The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-06-24
MR.. BLAINE AT HOME.
Beautiful Domestic Iife-All Guests
Charmed by Cordial Reception.

the war closed He had served in the preceding
Congress, but had only fairly got hold of ths
ways of legislation. In fact, he had made so
little impression that Speaker Colfax put him
well down towards the tail of the military com
mittee-an absurd place for him, because he had
always been a civilian. All the rest of the
members, except two Democrats, were generals
fresh from the field. Blaine's mouth was closed
for how could he pretend to any right to be
heard on military matters in the presence of six
brigadiers2 OF course, he was uncomfortable
1 was clerk of the committee. Blaine appeared
to take liking to me because was newspaper
man. 1 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 a terse, interesting, paragraphy
way of 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 blazing
wood fire, that he meant to get upon the appro-
priations committee in the next Congress- and
in the following Congress he hoped to get
Craftsmanship. Then he said he should look for
ward to the speakership. ut all came about as he
had planned, only he became Speaker two years
always man who laid out his line of life in adj
vance, and worked up to it. There was nothing
accidental in his career.
At first he lived in Washington in nomadic
way-in hotels and boarding houses, as do most
congressmen-but when he was elected Speaker
he bought house on Fifteenth street, in the
best quarter of the town, Opposite lived Hamil-
ton Fish, then Secretary of State; next door
lived Fernando Wood; General Shermans
house was only a few doors Distant and
Rutl ho ,1ef no
corner Beine's house was thought handsome
one at the time, but it was only plain brick
structure in row, and it cuts no sort of a figure
in these days when big mansions in the Queen
Anne, Elizabethan, Norman, and | know not
how many other styles abound at the capital
There were two big parlors 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 meas
urably well accommodated. In the belongings
of this, his first Washington home, Blaine
showed fondness for engravings for substan-
tial furniture, and for books He was much
given to hospitality, and never appeared so hap
ply as when entertaininga congenial dinner1party
at his big round table. For his dinner table
talks he had an inexhaustible fund of anecdotes
and witticsms Inever 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, l think he might
dispute with Henry Ward Beecher for the honor
Oh pelnS Jne InOSU original man In America NO
matter what the topic may be, he is sure to con
tribute to the conversation something particu-
larly bright and entertaining.
When not entertaining friends at his own
house he usually dinned out. l remember to
have warned him once of the perils of the diner
outflow many an eminent man had come to an
untimely end by eating big dinners. He said he
observed strict rule at dinner partes-he took
soup and roast beef, but no prepared dishes, No
dessert, except little ice-cream, and no wine
save dry champagne. 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 great letter-writer,
either with his own hand or vicariously through
that of his secretary. He did not like Garfield
reply to all the letters he received. He was a
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 about
it. He was not accessible at all times and to
all the world as many men who cherish 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. IF the visitor was not well
come he would manage to make him believe that
the speaker had just gone out few minutes be-
fore This colored person had fine instinct for
discerning the men whom his master would prob
ably wish to receive. They were shown into the
In the Fifteenth street house Blaine lived
while in Washington until after the death of
Garfield. He had previously begun to build
huge, expensive red brick pile out on the Pstreet
Circle, deeming himself comfortably rich at the
time, and thinking the position of Secretary of
State carried with it duties of enlarged hospital
ity. The house was mistake as he soon found
He lived in it only about year. AS a private
citizen it was much too large for his needs; be-
sides, 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 sum which
amouted 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 retired as his friends
would let him, and getting his exercise mainly
from daily morning walk to the Capitol width
er he went to consult the books in the Congress
sional Library.
All this time his real home, if the attachments
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, Me. This house typifes 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, balconies and fanciful
forms came in 1t represents the plainness,
solidity and conservatism of the last generation
Mr.. Blaine has modified it very little, and not at
all at the expense of its sober, old-tme appear
ance He has adjective or three rooms in the rear
one large library, which is his work room, and
which during the many hard fights he waged
with the Democrats when he was Chairman of
the State Republican Committee used to be
rendezvous for his lieutenants from all parts of
the State. In the course of two Maine campaigns
1 saw good deal of Mr.. Blaine He was the
to county to address mass meetings, writing tel
egrams on the trains, getting pocketful of dis
patches at every town, debating letters at night
to his secretary, yet always cheerful and com
panionable, and with good joke or anecdote to
enliven every occasion. He knew the whole
State as well as his own dooryard and was