The Washington times., 1901-10-06
A Test Of Gratitude

yIF ~
The friendship between Senator Har-
bine and old Newt Stuart was for
twenty years one of the many anomalies
and one of the few edifying conditions
that distinguished the social life ~ the
Capital. Newton Stuart was a newspaner
| overwhelmingly knew how oId-but
the dean Of the press gallery. beloved and
undisputed. Senator Harbine held SINH
lar position in that exclusive, cIuh-like
organization known as the United States
Senate. Old Newt hailed from Louisiana,
! and his senatorial friend was from Ohio
so that as far as an exchange of official
! favors might go there was no apparent
reason for their unfaltering affection for
each other. Newt couldn't boost Har-
bine II he wanted to. and had never stoop-
ed to accept patronage of any kind even
| from the Louisiana legislators who had
come and gone during his long career as
! Washington correspondent.
| So far as any outsider knew there were
| only three grounds for the mutual admit
! ration between Newt and the old Senator
| namely, fishing. terrapin, and mint iulep
| Outside of Washington such paitry mat
! ters will probably never be regarded as
adequate motives for great and lasting
| friendship, but In Washington the three
delights named are sometimes of yaster
moment than the making OF treaties or
the establishment of national policies
Newt was the champion terrapin chef of
Washington for a generation. Harbine's
mint julaps were the wonder and envy
of all corners. Bartenders made their
regulations by advertising the Harbine
julep," and restaurants, cafes, and hotels
won patronage by announcing "terrapin
a la Newt Stuart"
But when II came to fishing neither the
Senator nor the reporter would yield the
palm. For a dozen years they had gone
fishing together. AS many times had they
come home in raging debate as to which
had caught the greatest weight of fish,
or which was most dexterous in playing
a line Fishing was the one rock upon
which they split necessarily, and once the
subject came up between them they would
rail and boast at one another till blows
seemed the only argument left. One day
Newt and the Senator, sitting in a circle
OF most potent, grave, and worthy law
makers at the Shoreham, challenged one
another to a final test of their prowess
as bait-casters. The idea tickled the audi
ence. though it was midwinter. Cases of
gered. and finally each contestant went
for rod and tackle. and the whole party
trudged through the snow to Lafayette
Square for the duel.
The distances We're measured off A
dangling pine cone was selected as the
object to cast at, and each contestant,
using his own rod and reel was to have
five chances, the decision to go to the
caster who missed the least. 1t was a
walkover for the Senator, for he whipped
his fly across the cone five times success
sively, while poor old Newt missed his
second shot and cast wide on the last
He paid the wager and swore that 1t was
the reel that beat him.
Il bet fifty that / can beat you right
now with that there gosh-durned Meek
reel O. yourn." sputtered Newt.
But the Senator said it was time for a
julep, wagged his head in triumph, and
led the party back to the hotel.
Il can beat you at bait-casting with
any kind of a reel Newt used to boast |
after that, but that there Meek sizzler |
you've got amt reel at all. It's iivic', |
breathin', conscious piece o. witchcraft"
II was about two months after this that |
Newt entrenched himself forever In old |
Senator Harbine's loving heart The lat |
ter's son was the scourge of his life. He |
had been expelled from West Point, dis |
charged from half dozen Government |
positions and arrested a dozen times |
Finally letter from Mrs. Harbine came |
from Cincinnati announcing that Dick |
mad brooke loose there on a wild de- I
0auch that threatened to end disastrously |
for the young man himself and for the
fair name of his fathers family.
Senator Harbine handed the letter to
I'D Newt.
Newt, you like my boy 1 know" he