OCR Interpretation


Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, February 03, 1893, Image 1

Image and text provided by Library of Virginia; Richmond, VA

Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn95079246/1893-02-03/ed-1/seq-1/

What is OCR?


Thumbnail for

HIGHLAND
RECORDER
vol. vi.
MONTEREY, HIGHLAND COUNTY, VA., FEBRUARY 3, 1893
NO. 10.
vtv . >a.? TM TITI i Ttr
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun?
day Sermon.
BuIU-ct: ''The Wall of Heaven."
Text: "The foundations of the wall of
the city were gamish'd with all manner of
vrecious stones."?Revelation xxl, 19.
I Shall I be frank and tell you what are my
designs on you to-dav? They are to make
you homesick for heaven: to console you con?
cerning your departed Christian friends by
giving you somo idea of the brilliancy of the
?cenes in v, inch tiny now conmingle; to
fd ve all who low the laord a more elevate!
den as to where thav are goinz to pass the
most of the years of their existence, and to
eet all the indifferent and neglected to quick
and immediate preparation, that they may
have it likewise.
Yea, it is to indues many of our young
people to study a volume of God that few
ever open, tut without some acquaintance
with which it is impossible to understand
the Bible?I mean the precious stonssjtheir
crystallization, their powers of refraction,
their cleavage, their fracture, their luster,
their phospboresence, their transparency,
their infinity of color and shape, and what
tbey had to do with the welfare and doom
of families and the destinv of nations?aye.
the positive revelation they make of Goa
Himself.
My text stands us in the presenca of tho
most stupendous splen 'or of ths univers?,
and that is tho wall of heaven, and says of
Its foundations that they are garnished with
all manner of precious stones. All the
ancient cities hid walls for safety, and
beaven has a wall for everlasting safety.
You may say that a wall made up of all
manner of precious stones is figurative, but
you cannot understand the force and signifi?
cance of the figure tmless ycu know some?
thing about tbe real structure and color and
value of the precious stones mentioned.
Kow, I propose this mnminfr, so far as
the Lord may help me, to attempt to climb
not the wall of heaven, t>ut the foundations
of the wall, and I ask you to join me in the
attempt to scale some of the height*. We
shall only get part of the way up, but better
that than to stay down on the stupid level
where the most of us have all our lives been
standing. We begin clear down at the bot?
tom and where the wall b?gins.
The first layer of the foundation, reaching
all around the city and for 190(1 miles, is a
layer ot' jasper, ju lee I there is more of
.jasper in the wail of heaven than of any
other brilliant, because it not only composes
a part of the foundation, but makes in the
chief part of the superstru ."tart. The jasper
is a congregation of miny colors. It is
brown, it is yellow, it is give:;, it is vermil?
ion, it is red, it h purple, it is black, and is
so striped with color.-, that much of it is
called ribbon jasper.
It is found in Siberia and Egypt, but it is
rare in most lands and of great vaia?, for it
is so bard the ordinary processcs cannot
break it off from tie places where it hts
been deposited. The workmen bore holes
into the rock of jasper, then drive into taes9
holes sticks of dry birch woo', and then
saturate the sticks and keep them saturated
until they swell enough to split the rock, and
the fragments are brought ou' and polisned
and transporte i and cut into cameos aud
put behind tbe glass doors of museum \
The portraits of Roman emperors were
cut into it. The finest intaglio ever seen is
in the Vatican museum, tbe bead of Minerva
in jasper. By divine arrangement jasper
adorned tbe breastplate of the high priest in
the ancient temple. But its most significant
position is where it glows and burns and
darkens and brightens and preaches from
the lowest stratum of the wall of heaven.
Glad am I that the very first row cf stones
in the wall of heaven is jasper of man> col?
ors, and if you like purple it is purple, and
if you like brown it is brown, ana if you like
green it is green, and if you like ocher yel?
low it is ocher yellow, and if you like ver
million it is vermilion, and if you like
b'ack it is black. It suggests to rn? that
heaven is a place of all colors?colors of
opinion, colors of cread, colors of skin, col?
ors of taste.
But we must pass up in this inspection of
the foundations of the great wall of heaveu,
and after leaving the jasper the next pre?
cious stone reached is sapphire, and it
sweeps around the city 1590 mile?. A'l lapi?
daries agree in saying that tbe sapphire of
the Bible is what we now call lapis lazuli,
?lob speaks with emotion of "The place of
sapphires,*' and Go 1 thought so much of this
precious stone that He put it in the breast?
plate of the hi jh priest commanding, "Tho
second row shall Le an emerald, a sapphire
and a diamond.*'
The sapphire is a blue, but varies from
faintest hus to deepest ultramarine. It is
found a pebble in the rivers of Ceylon. Tt
is elsewhere in compact masse.-. Fersia and
Thibet and Burmah and New South Wales
