St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-03-31
Senator Mobiles misunderstanding Ordinary Din
President Harrison Sits
Down To.
Interesting Excerpts From the Washington Letters of
the Leading Correspondents of Ameri-
Newspapers

terest here for wol slippers and that
large class of curious persons who like
to see great men and shake them by
the hand. Without doubt the
secretary OF State is the best
hand-shaker of the admiDistra-
ton. He has more of the quality of
concentrating himself upon his caller.
of making the guest feel that he is for
the moment in the hosts thoughts, to
the exclusion of all other persons and
subjects. Mr.. Blaine's hand is large.
warm and firm. He grasps the hand of
| his caller warmly. looks him straight in
the eye, smiles, says pretty thing, and
meanwhile holds tight to the hand,
pressing it occasionally by way of ac-
centuating his remarks. Mr.. Blaine's
,, hand-shake is one to be remembered.
called on Mr.. Blaine the other day
and found him surrounded by dozen
men of prominence. He was walking
from one to the other. greeting them
and talking briefly and decisively of
their business. The secretary is not as
large man as one is led to believe
from his portraits. His head is massive
and he has the sort of face you would
expect to see surrounding giant body.
As the secretary stood with his back to
me l did not recognize him, because L
was looking for much larger man. He
appears to be about five feet eight inches
tall and weighs, should say, no more
than 165 pounds. When he turned his
face l was somewhat disappointed. for
1t was face absolutely devoid of color.
He does not look like we'll man, he is
so pale, and there are such ominouS
puffS under his great eyes. Yet Mr..
Blaine says he is well, and that the sus-
piciousneSs of his strength which he
felt for long time while abroad has
been supplanted by perfect seIf-con-
tidence.
had heard so much about Mr..
Blaine'S remarkable memory for faces
and names that / was eager to put him
to the test. 1t was nearly ten years
since had met him, and then but for
When | was introduced to him by his
son Walker he grasped my hand, held
it while he peered curlously into my
face, and at length said: Il have met
you before. Do you remember the cir
cumStanceS?" And then he described
the occasion of our first Introduction. To
his remarkable memory Mr.. Blaine
joins phenomenal powers of observation
and generalization. In brief talk with
him | found his old training as news
paper man still has its influence upon
him, for newspaper is to him a pic
ture, presenting itself with all its color
and perspective very quickly to his eye.
The secretary of state works in a
large and beautiful room. From his
window one can see the historic home of
the Lees, the innumerable headstones
at Arlington, the Potomac, the monu-
meHt. On the walls are portraits of
all the presidents. Overhead is huge
chandelier of incandeScent lamps. A
touch of a button at Mr.. Blaine's left
floods the apartment with soft light.
in which his own pale face is the most
interesting thing to be seen-and so
pale!
Mr.. Blaine looks older than any other
man in the cabinet, but he is not the
oldest. He is only fifty-nine. while the
secretary of the treasury, who is sixty
two, looks no more than fifty.