The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-04-14
nov mourn him night wen wish to pre-

health resort of the world. The ozone
| OF the sea and the balsam of the pines
where else on earth can you find such
| combnation?"
AS we resumed seats on the buck
board and made our way along the
drive Mr.. Blaine drew further upon his
fund of good spirits, and what fund
it proved to be! Anecdote, illustration,
scraps of history and apt quotations
| followed each other us though the sup
ply were incXhaustible, and all with
out the least apparent effort or seem
ing self-consciousness. lie was not
doing the great man" act at all, but
was just jolly companion and all
round good fellow. Occasionally an OK
preston not adapted to polite ears
would find vent when the subject of
conversation called forsomcthing strong
and pronounced. Such was the case as
he was narrating his experience in
helping friend ont of bad scrape. 1t
was during his term as secretary of
state in President Garfeld's ad;a:ristra-
ton that IL young man went to Mr..
Blaine for advice and assistance in uu
awkward dilemma. The young man,
son of one of the Oldest and wealthicst
families in Washington, was in trouble,
and there was n woman in the
case. In fact, two women, n good one
and n bad one. He had broken with
the latter and was engaged to marry
| lovely girl of the upper circles of
| capital society. His former enchantrcss
| resented the match and meant to break
it off if she could. Ostensibly married
woman of very doubtful standing, she
| in rocittNy, 70
and she evidently intended to use her
advantage to extort money. bundle
of letters written to her by the young
man in the sentimental stage of the
connection was the weapon she flour
ished over his unhappy head. Ten
thousand dollars was the value she set
upon these letters; otherwise copies
would be placed in the hands of the
father of his fancee. In this dire ext
gency the young man had the good
sense to call upon Secretary Blaine and
| make a clean breast of the whole bust
| ness.
That's n pretty bad mess" said the
| premier, "but think we can get you
| out of it,"
And he did. He sent for the chief of
| the secret service and n plan was readi-
| ly devised to checkmatc the blacllmail-
ing adventures and the male accom-
| picc who posed as her husband A
meeting was appointed for the sur
| render of the letters and the payment
| of the ten thousand dollars, and two
| secret service detectives were unseen
witnesses of all that took place. The
| game had been played to the point of
| yielding up the letters and receiving
| the money when the officers took II
hand The woman and man were
trapped. Proof of blackmail intended
and accomplished was absolute, the
money was restored, the letters given
| up and the conspirators were only too
! glad to leave Washington inside of ten
hours as the alternative of trial, con-
viction and long sentence of impris-
onment.
| Mr.. Blaine narrated this episode with
much gusto. evidently priding himself
upon his share in it, as upon diplo-
matte stroke. "My young friend" he
added, was married according to pro-
| gramme, neither his wife nor her peo-
| pie being the wiser for his narrow es-
| cape; and am glad to say that he has
| profited by the lesson and makes an cx-
cellent husband"
In the course of the drive the remark
was ventured that while Bar lIarbor
was indeed Il lovely spot, it required
tedious journey to reach IL.
Every true" said Mr.. Biaine "but
| that fact is not without some compen-
sating advantages. For example, Mr.
Isaacson, of Chatham street, cannot
leave his business of Saturday after
noon, run up and spend Sunday with
Mrs. Isaacson and the little Isaacsons,
! and be back among his coats and pants
Monday morning. There is something
in that, you know. Makes the place
rather more select. When YOU decide
to come to Bar Harbor you have to do
as certain old maid did, whom once
knew down in Pennsylvania"
"And what was it this spinstcr did?"
l inquired.
'Well, you see, Miss Jane was getting
along in years, and things were looking
blue for her, when, to her great delight,
She had proposal She snapped it up
SO quick that John found himself in for
it before he had fairly gotten started
Inside of three days the pair were stand
ing in front of a justice of the peace,
who began with John, and to him
leisurely and with much impressivcness
propoundcd the usual formula: You do
take this woman, etc. All this time
Jane was ncrvousand uneasy; the thing
was not moving fast enough for her.
Then came her turn. You, Jane said
the magistrate, do take this man to be
your lawful welded husband, to love,