The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-03-20
TIE EAST OF THE MUowumps
Dies Peaeeruiiy In Boston In 1853.

Dies Peaeerniiy In Boston In 1883.
He can't last very much longer" said tho
| Doctor. as he put on his goloshes in the hall
"Humor him all you can. 1t won't do to con-
| tradict him In his nervous condition. Let him
have his own way. Poor old mani Ho has
had It SO little in all the years he has been
dabbling In politics." 1T is that hateful poll
tics that has almost unsettled poor grand.
fathers mind" said Miss Jane. bitterly. But
will the treatm ent be the same tonight. Doc
tor2 mo change. A teaspoonful OF milk
and watcr every half hour. and II he seems
fretful. read the Evening Post to him." "Oh.
dear. would do anything for poor dear old
grandfather. but" "Iknow how hard 1t m ust
be to keep awake. my dear Miss Jane but you
must try. Good-by. Remember. he must not
| be contradicted"
| With a light step but heavy heart Miss
| Jane went up to her grandfathcr's rooms on
the second floor. There In q flno old carved
four-poster which he had bought fifty years
before from q manufacturer OF antique furni-
ture in Haymarket square. saltonstal Bratte
Biggs lay waiting for the end. The one gen.
| uine ruin In Boston. the finest bit OF archRol-
ogy in the State" Miles Bills OF the Tavern
Club once said OF him. Certainly Mr.. Bges
was admirably preserved. He must have been
moro than ninety In this year 1882. and he
looked ut least twice his age. but this was q
matter OF artistic temperament. not OF decrep-
itude Ho had begun to shave early. and even
in his first youth he had dreamed OF venera-
bleness composed In equal degrees OF Leonardo
dn Vinci. whose portrait. engraved by Raphael
Morghen. had hung in his bedchamber for
| seventy years. and OF Prof. Sophocles. whose
| pupil he had boon. His hair was like woven
snow. his beard matched it perfectly. his soft
| eye had far-away look las II seeking his alb
| 6pnt mind his enemiea nidl hts hn ia xpotId
have done credit to q Cardinal of tho Renals-
| sance. II he had been born red-headed.
| he would have been different man. On his
mothers side he came from an old colonial
| family. and on his fathers from nm old boot
and-shoe family. The money camo from the
| paternal side. but he was little ashamed OF
the boots nnd shoes. and 1t was one OF the mis-
cries Of his youth that tho boys in tho Latin
School. who thought him n snob called him
"DlackbalL" On leaving college lie deter
mined to become scholar In politics. He had
never been n scholar and IA events proved.
he was never to be in politics. but he thought
that it was the proper thing for Bostonian
| of n certain position" as he put it. He read
| littlo except the Saturday Rerie,o and the Ma
| ton. and his admiration for them was un-
bounded. Tho latter periodical. now forgotten.
| was conducted by Wicklow Irishman OF the
| name of Godkin. who seems to have been in
the habit OF finding fault with the Creator
every afternoon for the way in which the uni
verso had been run in the Lrevious twenty
four hours. BIggs got what he supposed to bo
his IDEAS from Godkin. and would never believe
that his hero was Irish. "Godkn Is an I'M
doubted Norman name." Bises would say. as
Norman as my own"
Full OF hope and Godkln. young Biggs re-
| turned to Boston after couple OF years OF
travel His first step was to join the Civil Ser
vice Association and to work against Gen.
Butler. For n long timo after the election OF
| 1882 young Biggs despaired Of the republic.
| He went to Bermuda for the winter. and his
| letters written to the Boston Herald during
that period and signed "Verax." breathe a
sadness without hope. But the Bermuda air
and spring medicine toned him UP. and in the
fall. after a summer in Brittany. ho again went
to work to save the republic He was an active
Republican in those days. and he went one
night to his party primaries in his own ward.
lone has to sacrifice ones solf to ones coun-
try. you know" he said. rather rucfully. as no
left the Somerset that night He found mo
ono that ono knows at the primary. he said.
but he attracted an uncomfortable amount Of
attention. is it alivep" sneered one OF the
leaders Tho first time I evor seen a Silk
Stockin' here" said Bill Smith of the Custom
House. "Whoop. amt it prettyt" observed
Letter Carrier Drane THE gentleman
is out Of order" cried Mr.. Bigss. 1.-The gen.
tleman will knock you out OF order IL
you don't shut up. young Teller" Positively
it is impossible for one OF us to 60 to such
places" said Biggs in telling OF his expert
ences why. there were fellows there with
out collars" Thenceforth and to the end OF
his career Blggs confined himself to what he
called the work OF exterior propaganda. He
signed petitions. wrote tracts. went to confer
ences. and, above all. devoted himself to tho
task Of saving the country by means OF din
ners. To tell the truth. in the years immedi-
Gtely following his marriage. he found his in
terest In public affairs an excellent excuse for
going to stag dinners. In 1884 no became
Muswump. and fo- tho next eight years he
was in his element. Both in 1884 and 1888
he delivered speeches in Wenham. Hull Toad
Hill. and othor centres Of population. and in
1883 he voted. In some remarks before the
+ Massachusetts Reform Club in June. 1892. he
said. II regard Grover Cleveland as q greater
man than George Washington. than Abraham
Lincoln. than any OF VI"
Biggs went into the Columbian movement
with all his might. contributing consider
able sum. and writing the tracts "Cleve-
land q Truc Columbian" and The Sllver
Dollar SIM" He stumpcd Nantucket After
that campaign the Columbian party. young as
1t was. was old enough to die. Most Of the
Mugwumps had voted the Republican ticket
to manifest their spite against tho Democrats
for not nominating Cleveland. In later years
few went into the Democracy. By 1920 they
were as faded and vague in the memory OF
living men as Barnburners and Locofocos.
Mr.. Bggs Ind failed OF political success in
the flower OF dis life All the reforms he had
strlven for had failed. lie was an embttered
and unhappy man until he was nearly seventy.
His old companions had fallen. and he had to
keep up tho fight alone. Ho still! continued to
send out questions to candidates for public
| Office. Ho still submitted planks to political
| conventions. Iio still labored to instruct the
people. But certain fame came to him at
| last. Ey 1925 he WAS without doubt tho Last
OF the MuGwuRps. There might DO OK
Mugwumps OF greater age than he. but he
was the oldest in continuous service. He was
| then and for tho next twenty seven years
the only Mugwump still actively engaged
| in Mugwumplng He was tho Columbian
Veteran Association. the Mugwump League.
the Civil Service Association. the Municipal
Reform League. the Ballot Reform Assocln-