The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-06-14

Hshed there, said: THE Republicans
have nominated good fighter" In ex-
explanation of this remark he said
that he saw Mr.. Harrison once during
the war, but under such circumstances
as to give him an unusual idea of his
pugnacity and courage. The story
teller was a contractor on his way
North with cotton. The boat chartered
by him, upon reaching certain point
upon the Ohio River, was stopped to
take on a number Of Union officers on
their way home to the North. Colonel
Harrison, who was going home ON
short leave, was with them. The jour
ney of this steamer down the river was
not wholly without danger. Every now
and then an ambush of guerrillas would
fire at the boat. The pilot kept the
boat as far away for the Kentucky shore
as possible, and every now and then the
channel would force them over in the
neighborhood of Kentucky, and the
result was generally an attack. For
several hours during the first day peace
and quietness reigned. The most seri-
GUS attack came during the midday
dinner. The officers were seated at the
Captains table, when without any
warning volley of bullets came
viii sitting through the thin partitions
of the saloon. This gentleman said
the officers, as far as he could see, went
down upon the floor or crawled into
their staterooms, where they piled up
their mattresses for protection. The
panic was very great. The story teller
recovered himself after few moments,
and crawled along to protected place
where he could look out on deck.
Greatly to his surprise, he said, he saw
Col. Harrison standing alone out on the
deck in fnlI range OF everybody with "a
revolver in each hand, returning the
shots as well as he could, until the boat
passed around the bend and out of range.
Mr.. Blaine, while apparently very ex-
pansive in conversation, is really one of
the most secretive men in American pol
itics. This is his theory about keeping
secret: He said one day: "If you tell
secret to one person." here he drew
the fore-inger of his right hand across
the palm of his left, as he added, "that
is one" Then making a second stroke
with his finger across his palm, he said:
s'tell the secret to two and that makes
eleven"
There is apparently no malice in Mr..
Blaine's disposition. He has a high
temper and is a good vigorous enemy
when his blood is warmed, but he never
vet has pursued policy of revenge. He
says that it is one of the cruelest wastes
of mans mental and spiritual force to
devote any time or thought in following
out policy of retaliation. Life is
altogether too short, said he once, for
any kind of revenge. So, this being his
spirit, he was always ready to make up
the Conkling quarrel which occurred
when Mr.. Conkling and he were young
members of the House of Representa-
tives. He would have accepted at any
time the extended hand of Mr.. Conkling
and would have gone any time during
the great New Workers. life half the way
to the point of reconciliation. But Mr.
Conkling never would make one step
and always frowned coldly upon any at
tempt of mutual friends to bring the two
together. Mr.. Blaine has been often
brought in the personal neighborhood of
Mr.. Conkling and always regarded it as
more of a bore than otherwise, the fact
that they were not on speaking terms.
The attitude of Mr.. Conkling OCCASION
| ally appealed to the sense of humor in
Mr.. Blaine One of the most delightful
stories that Mr.. Blaine tells is where he
gives an account of q dinner given by
a well-meaning idiot in Washington who
thought he could carve out national
reputation for himself by being the
means of bringing these two statesmen
together. His manner of doing so was
very original. He devised a dinner
party as the meeting place for the pro-
posed reconciliation. He notified neither
gentlemen of his noble intentions. He
first invited Mr.. and Mrs Blaine to come
to dinner without indicating in his invi-
tation who they would be expected to
meet. After he had their acceptance,
he sent out an invitation to Mr.. and
Mrs. Conkling. He made the number
of the invited very small so that OF
necessity they would be forced into close
neighborhood, and what the genial host
hoped would prove to be mellowing
atmosphere. He carried his ingenuity
and originality to the farther extent of
sending Mrs. Blaine out tosdinner on the
arm of Mr.. Conkling and Mrs. Conkling
on the arm Of Mr.. Blaine. The two
gentlemen were placed opposite each
other. During this lovely and charming
dinner Mr.. Blaine maintained an ami
mated conversation with Mrs. Conkling
and Mr.. ConKling talked freely and
frankly with Mrs. Blaine. The majestic
New Yorker, however, was coerced in no
way by the nearness of his enemy and
never remotely acknowledged the fact Of
MIR. Blaine's presence. And so the
dinner dragged it's weary length along
in as delightful and agreeable fashion
as anyone might imagine who knew Mr..
Conkling and his peculiar ways.
Blaine has always had great liking for
the newspaper profession. When he
was in the Cabinet with President Gar
field he was very communicative to the