and North Carolina yield exquisite speci?
mens. Its blue eye is seen in the valley of
the Rhine. Alter a burial of thousands of
years it has been brought to sight in Egyp?
tian monuments and Assyrian cylinders."
At Moscow aud St. Petersburg an 1 Con
stantinope 1 have seen great masses of this
sapphire, commonly called lapis lazuli. Tbe
closer you study its veins the moro enchant?
ing, and I do not wonder that the sapphire
is called into tbe foun iation of the wall ol
heaven. It makes a strong stone for the
foundation, for it is tbe hardest of all min?
erals except tae diamond.
Sapphire based on jasper, a blue sky over
a fiery sunset. St. John points to it in Rev?
elation and says, "The second, sapphire,"
and this suggests to me that though our
earth aud all its lurniture of mountains and
f-eas and atmospheres are to collapse and
vanish we will throughout all eternty have
lu some way kept the most beautiful of
earthly appearances, whether you take this
sapphire of tho second layer as literal or
fi? ural ive. The deep blue of our skjas. and
the deep blue of our seas must not, ww not,
be forgotten. If a thousand years after th9
world has gone to asaes you or 1 want to
recall Low the earbbly skies looked in a sum?
mer noon or the midocean in a calm, we
will have only to jook at the second row of
the foundation of the wall of heaven.
Ob, I am so glad that St. John told us
about it I 'The second, sapphire!" While
we are living in sight of that wall spirits
who have come from other worlds and who
never saw our earth will visit us, and we
will visit them, aud some time we will be in
??onversation about this earth when it was
yet afloat and aswing, and we shall want to
tell them about how it looked at certain
times, and then it will be a great object
lesson for all eternity, and we will say to
our visitor from some other world, as we
point toward the wall of heaven, "It looked
like that stratum of foundation next to the
lowest." John, twenty-flrec chapter and
nineteenth verse, "The second sapphire."
A step higher and you come to chal?
cedony, another layer in the foundation of
the wail and the running 1503 mites around
the heavenly city. Chalcedony 1 Trans?
lucent. A divine mixture of agates and
opals and cornelians. Striped with white
and gray. Dasueu of pallor blushing int j
red and darkening into purple. Ice ai J and
the Hebrides hol.1 forth beautiful specimeas
of chalcedony.
But now we must make a swift ascent to
the top of the foundation wall, for we can?
not minutely examine all the layers, and so.
putting one root on tbe chalcedony of wnich
we have been speaking, we spriug to the
emerald, and we are on .-third of tue way
tothetopof the foundation, for thefourtn
row is emerald. That, I wju.d judge, is
God's lavonte among ge ns, Dec-ause it holds
what seems evident is His favorite color on
i artb, the green, sincothat is the color most
wi ,eiy diffused across a.l the eartn's conti?
nent!?the grass, the foliage, the everyday
dress of nature. Tbe emerald! Kings use
it as a seal to stamp pronuueiamentos. The
rainbow around the throne of God is by
St John compared to it.
Conquerors have considered it the great
fut prue to rT^ture. What ruthlessness
when the toldlers ot "a*^rro pounded it with
?
their hammers! Emeralds havj had much
to do with the destiny of Mexico. Five of
them were presented by Cortez to his bride,
one of them cut into the shane of a ro3e, an?
other into the shapo of a trumpet, another
into the shape of a bel', with tongue of
peer), and this presentation aroused the jeal?
ously of the throne and caused the conse?
quent fall of Cortez. But the depths of tho
sea were decorated with those emerald?, for
in a shipwreck they went down off the cjast
of Barbary. Napoleon wore an emerald at
Austerlitz.
In tbe Kremin museum at Moscow there
are crowns aud scepters and outspread mira?
cles of emerald. Ireland is called the
Emerald Isle not because of its verdure, but
because it was presented to Henry ll of
England with tm emerald ring. Nero had a
magnifying glass of emerald through which
he looked at the gladiatorial contests at
Rome- But here are 1530 miles of emerald
sweeping around the heavenly city in one
layer.
But unward still aud you put your foot on
a stratum of fardonyx, white and red, a
seeming commingling of snow and fire, the
snow cooling the fire, the fire melting the
6DOW,
Another climb a'id you roach the sardius,
named after tha city of Sardius*. Another
climb and you reach the chrysolite. A
specimen of this, belonging to Epinhanus, in
the Fourth Century, was said to be so
brilliant that whatever wa? put over to con?
ceal it was shone through, aud the emperor
of China ha? a specimen that is described as
having such penetrating radiance that it
makes the night as bright as th? day.
A higher climb ani you reach the
beryl. Two thousand years agi, ihe Greeba
used this precious stone for engraving pur?
poses, It was accountel among the royal
treasures of Tyre. The hilt of Murat's
sword was adorned with it. It glows in the
imperial crown of Groat Britain. Luther
thought tho beryls of tbe heavenly wall was
turquoise. Kalisch thought it was chryso?
lite. Josephus thought it a golden colored
jewel. Tho wheels oi Ezekiel's vision flamed
