The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine May 1913 by Various PDF
Preview The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine May 1913 by Various
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine (May 1913), by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine (May 1913) Vol. LXXXVI. New Series: Vol. LXIV. May to October, 1913 Author: Various Release Date: October 16, 2016 [EBook #53286] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CENTURY ILLUSTRATED *** Produced by ane Robins, Reiner Ruf, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Transcriber’s Notes This e-text is based on ‘The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine,’ from May 1913. Even though this edition includes an Index for the complete volume (May–October 1913), page links have been created for the May issue only. Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation have been retained, but punctuation and typographical errors have been corrected. Passages in English dialect and in languages other than English have not been altered. THE CENTURY ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY MAGAZINE VOL. LXXXVI NEW SERIES: VOL. LXIV MAY TO OCTOBER, 1913 THE CENTURY CO., NEW YORK HODDER & STOUGHTON, LONDON Copyright, 1913, by THE CENTURY CO. THE DE VINNE PRESS INDEX TO THE CENTURY MAGAZINE VOL. LXXXVI NEW SERIES: VOL. LXIV PAGE ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY, IN RUSSIA. (Unpublished letters.) Introduction and notes by Charles Francis Adams. Portraits of John Quincy Adams and Madame de Staël 250 AFTER-DINNER STORIES. An Anecdote of McKinley. Silas Harrison 319 AFTER-THE-WAR SERIES, THE CENTURY’S. The Hayes-Tilden Contest for the Presidency. Henry Watterson 3 Pictures from photographs and cartoons. Another View of “The Hayes-Tilden Contest”. George F. Edmunds 192 Portrait of Ex-Senator Edmunds. AMERICANS, NEW-MADE. Drawings by W. T. Benda Facing page 894 ARTISTS SERIES, AMERICAN, THE CENTURY’S. John S. Sargent: Nonchalance. 44 Carl Marr: The Landscape-Painter. 110 Frank W. Benson: My Daughter. 264 AUTO-COMRADE, THE. Robert Haven Schauffler 850 AVOCATS, LES DEUX. From the painting by Honoré Daumier Facing page 654 BALKAN PENINSULA, SKIRTING THE Robert Hichens III. The Environs of Athens. 84 Pictures by Jules Guérin and from photographs. IV. Delphi and Olympia. 224 Pictures by Jules Guérin and from photographs. V. In Constantinople. 374 Pictures by Jules Guérin and from photographs. VI. Stamboul, the City of Mosques. 519 Pictures by Jules Guérin, two printed in color. BEELZEBUB CAME TO THE CONVENT, HOW Ethel Watts Mumford 323 Picture by N. C. Wyeth. “BLACK BLOOD.” Edward Lyell Fox 213 Pictures by William H. Foster. BOOK OF HIS HEART, THE Allan Updegraff 701 Picture by Herman Pfeifer. BORROWED LOVER, THE L. Frank Tooker 348 BRITISH UNCOMMUNICATIVENESS. A. C. Benson 567 BROTHER LEO. Phyllis Bottome 181 Pictures by W. T. Benda. BUSINESS IN THE ORIENT. Harry A. Franck 475 CAMILLA’S FIRST AFFAIR. Gertrude Hall 400 Pictures by Emil Pollak-Ottendorff. CARTOONS. Noise Extracted without Pain. Oliver Herford 155 Foreign Labor. Oliver Herford 477 Ninety Degrees in the Shade. J. R. Shaver 477 A Boy’s Best Friend. May Wilson Preston 634 “The Fifth Avenue Girl” and “A Bit of Gossip.” Sculpture by Ethel Myers 635 The Child de Luxe. Boardman Robinson 636 The “Elite” Bathing-Dress. Reginald Birch 797 From Grave to Gay. C. F. Peters 798 Died: Rondeau Rymbel. Oliver Herford 955 A Triumph for the Fresh Air Fund. F. R. Gruger 957 [Pg iii] [Pg iv] Newport Note. Reginald Birch 960 CASUS BELLI. 