
To another summary girl who is now matron,
| put the question so ofteEt asked of late about
Blaines religion. s'He is not, and never was a
Catholic she said. ssDoubtless he was bap-
| tized, for his mother was Catholic and good
woman. Her church calls for the baptism of the
infants and have no doubt that Blaine was so
baptized. do not think that he was ever con-
| frmed and I know that from the time he was
| hn had fort hate off
not his mothers favorite, and home ties never
held him as closely as they did some of the
others. While his family lived here, and he was
| at college, know that he went to the Presbyte-
rian church every Sunday. I sat down stairs
where 1 could see the old fashioned gallery
where the students had their places, and Jim
Blaine's face was never missed. They used to
say then that Jim Blaine was great hand for a
sermon. The Catholic tendency of the family
came from the Gillespie side, and Blaine never
had the slightest sympathy with it,
| HIS OLD HOME.
| A letter from Brownsville, Pa, published not
long ago in a Philadelphia paper, says: That
Brownsville is for Blaine no sane man could
doubt after being in it for an hour, nor would it
be sure thing that the average lunatic could
not be convinced of this fact with small trouble,
The Blaine boom has little branch line here of
its own, and quite good time it seems to be
having. 1t is not confined to the party in which
| the Pennsylvania, Maine or the Maine -Pennsyl-
vania statesman, as you please to term him, has
been so conspicuous for these many years. but
Democrats as well as Republicans, are ready to
support ticket that would read, ssBlaine and
- and will be sadly disappointed if they
can't get the chance, Blaine's popularity here
| is due not so much to what the people remem-
| Der of him, as what he remembers of them He
was born across the river in West Brownsville
J and lived there until he began to be sschunk of
a boy as heard one of the old citizens express
| it day. Then he went to Ohio where he spent
considerable time among his relatives, the Ewings
| and the Beechers, and when he came back it was
| to go to college at Washington. He graduated
| when not more than seventeen years old, came
home, and before he had fairly gotten accustom-
ed to the looks Of his sheepskin went to Ken
| lucky to teach When he boarded the boat that
was to take him to his southern home, although
| he didn't know it, he was putting an end to his
| career as Pennsylvania. He never came back
| as a resident.
A STRANGER TO HIS BIRTHPALcE,
1t is easy to see how very little of his life was
| spent at his birthplace. When the years of his
college existence and the time of his Ohio visits
are deducted from his seventeen summers there is
not great deal left and the major portion of that
| time belongs to the period of collie, catnip tea,
and measles. He has visited here but seldom :
twice certainly, three times perhaps, but not
more than that. There is just possibility that
in this lies the secret of Blaines popularity in
Washington and Fayette counties. A boy of
seventeen is not apt to have made many enemies
who would hold grudge for four decades, nor
to have stirred up rivalry which would persist
| anti To its