The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-08-14

the staircase OF the Firth Avenue Hotel
that October morning in 1884, I heard
the Rev DR.. Burchard hail James c.
Blaine as the leader OF Republican hosts
against the party whose antecedents
had been Rum, Romanisn and Rebel
lion" My gaze had been fixed intent
" upon DIR. Burchard's earnest, slow
moving face as he spoke. but instantly
the famous ALTERATION reached my ear
! turned to see how Blaine received it.
I felt that something had happened
something large, important. But Mr.
Blaine had not been so impressed. In
deed. I do not believe he heard the three
fateful words. 1t is my conviction that
while they reached his ear they were not
then carried to his brain. His eyes were
gazing over the heads of the crowd be-
low him. They were seeing, but not
observing eyes. He was wearied by
travel, anxious about the eiection-day
crisis which was then less than one week
away. Surely he was safe in the hands
of company of clergymen who we're
there to help him. They had gathered,
he was there, the oratory was pouring
over him. Night he not relax without
fear? And SO, l believe, Blaine's mind
was somewhere away off, busy perhaps
with other plans
A Presidential candidate was in dead
~ peril, but did not know it. He was
being defeated among his adherents FIVE
days before the battle of the ballots.
The hostile words of the friendly old
preacher foated past him unheeded; in
his response he failed to rebuke them,
and the supreme moment OF opportunity
had gone by. "Destinv had waited just
around the corner" but turned now
away and laid a new trail for history.
Through its local bureau l was res
ponsible TO the Associated Press for the
national end of politics in New York
city at the cIese of that great campaign.
That Wednesday morning the manager
had objected to my shortening his staff
by taking away Lewsley and Mulvey to
act as stenographers. at "a simple cut
and-dried meeting of doninies that any
man should be able to report alone" he
said On the face of things before the
event it looked that way, and I frankly
admitted as much. But inside me, some |
where behind the brain, | felt an insls- !
tent impulse to caution.
NEWS OF A CLERICAL MATINEE. |
But you don't need two stenogra- |
piers" protested the manager. "One
shorthand man can take it all and then i
get it out soon enough for first ed1- |
tions-guess the world isn't so damned |
anxious to get quick news about this |
clerical matinee"
My mentality agreed with his, and [ .
felt half silly about it, but beyond that !
was the dread lest something of import |
ance be forgotten. Being responsible, | |
insisted on that ground and, with the !
two stenegraphers, started for the Firth
Avenue Hotel. where the reception to
Mr.. Blaine was to occur. L telt safe
then like one who has got up in the
night and made note of something he
might otherwise have forgotten l i
would do" the introduction and the des- !
criptive part of the story. |
On the parlor floor of the Fifth Ave
nue Hotel. one flight above the Offices,
a deeply carpeted space forms a court
upon which open the reception parlors
and the great dining-hall, and from |
which radiate the corridors and out of !
which rises the broad staircase to upper i
floors.
A stable and increasing company of
men were chatting i'll groups about the
broad hall, and the place was Frightened
by women who had sought this available
spot to observe great man, and, though
no one yet suspected, a great event.
1t was the Wednesday before election
day. The good men greeted and bespoke
each other with that important air that
l. Il t1,n -rr1H
when occasionally he steps in to rub
against real life. A few hardheads like
DIR. Macarthur and DIR. James NJ. King
emphasized the almost boyish exuber-
ance of the others. For the day at least
the clerical heart warmed even toward
the Jews, for there among them was
Rabbi E B. NJ Browne. How power
full was the Plumed Knight The peo-
pies of the earth had risen up to call
him good. and the ministers glowed with
pleasure and Importance
Il am here: that shows where | stand
bravelv spoke the Plymouth Church as
sistant, Rev. S. B. Halliday. /
And his brethren cheered and wrung
his hand and slapped his back, tor was
he not as brand plucked from the Ply
mouth burning? Verify so; for Halt
days chief. the great Beecher, had Just
delivered his famous campaign speech
in behalf of Cleveland i
Editor Henry AZ Field of the Evan
gelist was in the throng, and also Cyrus !
Palmer. Dr. Burchard. Dr. Spears, Dr !
Bardwell, and Dickinson, Pangborn and
Lourey.
All. yes. this is important-the ques- :
ton Of who were present. for did not a
storm of controversy follow IS to who
were and who were not?
THE WELCOME TO BLAINE.
l imagine 400 or 500 persons must
have stood crowded together when the
speaking began. though afterwards one
thousand !