955 CENTURY, THE, THE SPIRIT OF Editorial 789 CHOATE, JOSEPH H. From a charcoal portrait by John S. Sargent Facing page 711 CHRISTMAS, ON ALLOWING THE EDITOR TO SHOP EARLY FOR Leonard Hatch 473 CLOWN’S RUE. Hugh Johnson 730 Picture, printed in tint, by H. C. Dunn. COLE’S (TIMOTHY) ENGRAVINGS OF MASTERPIECES IN AMERICAN GALLERIES. Une Dame Espagnole. From the painting by Fortuny 2 COMING SNEEZE, THE Harry Stillwell Edwards 368 Picture by F. R. Gruger. COMMON SENSE IN THE WHITE HOUSE. Editorial 149 COUNTRY ROADS OF NEW ENGLAND. Drawings by Walter King Stone 668 DEVIL, THE, HIS DUE Philip Curtiss 895 DINNER OF HERBS,” “BETTER IS A. Picture by Edmund Dulac Facing page 801 DORMER-WINDOW, THE, THE COUNTRY OF Henry Dwight Sedgwick 720 Pictures by W. T. Benda. DOROTHY MCK——, PORTRAIT OF Wilhelm Funk 211 DOWN-TOWN IN NEW YORK Drawings by Herman Webster 697 ELEPHANT ROUND-UP, AN D. P. B. Conkling 236 Pictures from photographs. ELEPHANTS, WILD, NOOSING Charles Moser 240 Pictures from photographs. ELIXIR OF YOUTH, THE Albert Bigelow Paine 21 Picture by O. F. Schmidt. FLOODS, THE GREAT, IN THE MIDDLE WEST Editorial 148 FRENCH ART, EXAMPLES OF CONTEMPORARY. A Corner of the Table. From the painting by Charles Chabas 83 GARAGE IN THE SUNSHINE, A Joseph Ernest 921 Picture by Harry Raleigh. GET SOMETHING BY GIVING SOMETHING UP, ON HOW TO Simeon Strunsky 153 GHOSTS,” “DEY AIN’T NO Ellis Parker Butler 837 Pictures by Charles Sarka. GOING UP. Frederick Lewis Allen 632 Picture by Reginald Birch. GOLF, MIND VERSUS MUSCLE IN Marshall Whitlatch 606 GOVERNMENT, THE CHANGING VIEW OF Editorial 311 GRAND CAÑON OF THE COLORADO, THE Joseph Pennell 202 Six lithographs drawn from nature for “The Century.” GUTTER-NICKEL, THE Estelle Loomis 570 Picture by J. Montgomery Flagg. HARD MONEY, THE RETURN TO Charles A. Conant 439 Portraits, and cartoons by Thomas Nast. HER OWN LIFE. Allan Updegraff 79 HOME. I. AN ANONYMOUS NOVEL. 801 Illustrations by Reginald Birch. HOMER AND HUMBUG. Stephen Leacock 952 HYPERBOLE IN ADVERTISING, ON THE USE OF Agnes Repplier 316 ILLUSION OF PROGRESS, THE Kenyon Cox 39 IMPRACTICAL MAN, THE Elliott Flower 549 Pictures by F. R. Gruger. INTERNATIONAL CLUB, THE, ON THE COLLAPSE OF G. K. Chesterton 151 JAPANESE CHILD, A, THE TRAINING OF Frances Little 170 Pictures from photographs. JAPAN, THE NEW, AMERICAN MAKERS OF William Elliot Griffis 597 Pictures from photographs. JEFFERSON, THOMAS. From the statue for the Jefferson Memorial in St. Louis by Karl Bitter 27 [Pg v] JURYMAN, THE, THE MIND OF Hugo Münsterberg 711 LADY AND HER BOOK, THE, ON Helen Minturn Seymour 315 LAWLESSNESS IN ART. Editorial 150 LIFE AFTER DEATH. Maurice Maeterlinck 655 LITERATURE FACTORY. E. P. Butler 638 LOUISE. Color-Tone, from the marble bust by Evelyn Beatrice Longman Facing page 766 LOVE BY LIGHTNING. Maria Thompson Daviess 641 Pictures, printed in tint, by F. R. Gruger. MANNERING’S MEN. Marjorie L. C. Pickthall 427 MAN WHO DID NOT GO TO HEAVEN ON TUESDAY, THE Ellis Parker Butler 340 MILLET’S RETURN TO HIS OLD HOME. Truman H. Bartlett 332 Pictures from pastels by Millet. MONEY BEHIND THE GUN, THE Editorial 470 MORGAN’S, MR., PERSONALITY Joseph B. Gilder 459 Picture from photograph. MOVING-PICTURE, THE, THE WIDENING FIELD OF Charles B. Brewer 66 Pictures from photographs. MRS. LONGBOW’S BIOGRAPHY. Gordon Hall Gerould 56 NEMOURS: A TYPICAL FRENCH PROVINCIAL TOWN. Roger Boutet de Monvel 844 Pictures by Bernard Boutet de Monvel. NEWSPAPER INVASION OF PRIVACY. Editorial 310 NIAGARA AGAIN IN DANGER. Editorial 150 NOTEWORTHY STORIES OF THE LAST GENERATION. The Tachypomp. Edward P. Mitchell 99 Portrait of the author, and drawings by Reginald Birch. Belles Demoiselles Plantation. George W. Cable 273 With portrait of the author, and new pictures by W. M. Berger. The New Minister’s Great Opportunity. C. H. White 390 With portrait of the author, and new picture by Harry Townsend. ONE WAY TO MAKE THINGS BETTER. Editorial 