The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-07-02
SOME FAMOUS FEUDS.
CONTINUED from 9th Page.)


Mr.. Blaine interrupted, and the speaker
inquired: docs the gentleman from New
York yield to the gentleman from Maine?"
To this Mr.. Conkling savagely answered:
mo sir; / do not wish to have anything
to do with the gentleman from Maine; not
even so much as to yield him the floor"
"All right said Mr.. Blaine; and Mr..
Conkling resumed and presently said:
lone thing further; if the member from
Maine had the least idea how profoundly
Indifferent l am to his opinion upon the
subject which he has been discussing, or
upon any other subject personal to me, 1
think he would hardly take the trouble to
rise here and express his opinion
AS soon as he obtained the floor Mr..
Blaine responded: "As to the gentlemans
cruel sarcasm, 1 hope he will not be too
severe. The contempt of that large-minded
gentleman is so whiting; his naughty dis
dain, his grandioquent swell, his majestic,
supereminent, overpowering, turkey COB
bier strut has been crushing to myself
and all the members of this house that L
know it was an act of the greatest temer-
ity for me to venture into a controversy
with him. But, sir, know who is respon-
sible for all this. 1 know that within the
last five weeks, as members of the house
will recollect, an extra strut has charac-
terized the gentleman's bearing. 1t is not
his fault. 1t is the fault of another That
gifted and satirical writer, Theodore Til
! ton, of the New York Independent spent
/ some weeks in this city. His letters pub
/ lished in that paper embraced with many
serious statements, little pacose satire,
! part of which was the statement that the
mantle of the late Winter Davis had fallen
upon the member from New York. The
/ gentleman took it seriously, and 1t has
given his strut additional pomposity. 1t is
striking. Hyperion to satyr, Thersites to
Hercules, mud to marble, dunghill to dia-
mond. singed cat to a Bengal tiger,
whining puppy to a roaring lion. Shade of
the mighty Davis, forgive the almost pro-
fanation of that pocose satrev'
Conkling was a good hater who neither
forgave nor forgot. He never spoke to
Blaine afterward, nor recognized his exis-
tence. The turkey gobbler strut and the
Hyperian curl stuck to him and became the
staples of the cartoonists. Mutual friends
endeavored to bring about a meeting and
reconciliation in the campaign of 1884, but
In reply to the request that he should
make one speech for Blaine. who was the
republican candidate, Conkling replied,
with diabolical sarcasm, that he had given
up criminal practice!
Froude in his Life of Caesar, says that
the quarrels of political leaders have al
ways given direction to the current of his
tory.
Conkling's implacable hatred defeated the
nomlnatlon OF Blame in rs, and his cleo
ton in 81. Indirectly it caused the death
of Garfield, and prevented the renomina-
ton of Arthur, whom he described as 1.-THE
prize OK in American politics."
The chief actors in this stupendous
drama have all crossed the frontier of the
dark kingdom. After lifes fitful fever,
they sleep well or i'll; but whether we'll or
i'll, they sleep. They played mighty parts.
They appealed to the passions of the majes-
tic audience The curtain has fallen The
lights are out. The orchestra has gone,
and upon another stage we have the con-
tinuous performance, vaudeville and mar
ionettes.