tion of the name of Ewing with that of Blaine has given rise to the story that the Ewing family of Ohio helped James G. Blaine to an education. I might as well destroy this fiction by telling the facts. A short drive brought me to Washing. ton, the county seat of this county, and one of the first men I met was Major John H. Ewing, an old veteran now past four-score years. "I married the sister of Ephraim L. Blaine. He and I went to school together over in yonder college, and I knew him nearly all his life. He was a leader in the mischief of the school, and fond of all the good things in this life. He was the handsomest man I ever saw, and he had a wife that was a match for him. She was one of the noblest women I ever knew. She inherited all the sterling traits of character and strength of mind for which the Gillespies were noted. So, you see, Blaine sprang from the best of stock on both sides. His father was justice of the peace over in West Brownville for a number of years, and afterwards prothonotary of the county. He was elected in 1842 and came here to live. James G. was only about 12 years old then, and almost every middle-aged man you meet on the streets here remembers all about him. On the road to Fame. Mr. Gow, the editor of one of the village papers, who was Blaine's classmate, speaks thus of his schooldays: "Yes, Blaine graduated in the class of '47, when he was only seventeen years old. I graduated in the same class. We were thrown a great deal together, not only in school, but in society. He was a great favorite in the best social circles in the town. He was not noted as a leader in his class. He could learn his lessons too easily. He had the most remarkable memory of any boy in school, and could commit and retain his lessons without difficulty. He never demonstrated in his youth, except by his wonderful memory, any of the great powers as a debater and thinker that he has since given evidence of. When a man has filled so large a place in the public eye as Mr. Blaine has, his early life seems a great way off. When you get where every other man you meet can tell you all about it, then you seem to see it in a different light and it leaves a far different impression upon your mind. Here, what seems to be to you when away traditions far in the distant past, appears like the recollections of yesterday. People cannot only tell you of his father and his grandfather, but of almost every phase of his life from boyhood up. The stories of his early struggles and triumphs are as vivid as those of his later years, and his name is closely associated with the lore of the country side. He left here soon after he graduated, but how little did he then think that his home would be made in the Northland and his fame and fortune won many miles away from the quaint old town where he grew up. It is a nice place for peace and rest. The people are contented and happy with their splendid educational institutions, their rich acres and plenty of money. He had close alliances here then that were likely to bring him back to stay. Almost his first occupation after graduating was as a teacher in the Deaf and Dumb Asylum in Philadelphia. A Love Romance. Why he went from there to Kentucky to teach school has been a question often asked, but never answered. There is a tradition here that there is but one being who knows. Like other boys he had his friendships and his loves, and it would be strange if he had grown up-for he is said to have been as handsome a boy as he is a manwithout leaving some impression upon the hearts of the maidens of the neighborhood. If there is one person living who can tell, and there is, it has been and doubtless will be forever kept as a sealed book, so far as the details are concerned. It was one of those youthful misunderstandings that of ten come to two people who hope to start out on the voyage of life together, and are separated by an angry sea before they meet. There is not even a suggestion as to which of the two were at fault for the parting of the ways that led their life's journeys into different paths. The party most disappointed has never wedded, but has rather devoted her life to self-denying charity. For twenty years, and by the to Pennsylvania and began studying law. irony of fate in the capital of the nation, has she followed the path of an undeviating Christian life, devoted to careful attention upon suffering humanity, doubtless watching with a careful eye his steadily-advancing steps, and, perhaps, often sitting under the spell of his eloquence, without his ever knowing that the being whose presence was once the chief charm of life was even living. Blaine as a Teacher. He read law carefully, and obtained a throrough knowledge of its principles, but never presented himself as a candidate for admission to the Bar. While prosecuting his law studies he devoted himself to literary pursuits, and wrote for quite a number of newspapers and magazines. which was attended by 200 Revolutionary veterans, Mr. Blaine has said that the modern cant and criticism which we sometimes hear about Washington not being a very great man would have been dangerous talk on that day and in that assemblage. Of his college he has said: "During my service of eighteen