471 OREGON MUDDLE,” “THE Victor Rosewater 764 PADEREWSKI AT HOME. Abbie H. C. Finck 900 Picture from a portrait by Emil Fuchs. PARIS. Theodore Dreiser 904 Pictures by W. J. Glackens. “PEGGY.” From the marble bust by Evelyn Beatrice Longman 362 POLO TEAM, UNDEFEATED AMERICAN, BRONZE GROUP OF THE Herbert Hazeltine Facing page 641 PROGRESSIVE PARTY, THE Theodore Roosevelt 826 Portrait of the author. PUNS, A PAPER OF Brander Matthews 290 Head-piece by Reginald Birch. REMINGTON, FREDERIC, RECOLLECTIONS OF Augustus Thomas 354 Pictures by Frederic Remington, and portrait. ROMAIN ROLLAND. Alvan F. Sanborn 512 Picture from portrait of Rolland from a drawing by Granié. ST. BERNARD, THE GREAT Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg 161 Pictures by André Castaigne. ST. ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY. By Francisco Zubarán. Engraved on wood by Timothy Cole 437 SCARLET TANAGER, THE. Printed in color from the painting by Alfred Brennan 29 “SCHEDULE K”. N. I. Stone 111 “SCHEDULE K,” COMMENTS ON Editorial 472 SCULPTURE. Charles Keck 917 SENIOR WRANGLER THE 958 Snobbery—America vs. England. Our Tender Literary Celebrities. SIGIRIYA, “THE LION’S ROCK” OF CEYLON. Jennie Coker Gay 265 Pictures by Duncan Gay. SOCIALISM IN THE COLLEGES. Editorial 468 SPINSTER, AMERICAN, THE Agnes Repplier 363 [Pg vi] SUMMER HILLS,” THE, IN “THE CIRCUIT OF John Burroughs 878 Portrait of the author by Alvin L. Coburn. SUNSET ON THE MARSHES. From the painting by George Inness Facing page 824 “THEM OLD MOTH-EATEN LOVYERS”. Charles Egbert Craddock 120 Pictures by George Wright. TRADE OF THE WORLD PAPERS, THE James Davenport Whelpley XVII. If Canada were to Annex the United States 534 Pictures from photographs. XVIII. The Foreign Trade of the United States 886 T. TEMBAROM. Frances Hodgson Burnett 130 Drawings by Charles S. Chapman. 296, 413, 610, 767, 929 TWO-BILLION-DOLLAR CONGRESS, THE Editorial 313 UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELER, AN, IN LONDON Theodore Dreiser 736 Pictures by W. J. Glackens. UNDER WHICH FLAG, LADIES, ORDER OR ANARCHY? Editorial 309 VENEZUELA DISPUTE, THE, THE MONROE DOCTRINE IN Charles R. Miller 750 Cartoons from “Punch,” and a map. VERITA’S STRATAGEM. Anne Warner 430 VOYAGE OVER, THE FIRST Theodore Dreiser 586 Pictures by W. J. Glackens. WAGNER, RICHARD, IF, CAME BACK Henry T. Finck 208 Portrait of Wagner from photograph. WALL STREET, THE NEWS IN James L. Ford 794 Pictures by Reginald Birch and May Wilson Preston. WAR AGAINST WAR. Editorial 147 WAR-HORSES OF FAMOUS GENERALS. James Grant Wilson 45 Pictures from paintings and photographs. WAR WORTH WAGING, A Richard Barry 31 Picture by Jay Hambidge. WASHINGTON, FRESH LIGHT ON 635 WATTERSON’S, COLONEL, REJOINDER TO EX-SENATOR EDMUNDS Henry Watterson 285 Comments on “Another View of ‘The Hayes-Tilden Contest.’” WHISTLER, A VISIT TO Maria Torrilhon Buel 694 WHITE LINEN NURSE, THE Eleanor Hallowell Abbott 483 Pictures, printed in tint, by Herman Pfeifer. 672, 857 WIDOW, THE. From the painting by Couture 457 An example of French portraiture. WORLD REFORMERS—AND DUSTERS. The Senior Wrangler 792 Picture by Reginald Birch. YEAR, THE MOST IMPORTANT Editorial 951 [Pg vii] VERSE BALLADE OF PROTEST, A Carolyn Wells 476 BEGGAR, THE James W. Foley 877 BELLE DAME SANS MERCI, LA John Keats 388 Republished with pictures by Stanley M. Arthurs. BLANK PAGE, FOR A Austin Dobson 458 BROTHER MINGO MILLENYUM’S ORDINATION. Ruth McEnery Stuart 475 CONTINUED IN THE ADS. Sarah Redington 795 CUBIST ROMANCE, A Oliver Herford 318 Picture by Oliver Herford. DADDY DO-FUNNY’S, OLD, WISDOM JINGLES Ruth McEnery Stuart 154 319, 478 DOUBLE STAR, A Leroy Titus Weeks 511 EMERGENCY. William Rose Benét 916 EXPERIMENTERS, THE, TO Charles Badger