The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1897-06-03
Blaine's Wav.
Graphic Sketch. by Amos Wilder, of His o,a A.,
gusta Days.

AiiAii. - SihSiS liolnO luleTV6nlQp ho
Romans live in that home s,ill. Tan
spare, erect in figure and upright in lifa
though well past 50 years Of age. "ITncle
joe Holman outlives his hero. Mrs. Ho-
man is an aunt of Joseph Manley. and tba
Holman home was the rallying place for
both families. Thither the glad tidinos
OF his successes from the early DAYS in tie
Legislature to his climacteric in the CON
vention of 1884 were hurried for first
narration; to that family circle were car
ried bulletins hourly, as in the oncominc
years disappointment and disaster and
death came t1ocking in Heaven S sprovi-
dence to enrich and dignify-perhaps to
school and soften-the last years of this
man of giant heart and brain.
Mr.. Homan was the first man to publish
a penny newspaper in Boston. He began.
as began all men over so years of age
whose heritage is wealth and honor. with
nothing, Once as a lad, distributing an
early morning paper, he fell asleep and
went his rounds without waking.
Mr.. Holman was the man to write Mr.
| Blaine's life, if personal knowledge is the
touchstone Of qualifications. But it is not
Like Miss Dodge, his admiration is too
unbounded. The historian who will dis
passionately delineate the personal traits
of this man and properly weigh his public
services must be one who has never come
under the spell of those great eyes or en-
| tered into the eternal intimacy of a casual
meeting.
l nave known many great men, and the
/ infection Of insincerity corrodes the ma
| lOrlty. Their hearts are not big enough
TO carry the affairs OF 50 many thousand
| people. They come to believe that it is
the statesman's part to deal with outlines
and generalities and trends and scopes /;
that details and petty remembrances and
unexposed kindnesSes must be left to
smaller men.
But it was not so with Blaine. He was
a sincere man; his cheerfulness was genu-
inc; he loved his fellows. His love bub-
| bled over like a fountain. Critics with no
flame in their hearts have denounced him.
but those who knew him and were free
from envy never blamed him. Disap-
pointed office seekers loved Blaine. They,
best of all, knew whether he tri1ed with
them. There was pride in the family, but
Blaine was an Olivet of human affec-
I lions and drew men to him. AS one Maine
man put it, in commenting on Tom Reed S
intellect: when you meet him you feel
yourself standing off as to mountain
and saying, what giant of greatness you
are" And when you talk with Blaine, you
! just want to throw your arms around his
neck and hug him.
The nation has many brilliant men.
They shine and sparkle in the Senate and
at the banquet board and in the affairs of
all our great cities. There are profound
men, too. The universities TEEN with
them, and the printed page reflects their
I depths. There are some in Washington.
But Blane's greatness lay in a combi-
nation of brilliancy and profundity. The
! century develops only handful of such
+ statesmen. Roscoe Conkling seemed to
| be one, but where are the evidences in
statutes or in federal policies of master
| ly, comprehensive, profound grasp of af-
fairs? Hiram Barney, Lincoln collector
of the port of New York, defined Conk-
ling for me as gifted fault finder -
| His career in Congress, like Blaine's.
demonstrated his briliancy But read
| Blaine's "Twenty Years. and know his
| depth. That book was a revelation to
thousands who had viewed him as pyro-
technic. Its reading explains why the
mugwump of to-day is embarrassed when
the origin of the independent movement
| is recalled. History has no decorations
| for the man who yaunts his opposition to
| Blaine.
Blaine was a giant from the first
! have explored his early editorials in the
! dusty files of the kennebec journal with
delight. Blaine moved to Augusta in
| 1874, did newspaper work, and promptly
got into politics. One year was enough
to give him State fame as a political ora
| tor, and within four years of coming to
! Maine, complete stranger he was chair
man OF the State committee. He was then
but IS years of age. This post he held
for twenty years.
But it is of his editorials | was speak
ing. Day after day the paper was adorn-
ed and strengthened with his work, and
one is charmed and impressed oy the arti-
Giles. He displayed the statesman even
then. They were long and judicial and
exhaustive. They were dignitied and I'M
answerable. To compare them with the
hurried, fragmentary, swallow kimming
editorial of to-day is to make the heart
| sick.
Blaine had, to be sure, connections that
equipped him for exact and full utter
ance beyond most OF our editorial writer's
of to- day. From 1888 to 1862, when he
was doing some of his best editorial work,
he was member of the State Legislature,
and the last two years speaker of that
body. Then he went to Congress. Ding
ley and Hawley are congressman who
have written a good many authoritative
articles from the scene of forensic battle.
l remember, as a boy, Mr.. Blaine in the
office of the Kennebec Journal on cleo
ton night. 1t is needless to say he was in
supreme command. He always carried
himself as great man. Even at O clock
in the morning he was dignited. He was
always ''Mr. Blaine.' There was, how
ever, one man who called him "Jim
Blaine" classmate in Ohio. MI.
Blaine told the story to the neighbors-I
believe it is new to the types. He was on
his,way through the Buckeye State at
time when he was specially conspicuous
in the nations eyes. | do not recall the
year. He received a pressing telegram
from an old schoolmate whom he had
not seen for years to tarry for few hours
at the latter's home. 1t was a heart
appeal for 'old times sake' Mr..
Blaine had lost sight of his old mate in
the intervening years, and it proved,
much to his embarrassment, that the
friend had degenarated into ''town
character and was rarely sober. Mr..
| D1 l.