The Republican journal., 1902-10-30
SENATOR FRYE.
Interesting "reminiscences by Famous Maine
Statesman.

was asked Senator Frye in this city on
Wednesday, when lie ran down from his
home in Lewiston to attend the annual
meeting of the Maine Central.
Il don't know" replied the senator.
Il have always had so little trouble in
being returned to Congress that | have
never kept track of the times when L
should come up for reelection.
Il have. in fact had remarkably
smooth sailing ever since | have been
in public life continued the senator
Ill an interesting manner. have never
had to worry a bit, and all my renoml-
nations as Il representative We're always
made by acclamation. and the same has
been true since ! have been member
of the Senate | was first elected to
Congress IN 1870, but two years before
! was a candidate for the nomination.
Nelson ningley was also candidate
and | guess that they didn't want me
to go to Washington just then, for they
pat a number of other candidates III
the field III order to beat me out. The
result was that Samuel L. Morrill,,
Free VIII Baptist minister, was elected.
did nothing the next two years to Sc
cure the nomination, but when the time
came around they wanted to nominate
NE bN aNNldIl6tAlUlI. II. 'iplilIl W.
jecttd and they sent word to me and |
sent back word to take a ballot by all
means This was done and | received
every vote in the convention but one.
MI. morrill, lett us aid Went over to the
other party.
There were many notable men IN
the House while | was a member. John
l.Vncl was the representative from this
Portland district and he was good
one. too. Gen. Garfield was from one
Of the Ohio districts, and he and |. were
very good friends Many is the night
that we have played whist together
One time | remember that had charge
OF d certain measure and that being IN
such a position | used to make the as
signments as to who should be the ones
to make the speeches. Garfield was the
chairman of the ways and means COM
mittee of course place of much lntiu
ence and one day he stepped IN and IN
terfered with my plans aud spoke on the
subject himself. He didn't do very
Wei. I thought, and | took occasion to
cWtlclse him pretty severely right IN
open session. There was considerable
talk about it, and that night when | got
home Mrs. Frye said to me, William
! don think you did Just right toward
tT6ll. 'IdIIelu lilio dltelllooll. "'io
there and saw it and | think that you
Went TOO far. Now the Garflelds ana
ourselves have been living close to-
gether here as neighbors for a number
of wears. and think that you had bet
ter 90 over and apologize to the gener-
al. | thought it over for few min
utes and then said, All right, We viii
90 right ovtI and ! will offer an apollo
gy' 50 we lett our hotel and started
10 60 oven to carried 5 home. AS we
We're ascending the steps OF CARRIED
house the hrst person we met was Gar
lleld> mother WHO was coming down
the steps. Size greeted us cordlaliN ana
addressing me Sald, \ Gu dld Just Ileht
IL James. He was Ill the wrong ana
an gidu tn&t you acted as you dld. ldl
vas surprise, sure, and l never apolo-
glztd to Garfield. My !lst ac4ualht-
dlte with MchlnIey was When l TOOK
ny seat ID the House. Inc members,
}eu kno", ftrdW tor their seats, ana
When -ht drawings came 10 me got
one OF TIL" sri1S III the rear. ne next
day toula tpat the name OF Mcklnley
was Oh iii. seat. and III looking about
tuTt CT l fvu1d tLat my name was on
-ut seat iNH' Mckinney MAD drawn. /
lunted up Ie hjAleY aiQ Sa!Q, here,
tLeie Is roultlI-Il9 "loll9' lloN uotS
II happen tAdt you nave my seat ana
ina, have Y1tuS' Mckinney answer
tQ. n o. everything IS All rlSAt. made
tins change myself am a new mem
bel and proAtplY WIN speak ilttle or
none for tie next wv" years. on VIII
want 10 speak quite frequently ana you
can nave TINS seat as Wei! aS not. ne
insisted and so took the seat. ms
same thing happened TO me when
Went INTO tine senate. ne seats are
not drawn 10y lot and you nave to walt
until SenatoruleS OF leaves before YOU
can get seat that you may want. In
short there is sort OF legacy about TINS
matter OF securing good seats III the
senate When some Of the senators
think that one OF thtlr number IS gong
to die, they viii set to work to 1orecioSe
on his seat. although | have never
done that. one time | recall that one
OF the senators by some intuition got
wind that Senator Teller was gong to
resign to accept the secretaryshlp OF
the interior il President Arthur S cabl-
net. shortly afterwards Teller did re-
sign aud was made Secretary OF the In
terror Senator Mitchell OF Pennsyl-
wanna got the vacant seat, but he turn
ed it over to me.
speaking of Arthur, continued the
senator, 'he was charming man. He