Clark, Jr. 43 FINIS. William H. Hayne 295 GENTLE READER, THE Arthur Davison Ficke 692 HOUSE-WITHOUT-ROOF. Edith M. Thomas 339 HUSBAND SHOP, THE Oliver Herford 956 Picture by Oliver Herford. INVULNERABLE. William Rose Benét 308 JUSTICE, AT THE CLOSED GATES OF James D. Corrothers 272 LADY CLARA VERE DE VERE: NEW STYLE. Anne O’Hagan 793 Picture by E. L. Blumenschein. LAST FAUN, THE Helen Minturn Seymour 717 Picture, printed in tint, by Charles A. Winter. LAST MESSAGE, A Grace Denio Litchfield 26 LIFE’S ASPIRATION. Louis Untermeyer 156 Drawing by George Wolfe Plank. LIMERICKS: Text and pictures by Oliver Herford. XXVII. The Somnolent Bivalve. 157 XXVIII. The Ounce of Detention. 158 XXIX. The Kind Armadillo. 320 XXX. The Gnat and the Gnu. 479 XXXI. The Sole-Hungering Camel. 480 XXXII. The Eternal Feminine. 639 XXXIII. Tra-la-Larceny. 640 XXXIV. The Conservative Owl. 799 XXXV. The Omnivorous Book-worm. 800 LITTLE PEOPLE, THE Amelia Josephine Burr 387 MAETERLINCK, MAURICE Stephen Phillips 467 MARVELOUS MUNCHAUSEN, THE William Rose Benét 563 Pictures by Oliver Herford. MAY, FROM MY WINDOW. Frances Rose Benét 155 Drawing by Oliver Herford. MESSAGE FROM ITALY, A Margaret Widdemer 547 Drawing printed in tint by W. T. Benda. MOTHER, THE Timothy Cole 920 Picture by Alpheus Cole. MY CONSCIENCE. James Whitcomb Riley 331 Decoration by Oliver Herford. MYSELF,” “I SING OF Louis Untermeyer 960 NEW ART, THE Corinne Rockwell Swain 156 NOYES, ALFRED, TO Edwin Markham 288 OFF CAPRI. Sara Teasdale 223 PARENTS, OUR Charles Irvin Junkin 959 Pictures by Harry Raleigh. PRAYERS FOR THE LIVING. Mary W. Plummer 367 [Pg viii] RITUAL. William Rose Benét 788 ROYAL MUMMY, TO A Anna Glen Stoddard 631 RYMBELS: Pictures by Oliver Herford. The Girl and the Raspberry Ice. Oliver Herford 637 The Yellow Vase. Charles Hanson Towne 637 Tragedy. Theodosia Garrison 638 “On Revient toujours à Son Premier Amour”. Oliver Herford 638 A Rymbel of Rhymers. Carolyn Wells 796 The Prudent Lover. L. Frank Tooker 797 On a Portrait of Nancy. Carolyn Wells 797 SAME OLD LURE, THE Berton Braley 478 SCARLET TANAGER, TO A Grace Hazard Conkling 28 SIERRA MADRE. Henry Van Dyke 347 SOCRATIC ARGUMENT. John Carver Alden 960 SUBMARINE MOUNTAINS. Cale Young Rice 693 TRIOLET, A Leroy Titus Weeks 636 WINE OF NIGHT, THE Louis Untermeyer 119 WINGÈD VICTORY. Victor Whitlock 596 Photograph and decoration. WISE SAINT, THE Herman Da Costa 798 Picture by W. T. Benda. YOUNG HEART IN AGE, THE Edith M. Thomas 78 TIMOTHY COLE’S WOOD ENGRAVINGS OF MASTERPIECES IN AMERICAN GALLERIES UNE DAME ESPAGNOLE BY FORTUNY Owned by the Metropolitan Museum, New York UNE DAME ESPAGNOLE. BY FORTUNY (TIMOTHY COLE’S WOOD ENGRAVINGS OF MASTERPIECES IN AMERICAN GALLERIES) ❏ LARGER IMAGE [Pg 2] T Copyright 1913, by THE CENTURY CO. All rights reserved. THE CENTURY MAGAZINE VOL. LXXXVI MAY, 1913 NO. 1 THE HAYES-TILDEN CONTEST FOR THE PRESIDENCY INSIDE HISTORY OF A GREAT POLITICAL CRISIS (THE CENTURY’S AFTER-THE-WAR SERIES) BY HENRY WATTERSON Editor of the Louisville “Courier-Journal” I HE time is coming, if it has not already arrived, when among fair-minded and intelligent Americans there will not be two opinions touching the Hayes-Tilden contest for the Presidency in 1876–77—that both by the popular vote and a fair count of the electoral vote Tilden was elected and Hayes was defeated—but the whole truth underlying the determinate incidents which led to the rejection of Tilden and the seating of Hayes will never be known. “All history is a lie,” observed Sir Robert Walpole, the corruptionist, mindful of what was likely to be written about himself, and, “What is history,” asked Napoleon, the conqueror, “but a fable agreed upon?” In the first administration of Mr. Cleveland, there were present at a dinner-table