perb in appearance
as he had been courageous in battle. I have never heard more
brilliant conversation than that at our table, in which the chief
participants were Gail Hamilton, Bishop Quintard, General Hancock,
Senator Maxey, and Mr. Blaine. The last named, "upon the plain
highway of talk," was unrivalled.

While the Board was in session, Mr. Blaine and I spent some hours with
the Hon. Hamilton Fish, late Secretary of State, at his country
home near West Point. Near by was still standing the historic
Beverly Robinson House, the home of Benedict Arnold when he was in
command of the Colonial forces at West Point. As we passed through
the quaint old mansion, Mr. Blaine, whose knowledge of our
Revolutionary history was all-embracing, described graphically the
conditions existing at the time of Arnold's treason, and just where
each person sat at the breakfast table in the old dining-room in
which we were then standing, on the fateful morning when the courier
from the British camp hurriedly announced to General Arnold the
capture of Major Andre.

Mr. Blaine and I were once passing along Pennsylvania Avenue, a
third of a century ago, when he remarked that the old building just
to our right had once been a high-toned gambling house; that there
were traditions to the effect that some well-known statesmen were not
wholly unadvised as to its exact location and uses. He then told me
that during his first term in Congress he was early one morning
passing this building on his way to the Capitol. Just as he reached
the spot where we were then standing, the Hon. Thaddeus Stevens
came down the steps of the building mentioned, and, immediately
after his cordial greeting to Mr. Blaine, was accosted by a
negro preacher, who earnestly requested a contribution toward
the building of a church for his people. Promptly taking a roll
from his vest pocket, Mr. Stevens handed the negro a fifty-dollar bill,
and turning to Blaine solemnly observed,

"God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform!"

At the time first mentioned, Mr. Blaine was in excellent health,
buoyant in spirits, aggressive to the last degree, and full of hope
as to the future. The disappointments and bereavements that saddened
the closing years of his life had as yet cast no shadow upon his
pathway.

Next in leadership to Mr. Blaine, upon the Republican side, was
the Hon. James A. Garfield. He possessed few of the qualities
of brilliant leadership s