ted a most unlikely scion of a well-known
family to a foreign mission, and another young Kentuckian, the son of a
New York magnate, to a leading consul generalship, without consultation
with any one. He asked me about these. In a way one of them was one of
my boys, and I was glad to see him get what he wanted, though he aspired
to nothing so high. He was indeed all sorts of a boy, and his elevation
to such a post was so grotesque that the nomination, like that of his
mate, was rejected by the Senate. I gave the President a serio-comic but
kindly account, at which he laughed heartily, and ended by my asking how
he had chanced to make two such appointments.

"Hewitt came over here," he answered, "and then Dorsheimer. The father
is the only Democrat we have in that great corporation. As to the other,
he struck me as a likely fellow. It seemed good politics to gratify them
and their friends."

I suggested that such backing was far afield and not very safe to go by,
when suddenly he said: "I have been told over and over again by you and
by others that you will not take office. Too much of a lady, I suppose!
What are you hanging round Washington for anyhow? What do you want?"

Here was my opportunity to speak of Winchester, and I did so.

When I had finished he said: "What are you doing about Winchester?"

"Relying on the Secretary of State, who served in Congress with him and
knows him well."

Then he asked: "What do you want for Winchester?"

I answered: "Belgium or Switzerland."

He said: "I promised Switzerland for a friend of Corning's. He brought
him over here yesterday and he is an out-and-out Republican who voted
for Blaine, and I shall not appoint him. If you want the place for
Winchester, Winchester it is."

Next day, much to Mr. Bayard's surprise, the commission was made out.

Mr. Cleveland had a way of sudden fancies to new and sometimes queer
people. Many of his appointments were eccentric and fell like bombshells
upon the Senate, taking the appointee's home people completely by
surprise.

The recommendation of influential politicians seemed to have little if
any weight with him.

There came to Washington from Richmond a gentleman by the name of
Keiley, backed by the Virginia delegation for a minor consulship. The
President at once fell in love with him.

[Illustration: Mr. Watterson's Library at "Mansfield"]

"Consul be damned," he said. "He is worth more than that," and named him
Ambassador to