in Washington, the President being of the party, two leading Democrats and two leading Republicans who had sustained confidential relations to the principals and played important parts in the drama of the Disputed Succession. These latter had been long upon terms of personal intimacy. The occasion was informal and joyous, the good-fellowship of the heartiest. Inevitably the conversation drifted to the Electoral Commission, which had counted Tilden out and Hayes in, and of which each of the four had some story to tell. Beginning in banter, with interchanges of badinage, it presently fell into reminiscence, deepening as the interest of the listeners rose to what under different conditions might have been described as unguarded gaiety, if not imprudent garrulity. The little audience was rapt. Finally, Mr. Cleveland raised both hands and exclaimed, “What would the people of this country think if the roof could be lifted from this house and they could hear these men!” And then one of the four, a gentleman noted for his wealth both of money and humor, replied, “But the roof is not going to be lifted from this house, and if any one repeats what I have said I will denounce him as a liar.” Once in a while the world is startled by some revelation of the unknown which alters the estimate of an historic event or figure; but it is measurably true, as Metternich declares, that those who make history rarely have time to write it. It is not my wish in recurring to the events of five-and-thirty years ago to invoke and awaken any of the passions of that time, nor my purpose to assail the character or motives of any of the leading actors. Most of them, including the principals, I knew well; to many of their secrets I was privy. As I was serving, in a sense, as Mr. Tilden’s personal representative in the Lower House of the Forty-fourth Congress, and as a member of the joint Democratic Advisory or Steering Committee of the two Houses, all that passed came more or less, if not under my supervision, yet to my knowledge; and long ago I resolved that certain matters should remain a sealed book in my memory. I make no issue of veracity with the living; the dead should be sacred. The contradictory promptings, not always crooked; the double constructions possible to men’s actions; the intermingling of ambition and patriotism beneath the lash of party spirit; often wrong unconscious of itself; sometimes equivocation deceiving itself; in short, the tangled web of good and ill [Pg 3] [Pg 4] inseparable from great affairs of loss and gain, made debatable ground for every step of the Hayes-Tilden proceeding. I shall bear sure testimony to the integrity of Mr. Tilden. I directly know that the Presidency was offered to him for a price and that he refused it; and I indirectly know and believe that two other offers came to him which also he declined. The accusation that he was willing to buy, and through the cipher despatches and other ways tried to buy, rests upon appearance supporting mistaken surmise. Mr. Tilden knew nothing of the cipher despatches until they appeared in the “New-York Tribune.” Neither did Mr. George W. Smith, his private secretary, and later one of the trustees to his will. It should be sufficient to say that, so far as they involved No. 15 Gramercy Park, they were the work solely of Colonel Pelton, acting on his own responsibility, and, as Mr. Tilden’s nephew, exceeding his authority to act; that it later developed that during this period Colonel Pelton had not been in his perfect mind, but was at least semi-irresponsible; and that on two occasions when the vote or votes sought seemed within reach, Mr. Tilden interposed to forbid. Directly and personally, I know this to be true. The price, at least in