years in Congress I met a larger number of the alumni of Washington and Jefferson than of any single college in the Union." With Blaine's college life his immediate connection with Pennsylvania, except for a short time spent as a teacher in Philadelphia, and a few years devoted to the study of law, was ended, but his affection for his native State did not grow less with distance or time, and on the occasion of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Washington County, in 1881, he wrote: Mr. Blaine has always retained a warm affection for his alma mater and his native county and state. He has said that his From his alma mater young Blaine went pride and affection for both increase with to Blue Lick Springs, Kentucky, and be- years and reflection, and he recalls with came a professor in the Western Military pleasure the memory of the hardy pioneers Institute, in which there were about 450 of the county, their zealous celebrations boys. A retired officer, who was a student on the Fourth of July and Washington's there at the time, relates that Professor Birthday, and, speaking of one Fourth of Blaine was a thin, handsome, earnest July celebration in Brownsville in 1840, young man, with the same fascinating manners he has now. He became very popular with those entrusted to his charge, who trusted him and made friends with him from the first. He knew the given names of every one, and he knew their shortcomings and their strong points. He was a man of great personal courage, and during a fight between the faculty of the school and the owners of the springs, involving some questions about the removal of the school, he behaved in the bravest manner, fighting hard, but keeping cool. Revolvers and knives were freely used, but Blaine only used his well-disciplined muscle. Colonel Thornton F. Johnson was the principal of the school, and his wife had a young ladies' school at Millersburg, twenty miles distant. It was at this place that Mr. Blaine met Miss Harriet Stanwood, who belonged to an excellent Massachusetts family, and subsequently she became Mrs. Blaine. Miss Stanwood for some romantic reason refused to tell her future husband anything about her parentage or circumstances. When the school broke up she returned to her home in Maine. Mr. Blaine, lover like, followed her; they were married, and the husband, to oblige his wife, became "Blaine, of Maine," though a more correct title would be Blaine of Maine and of Pennsylvania. "I shall always recall with pride that my ancestry and kindred were and are not inconspicuously connected with its history, and that on either side of the beautiful river in Protestant and in Catholic cemeteries five generations of my own blood sleep in honored graves." Before entering on his wider career, Mr. Blaine had yet another experience of teaching, and that was in this city. In the summer of 1852 he arrived in Philadelphia to answer an advertisement for a teacher Mr. Blaine continued to teach at the In- in the Pennsylvania Institution for the Institute for a few years, but at last conclud- struction of the Blind. He had then the ed to take up a profession. He returned bold, aggressive, combative qualities that The following paragraph is from a letter by the late Gov. Kent of Maine, who modestly refrained from classing himself with Fessenden, Hamlin and the Morrills, though he belonged in the front rank of public men in Maine, made especially prominent to the whole country in the campaign of 1840: to-day are his characteristics, and upon ob- | paign of 1856. In 1857, Mr. Blaine distaining and entering on his position as in- posed of his interest in this paper and bestructor of the institution named, early came Editor of The Portland Daily Adgave evidence of them. Not that he was vertiser. In the campaign of 1860 he reobtrusive or offensively forward. "He turned temporarily to his old post on The discharged his duty," said Dr. Chapin, the Kennebec Journal on account of the illness head of the institution, with a conscien- of its Editor. His career in journalism tious fidelity worthy the highest praise. A lasted only six years, but was marked strong, positive man, having an opinion throughout by ability and success, and it which he was ready to support and argue served to give him a good introduction to upon on all occasions, Mr Blaine made as the world of politics and statesmanship. many friends among his pupils as he did among the officers of the establishment. In every respect he proved worthy of the trust reposed. He was a methodical man -a master of statistics and exceedingly careful in his deportment. He appeared to be in love with his work here, and began a journal of the history of the institution, which is as much a model of neatness as it Almost from the day of his assuming is of careful research." This journal, charge of the Kennebec Journal, at the written throughout in a plain, somewhat early age of 23, Mr. Blaine sprang into a angular hand, is, page after page, entirely position of great influence into the polifree from blots or erasures, and affords tics and policy of Maine. At 26 he was a ample evidence that the author was leading power in the councils of the thoroughly interested in his work, It is a