The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-01-27

washington owed much 10 his vile,
Dolly Madison was one of the most
popular American women who ever lived.
Mrs. Garfield and Mrs. Hayes We're strong
figures at the Capital while their hus-
bands were in the White House. Mrs.
Cleveland's influence during her husbands
incumbency of the Presidency is well re-
membered Mrs. Roosevelt is a power
in Washington now.
Mrs. Bryan worked as hard all through
her husbands two campaigns as her hus-
band did, travelling thousands of miles
with him. revising many Of his speeches.
and often receiving the reporters. Mrs.
Blaine had the entire confidence Of her
husband. though ne relied more on the
Judgment of his intellectual cousin, Gail
Hamilton" than upon his wife'S The
first Mrs William C. Whitney. who was
Miss Payne. of Cleveland helped her huS-
band immensely while he was a Cabinet
minister. Once when an awkward din
ner guest. invited for political reasons.
smashed one of his choicest wine glasses;
she smashed another, 10 put him at his
ease. declaring that such fragile things
were an unmitigated nuisance.
Englands prime ministers have been Pc
culiaTly fortunate in their wives. Lady
PalmerstOn was her husbands private
= D
unclever. and eccentric. brought her hus-
band great fortune and passionate devo-
VOtion, the Warehouses of Salisbury,
dOWdy and with some COmical manner
isms, was Yet Il commanding influence
In her husbands favor because of her
knowledge of politics and her tact. Mrs.
Gladstone, artlessness itself IN manner
was tower OF strength for the Grand
Old Man. Lady ROsebery (who was a
RothschilO, like Lady Beaconsheld,
brought to her husband the wealth which
he needed in carving out his career.
Some, but not al the American brides
of titled Europeans have been equally
helpful to their husbands. Lady Ran
dolph Churchill was one of the helpful
, ones. Lady Curzon, nee Letter, was even
more helpful TO the Viceroy of India than
Jennie Jerome was to Lord Randolph,
and it is probable that had her tactful ad-
vice been accepted the rupture with
Lord Kitchener. which wound UP Lord
Curz0n's career, need never have oc-
CURED.
Mrs. LoEan's Remarkable Career,
There dwells at Washington. u. c.. in
a spacious, square oId-fashioned house
known as Calumet Place, a distinguished
looking woman with sn0W-White hair.
now lacking only a year or so of the Bib
lical threescore and ten, who was pre-
eminently her husbands greatest aid
throughout his entire unusual and pic
turosque career. She is Mary A. Logan.
widow OF Gen. John a Logan, fighter.
State legislator RAINING mate of James
G. Blaine when the latter stood for the
Presidency, and United States Senator
from Illinois for several years before his
death, late in the eighties. For a quarter
4
figure of magnitude, and beyond q doubt
he owed a large part OF his prominence
10 his wife's untiriug efforts for his po-
liticaI advancement, her intimate knowl-
edge of politics and public life. and her
never-failinG tact.
This latter was never shown more con-
spicuously than in the fan OF 1881. at Gin
ciunati when the Blaine campaign was
on. Not everybody, even those on the
inside knew it,. but Blaine was not fond
of Logan. When the two men visited the
Ohio River city in search Of votes Blaine
arrived in the morning and received an
enthusiastic welcome. There were pa
rades band playing. crowds addresses
and decorations Logan reached town in
the afternoon. and no one turned out 10
meet him. This was generally supposed to
De an oversight, but not by Gen. Logan.
He believed that Blaine was at the bot
tom of it,
This view was shared by the editor Of
one of the local papers, who sent a re-
porter to interview the iratc soldier can
did3te. Logan welcomed the newspaper
man. and TO the latJer's amazed delight
expressed himself freely i'm the vitriOlic
English which he sometimes used. He
said things about Blaine the publication
of which would have made q scandal big
enough, perhaps. 10 split the Republican
party AT that most critical time
Airs. Logan was present and heard it
ALL She didn't approve, of course. She
knew now futile even her objections
would be with her husband, wrought up
TO the highest pitch of excitement but she
found a way TO prevent the printing OF
the story. She managed 10 slip out of
the room ahead of the reporter, whom
she intercepted before Ire had left the
hotel, and upon whom she exercised all
the persuasive art of which she was so
famous "a mistress 1t was not easy To get
his promise to suppress so extraordinary
a news story as the Interview with the
general would nave been, but the prom
Use was ultimately given. and kept, too,
which was more 10 the purpose.
Mrs. Logan is the daughter of a SOL
der. she married soldier. and her only
] a
lean history has been more closely con-
nected with its military side than she.
Her father Capt. John ". Cunningham.
fought ia the Mexican war and his IA
Their in the Revolution. Capt John NJ
and his regiment, the First Illinois,
marched all the way from Alton, H.. to
Santa Fc, n Mex, az the outbreak Of the
Mexican trouble
She was born at Petersburg No, in
1898, when that then thriving village was
On the frontier. Long years ago il dis
appeared completely from the map II
was during the Mexican war that Cum
bingham met young Logan. also q volun-
teer captain in the American army. The
older captain was always telling the
younger one about his pretty little d3ueh-
ter, Mary and what q help, he was sure,
She was proving 10 her mother during
the fathers absence at the front.
The girl was an even greater help to
her mother after the close of the war
FOR, in 1873, capt Cunningham. like John
NJ. Pettus. and thousands Of other ambi-
tiOus men. bet0Ok himself TO the land of
newly discovered gold. leaving his fam
lily meanwhile TO make the best of thu
situation. He was gone four years. duT@
ing which he managed Co earn his own
living though little besides. These four
years brought out all that was strong in
Mary Cunningham. She was man and
maid in turn, She wecded vegetables
and hOed potatoes; sine scrubbed and
baked: she did whatever was necessary
10 help her mother support the family of
six children, and Mary's planning was as
important as her work
"BIack Jack" Logun's Rapid Court
ship.
Her father returned when she was four
teen, removed his family to Shawneetown.
ILL.,, where ne had been appointed land Of
fee register. and sent his daughter to a
convent school in Kentucky. She was a