patronage, which the Republicans actually paid for possession is of public record. Yet I not only do not question the integrity of Mr. Hayes, but I believe him, and most of those immediately about him, to have been high-minded men who thought they were doing for the best in a situation unparalleled and beset with perplexity. What they did tends to show that men will do for party and in concert what the same men never would be willing to do each on his own responsibility. In his “Life of Samuel J. Tilden,” John Bigelow says: Why persons occupying the most exalted positions should have ventured to compromise their reputations by this deliberate consummation of a series of crimes which struck at the very foundations of the Republic, is a question which still puzzles many of all parties who have no charity for the crimes themselves. I have already referred to the terrors and desperation with which the prospect of Tilden’s election inspired the great army of office-holders at the close of Grant’s administration. That army, numerous and formidable as it was, was comparatively limited. There was a much larger and justly influential class who were apprehensive that the return of the Democratic party to power threatened a reactionary policy at Washington, to the undoing of some or all the important results of the war. These apprehensions were inflamed by the party press until they were confined to no class, but more or less pervaded all the Northern States. The Electoral Tribunal, consisting mainly of men appointed to their positions by Republican Presidents, or elected from strong Republican States, felt the pressure of this feeling, and from motives compounded in more or less varying proportions of dread of the Democrats, personal ambition, zeal for their party, and respect for their constituents, reached the conclusion that the exclusion of Tilden from the White House was an end which justified whatever means were necessary to accomplish it. They regarded it like the emancipation of the slaves, as a war measure. PRESIDENT AND MRS. HAYES IN 1877, AT THE TIME OF THEIR SILVER WEDDING [Pg 5] From a photograph owned by F. H. Meserve SENATOR ZACHARIAH CHANDLER Chairman of the Republican National Committee in the Hayes-Tilden campaign. From a photograph by Sherman & McHug CONGRESSMAN ABRAM S. HEWITT Chairman of the Democratic National Committee in the Hayes-Tilden campaign. II THE nomination of Horace Greeley in 1872 and the overwhelming defeat that followed left the Democratic party in an abyss of despair. The old Whig party, after the disaster that overtook it in 1852, had been not more demoralized. Yet in the general elections of 1874 the Democrats swept the country, carrying many Northern States and sending a great majority to the Forty-fourth Congress. From a photograph by W. Kurtz SAMUEL J. TILDEN, GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK, 1875–76 Reconstruction was breaking down of its very weight and rottenness. The panic of 1873 reacted against the party in power. Dissatisfaction with Grant, which had not sufficed two years before to displace him, was growing apace. Favoritism bred corruption, and corruption grew more and more defiant. Succeeding, scandals cast their shadows before. Chickens of “carpet- baggery” let loose upon the South were coming home to roost at the North. There appeared everywhere a noticeable subsidence of the sectional spirit and a rising tide of the national spirit. Reform was needed alike in the State governments and the National government, and the cry for reform proved something other than an idle word. All things made for Democracy. Yet there were many and serious handicaps. The light and leading of the historic Democratic party which had issued from the South were in