Republican party, so recognized by Feshistory of the Philadelphia Institution for senden, Hamlin, the two Morills, and the Instruction of the Blind, written throughout in the hand-writing of James G. Blaine, and is complete from the day on which the institution was opened until the day on which Mr. Blaine resigned his position. Mr. Blaine continued in this place for nearly two years, winning the affection of those he taught, the regard of his fellows, and the respect of his superiors. Editor and Politician. others then and still prominent in the State. Before he was 29 he was chosen chairman of the executive committee of the Republican organization in Maine-a position he has held ever since, and from which he has practically shaped and directed every political campaign in the State-always leading his party to brilliant victory. Had Mr. Blaine been New England born, he probably would not have received such rapid advancement at so early an age even with the same ability he possessed. But there was a sort of Western dash about him that took with us Down-Easters; an expression of frankness, candor, and confidence that gave him from the start very strong and permanent hold on our people and as a foundation of all, a pure character and a masterly ability equal to all demands made upon him. Miss Stanwood was a native of Maine, and after her marriage to Mr. Blaine was anxious for him to make that State his home. This he determined to do, and in 1853 the young couple moved to Augusta, where they have ever since made their home. In the following year Mr. Blaine entered into partnership with Joseph Baker, a prominent lawyer of that town, and the two purchased The Kennebec Journal, of which Mr. Blaine at once became editor. The Journal was a weekly paper, one of the organs of the Whig party, and exercised considerable political influence. His first reputation as a public speaker, was gained in the Fremont cam- organization. In 1858, when he was in his When the old Whig party went to pieces Mr. Blaine joined hands with Governor Anson P. Morrill in organizing the Republican party in the Pine Tree State. His vigorous attacks upon the Buchanan Administration made him a power in the new twenty-ninth year, he was elected to the Mr. Blaine's powers as a debater is found Legislature. He served two years on the floor of the Lower House and two years in the chair, where he displayed the qualities of a parliamentary leadership and control that afterward gave him such renown in the National Legislature at Washington. His Congressional Career. Mr. Blaine's career as a State representative won him such a position that in 1862 he was sent to the Thirty-eighth Congress from the Kennebec district, and received a majority of three thousand votes. His aptitude for legislative business was so marked, that he at once rose into notice amongst his fellow-members, and it required no ordinary talent to attain that position amongst such renowned men as Elihu B. Washburne, Owen Lovejoy, George W. Julian, Godlove S. Orth, Schuyler Colfax, James F. Wilson, Wm. B. Allison, John A. Kasson, Alexander H. Rice, Henry L. Dawes, William Windom' F. P. Blair, Jr., Jame Brooks, Erastus Corning, Reuben E. Fenton, Francis Kernan, George H. Pendleton, Robert C. Schenck, James A. Garfield, Samuel J. Randall, William D. Kelley, Thaddeus Stevens, G. W. Scofield, and many other distinguished men. Here he followed the same even and consistent path of progress that had marked his journey ever since he left college, and the same characteristics and force of mind that gave him the leadership in the Maine Legislature, made him already a man of mark in the National Council. It was an eventful era in our history, when every public man was most critically estimated by the people of the country. It is impossible within the brief limits of this sketch to even touch upon the varied services rendered by Mr. Blaine to his country while a member of the House and Senate. His congressional career embraced the most trying period of his country's history, the sombre years of the rebellion, the reconstruction period, and the perilous time when the election of President Hayes aroused an apparently triumphant Democratic Party almost to the verge of madness. A good example of in a speech delivered in the Senate, April 14, 1879, when an effort was made by the Democrats to strike out the words from a section of the Revised Statutes which provided for the use of soldiers to keep peace at the polls. In reply to the charge that the soldiers were used to intimidate Southern voters, Mr. Blaine said: "The entire South has 1,155 soldiers to intimidate, overrun, oppress and destroy the liberties of 15,000,000 people! In the Southern States there are 1,203 counties. If you distribute the soldiers, there is not quite one for each county. If you distribute them territorially, there is one for every seven hundred square miles of territory, so that if you make a territorial distribution, I would remind the honorable Senator from Delaware, if I saw him in his seat, that the quota for his State would be three. 