The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-05-01

cleared some land. and In . short
time got start He had the mercantile
sense, and he soon saved enough 20 buy q
stock Of goods and he cpsned store ~ .
little place called Rome. Just across the
way from this town and almost adjoining
Il was another little town called Risden.
There was great rivalry between the two
villages, and nay fathers village was Wing
and Risdea was Democratic Nv father
was the leading spirit Of Rome, and the
people of Risden used to call him the pope
OF Rome. At last the two towns got tired
offghting one another. and the people Of
Risdeu came TO my father and told him
they would unite the two towns If he
would let them name the new town. He
consented. and they called is Fostoria,
after him."
II suppose, governor, you were born on
the frontier. would like 70 ask II You
are one Of those babies who were rocked In
sugar trough 2"
II don't know about the sugar trough"
replied Mr.. Foster. but was born within
year after my father and mother were
married, and I was brought up in what
was then one Of the widest parts Of the
West"
"Where did You 20 to school ?" asked.
81 never had much schooling" was the
reply. went first TO little log school
house near FostoriA 1t was torn down
not long time ago, and have been sorry
that / did not preserve it. Our schools
did not amount to much then The chief
thing was spelling, and can remember
going about at night to spelling matches,
where all tried 10 spell each other down.
At the age Of 4 / learned how 70 read and
to spell, and got smsttering Of arith-
metic. and / then had the idea that l
wanted 10 be lawyer, and my father sent
me to the academy of Sorwaik, which
was a neighbo-ing town. / was 60
ing here TO school az about the
age Of II, when the whole family got sick
and / came home. / found the store
closed because there was no one 20 attend
to It. and dropped school and opened the
store. This was forty-six years ago, and
] had the management of that store until
1887, or for more than forty years OF
course / was not in il all the time, but
directed it, When ! was IS my father
took me into partnership with him. and
used 70 go 10 New York TO buy goods for
il. and was in il when / was elected 10
congress"
you were in congress with Garfield,
were yon mott When did you first meet
him %
1T was during that congressional cam
paign. 1t was at the time Of the Franco
Prussian war, and Garfield came over and
made some speeches IN my district had
great number OF Germans, and he talked
10 them in German and got me a lot of
votes. / was impressed with him as
Jolly good fellow. and when he left me he
embraced me and asked me 70 hunt him
up when l came to Washington City. He
overlooked, in fact. with good fellowship.
and when, few months later, / went on
10 Washington City, rushed up to him
and was surprised to find him cold and
distant. He apparently hardly knew me,
and as he acted the same way several
times after that decided 10 let him alone
After / got to know him better
I q. rs Tlo
was . man OF moods, and be was apt 70 be
preoccupied and to forget faces and
names. Ii is wonderful. the difference in
mems minds. i was not SIX weeks in the
House before | knew every member of
congress By face and could call him by
name. Garfield. who had been years in
congress. had not q personal acquaintance
with .ifty men and be could not remember
faces. He could, however, read book or
poem and repeat, almost word for word
everything that he read. He could dictate
aspeech and then get up and deliver it
jus. as he had dictated 1t. / cannot COM
nit anything. / can remember the ideas
OF the books read, but not the words"
wherein consisted Garfield's strength
In congress, goyerDorr
cit was his wonderful debating power,
and in his classic expressions and ideas.
He was the most wonderful debater we
ever had in congress- His sentences were
30 clear and his language 50 beautiful that
be always filed the galleries, and ne was
perfectly at home upon the floor. He had
wonderful power Of absorbing informa-
tion from Others, and he had a way of get
ting ideas from his friends to add 10 his
own thoughts In his great speeches. He
would sometimes call his friends into his
room the night before he was to make q
great speech, and discuss his points with
them. ] remember the speech he made
against Hill, which was, you know one of
the most eloquent ever made in the
House. The night before that speech he
called half dozen Of his intimate friends
into his room, and / was among them.
He went over the synopsis or outline Of
his speech, and asked for suggestions. He
got many new ideas. / know, and while
we we're talking from time 70 time books
with marked passages were sent into him
by his friends and he read these. The
next day the cream Of all this matter ap-
pesred in his speech, but so transformed
and reyivified by his master mind that it
made one strong symmetrical and beauti-
fal whole. GARFIELD seldom wrote out his
speeches, and his best thoughts and ex-
pressions often came TO him on the floor"
How about his speech at the Chicago
convention which nominated himf'
The greater part Of the speech" said
Governor Foster, was written before
hand. and il was shown by him TO Senator
Sherman before be came 10 Chicago, and
ful introduction TO il Garfield composed as
he stood there before that great conven-
tiOn. aud this was from the inspiration of
the occasion. / was with Garfield during
that whole convention. We had rooms
adjoining each other, and we were to-
gether nearly all the time"
"Iou went there 10 nominate Sherman
Did you notice anything that led You TO
believe that Garfield Was false to sher-
mani
mo. did not" replied Secretary Eos
ter, and until after Gardeid's death had
no faith whatever in any of the statements
made that he was not true in every re-
spect, and do not know now that he was
not true. II has shaken nv faith, however.
20 find that he knew that Rusk and those
sixteen Wisconsin votes were ready TO
come 10 him AZ any time, and understand
that he had some talk with the Wisconsin
men while he was At Chicago. He GER
tainly seemed TO be doing all he could for
John Sherman"
Those sixteen votes started the boom,
did they not?'
Eyes. they did: but Garfield Is dead. and
think in this he should have the benent
OF the doubt"
~ have heard, governor, that President
Garfield intended to make you his post
master general. Is that true, and what
can You tell me as 70 how his cabinet was
madefn
President Garfield altered his cabinet
several times before be reached the one
which he finally announced 10 the people
He changed the whole slate after he came
20 Washington City, and Of sll the names
that he had down for the various depart
ments when he was in Ohio only two re-
manned after he came on here. These
were James G. Blaine, his secretary of
state, and Robert Lincoln, his secretary of