obscurity and abeyance, while most of those surviving who had been distinguished in the party conduct and counsels were disabled by act of Congress. Of the few prominent Democrats left at the North, many were tainted by what was called Copperheadism (sympathy with the Confederacy). To find a chieftain wholly free from this contamination, Democracy, having failed of success in presidential campaigns not only with Greeley but with McClellan and Seymour, was turning to such disaffected Republicans as Chase, Field, and Davis of the Supreme Court. At last Heaven seemed to smile from the clouds upon the disordered ranks and to summon thence a man meeting the requirements of the time. This was Samuel Jones Tilden. To his familiars, Mr. Tilden was a dear old bachelor who lived in a fine old mansion in Gramercy Park. Though sixty years of age, he seemed in the prime of his manhood; a genial and overflowing scholar; a trained and earnest doctrinaire; a public-spirited, patriotic citizen, well known and highly esteemed, who had made fame and fortune at the bar and had always been interested in public affairs. He was a dreamer with a genius for business, a philosopher yet an organizer. He pursued the tenor of his life with measured tread. His domestic fabric was disfigured by none of the isolation and squalor which so often attend the confirmed celibate. His home life was a model of order and decorum, his home as unchallenged as a bishopric, its hospitality, though select, profuse and untiring. An elder sister presided at his board, as simple, kindly, and unostentatious, but as methodical as himself. He was a lover of books rather than music and art, but also of horses and dogs and out-of-door activity. He was fond of young people, particularly of young girls; he drew them about him, and was a veritable Sir Roger de Coverley in his gallantries toward them and his zeal in amusing them and making them happy. His tastes were frugal and their indulgence was sparing. He took his wine not plenteously, though he enjoyed it—especially his “blue seal” while it lasted—and sipped his whisky-and-water on occasion with a pleased composure redolent of discursive talk, of which, when he cared to lead the conversation, he was a master. He had early come into a great legal practice and held a commanding professional position. His judgment was believed to be infallible; and it is certain that after 1871 he rarely appeared in the courts of law except as counselor, settling in chambers most of the cases that came to him. It was such a man whom, in 1874, the Democrats nominated for Governor of New York. To say truth, it was not thought by those making the nomination that he had much chance to win. He was himself so much better advised that months ahead he prefigured very near the exact vote. The afternoon of the day of election one of the group of friends, who even thus early had the Presidency in mind, found him in his library confident and calm. “What majority will you have?” he asked cheerily. “Any,” replied the friend sententiously. “How about fifteen thousand?” “Quite enough.” “Twenty-five thousand?” “Still better.” “The majority,” he said, “will be a little in excess of fifty thousand.” It was 53,315. His estimate was not guesswork. He had organized his campaign by school-districts. His canvass system was perfect, his canvassers were as penetrating and careful as census-takers. He had before him reports from every voting precinct in the State. They were corroborated by the official returns. He had defeated General John A. Dix, thought to be invincible, by a majority very [Pg 6] [Pg 7] [Pg 8] nearly the same as that by which Governor Dix had been elected two years before.
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