'One ragged sergeant and two abreast,' as the old song has it. That is the force ready to destroy the liberties of Delaware." He was a member of the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, Forty-first, Fortysecond, Forty-third, and Forty-fourth Congresses, and became the acknowledged leader of the party in the House, and his speeches during the period which he served in Congress, are a glowing tribute to his ability, his acute sagacity, his broad and sound statesmanship, and unflinching patriotism. His first reputation in the Lower House of Congress was that of an exceedingly industrious committeeman. He was a member of the Post Office and Military Committees, and of the Committees on Appropriations and Rules. He paid close attention to the business of the committees, and took an active part in the debates of the House, manifesting practical ability and genius for details. The first remarkable speech which he made in Congress was on the subject of assumption by the General Government of the war debts of the States, in the course of which he urged that the North was abundantly able to carry on the war to a sucessful issue. This vigorous speech attracted so much attention that 200,000 copies of it were circulated in 1864 as a campaign document by the Republican party. In January, 1868, he people. Specie payment came after long introduced a resolution in relation to Con- public discussion, and now Senators are gressional representation, which was quarreling as to who it was that drafted referred to the Reconstruction Committee, the bill passed in 1875. So it is with and was subsequently made the basis of all measures of great public moment. the Fourteenth Amendment. In De- They do not spring from the mind of one cember, 1867, he made an elaborate speech man sitting behind his Congressional on the finances, in which he analyzed Mr. desk. The duty of the statesman is to Pendleton's greenback theory. "The shape, mold, guide, direct in a Republican remedy for our financial troubles," said government. The creative power is in the he, "will not be found in a superabund- minds of many, and the cause of action is ance of depreciated paper currency. It necessity. The great lawyer does not crelies in the opposite direction, and the ate his case. He argues it, develops it, sooner the Nation finds itself on a specie applies principles to it. basis the sooner will the public treasury be freed from embarrassment and private business be relieved from discouragement. Instead, therefore, of entering upon a reckless and boundless issue of legal tenders, with their constant depreciation, if not destruction, of value, let us set resolutely to work and make those already in circulation equal to so many gold dollars." To say that Mr. Blaine has been a power in Congress for the past seventeen years is simply to affirm current history. Though entering very young, he made his mark at once. At the period of darkest depression in the war, when anxiety brooded everywhere and boded everything, Mr. Blaine delivered a speech on "The Ability of the American People to Suppress the Rebellion," which has been cited for the great attention, and commendation it received. Its value lay not alone in its timeliness, for after its first wide circulation it was reprinted as a cam He has always stood close to the People. On the floor of the House, in the Speaker's chair again on the floor of the House, hence in the Senate, and during the politi-paign document in the Presidential camcal campaigns of all these years on the paign of 1864. stump in almost every Northern State, Mr. Blaine has been emphatically with the people and of the people. His opinions on all questions have been pronounced, sometimes to aggressiveness, and his worst enemy has never accused him of evading or avoiding any responsibility or the expression of his convictions on any public issue. It was the delivery of this speech, and some discussions which took place shortly after, that caused Thaddeus Stevens to say that " Blaine, of Maine, has shown as great aptitude and ability for the higher walks of public life as any nian that had come to Congress during his period of service." During the first session of Mr. Blaine's In reviewing Mr. Blaine's Congressional service as member of the Post-Office Comcareer it is necessary at the outset to point mittee he took an active part in co-operaout a very superficial and frivolous line of tion with the chairman, Hon. John B. remark, which we sometimes see, not Alley, and the late James Brooks of New only in regard to Mr. Blaine, but to other York, in encouraging and securing the prominent public men. "What great system of postal cars now in universal measure did Mr. Blaine ever originate?" use. Distribution on the cars had not asks the unfledged but omnipotent cham- been attempted on any great scale, and ber-statesman, and might go on indefinitely the first appropriations for the enlarged asking what great measure did Mr. Sher- service were not granted without opposiman, or Mr. Thurman ever originate, or tion. Mr. Edmunds, or Mr. Conkling, or Mr. Webster, or Mr. Gallatin? Such critics and such criticisms are equally shallow. Great measures grow in the minds of the Following the war, and throughout the period of reconstruction, Mr. Blaine was active, energetic, and intelligent. He was especially prominent in shaping some of |