with beryl ani were a revolving fire,
The beryl appears iu ".ix sided prisms, and
is set in sea's and intaglios, in necklaces and
coronets, lt was the joy of ancient jewelry.
It ornamented the affluent with eardrops.
Cbarlemague presented it to his favorite.
Beautiful beryl! Exquisitely shaped beryl!
D.vinely colored beryl I It seams like con?
gealed . o\n*. It looks like frozen fire.
But stop not here. Climb higher and you
come to tooaz, n bewilderment ot beauty
and named after an island of the Red Sea.
Climb higher and you come to chrysop
rasu-, of greenish golden hua and hard as
flint.
Climb higher and you reach tli3 jacinth,
named after the flower hyacinth ani of red?
dish blue.
Take one more step an 1 you reach tho
top, not of the wa!1, but the top of the
foundation ot tho wall, an 1 St. John cries
out, 'The twelfth an amethyst!' This pre?
cious stone when found in Australia or In?
dia ox Europe stands in columns and pyra?
mids. Kor color it isa violet blooming in
stone. For its plav of light, for its deep
mysteries of color, for its unseen Egyptians, |
in Etruscan, in Roman art it has been hon?
ored. The Greeks thought this stone r. pre?
ventive of drunkenness. The Hebrews
thought it a source of pleasant dreams.
For all lovors of gems it is a subject of ad?
miration and suggestiveness. Yos, the
word amethyst means a prevention of
drunkenness. Long before th9 New Testa?
ment made reference to the amethyst in the
wall cf heaven tho Persians thought that
cups made out of amothyst would hinder
any kind of liquor contained therein from
becoming intoxicating. But of ail the ame?
thystine cups from which the ancients
drank not ono had any such result of pro?
ven tion.
For thousands of years the world has been
looking in vain for such a preventive ame?
thystine cup. Staggering Noah could not
find it. Convivial Ahasuerus driving Vasbti
from the gates could not find it. Nabal
breaking the heart of beautiful Abigail
could not find it. Belshazzar, the kingly
reveler, on the night that tae Chaldeans
took Babylon could not find it. Not one of
the millions of inebriates whoso skulls pave
the continents an t pave the depths oi the
s?a could find it. Th?re is no such cup.
Strong drink from hollowed amethyst im
brute- the same as strong drink from pew?
ter mug. lt is not toe style of cup we drink
out of. but that which tho cup contains,
which decides the helpful or damning result
of the beverage.
All around the world last night and to?
day, out. oi cups costlier than amethyst, men
and women have been drinking their own
doom and tha doom of their children for this
life and the next. Ab, it is tbe amethystine
cuds that do tbe wildest and worst slaugh?
ter! Tbe smash of tbe filthy goblets of the
rummeries would long ago have taken place
by law, but the amethystine chalices pre?
vent?the chalices out of which legislatures,
congresses drink before and after they make
the laws. Amethystine c'aalice.3 have been
the friends of intoxication iustead of its
foes. Over the fiery lips of the amethystine
cha'ices is thrust the tonguo of that which
biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an
adder.
Drunkenness is a combination of apoplexy
and demehtia. The 403,OOO,00.) victims of
opium come out to meet tho 13',00.1,00'.) vic?
tims of alcohol, and the two agents ta>ce the
contract for tumbling tbe human race into
perdition, but whetaer they wilt succeed in
nilfilling tbe contract depends on tae action
of the amethystine cups, tbe amethystine
demijohns, the amethystine ale pitchers, tho
amethystine flagons, the amethystine wine
cellar*-. Ob, Persians! Oh. Assyrians! Oh,
Greeks! Oh, Egyptians! you were wrong
in thinking that a cup of amethyst would
prevent inebriation.
But standing on the top of this amethys?
tine layer of the foundation of the wall ot
heaven I bethink myseif of the mistake that
many of the ancient Hebrews made when
they thought that tbe amethyst was a pro?
ducer of pleasant dreams. Just wear a piece
of amethyst over your heart or put it under
your pillow, and you would have your dreams
filled with everything beautiful and entranc?
ing. No, no. Tne style of pillow will not
decide tho caaracter of the dream. The only
recipe lor pleasant dreams is to do right and
think right when you are wide awane. Con?
ditions of physical disease may give a good
man nightmare, but a man physically well,
if he benave himself aright., will not be
troutled with bad dreams.
Nebuchadnezzar, with eagle's down under
his head and Tynan purple over it, struggled
with a bad dream that made him shriek out
for the soothsayers and astrologers to come
aud interpret it. Pharaoh, amid tho marble*
palaces of Memphis, was confounded by a
dream in which lean cows ate up the fat
cows and the small ears of corn devoured
the seven large ears, and awiul famine was
prefigured. Pilate's wife, amid clouds ot'
richest upholstery, had a startling dream,
because of wnich sho sent a message in hot
haste to a courtroom to keep her husoand
from enacting a judicial outrage. But
Jacob, at Bethel, with a pillow of mountain
rock, had a blissful dream of the ladder
apgel blossoming.
Bunyan, with nis head on a hard plank of
Bedford's jail, saw the gates of the Celes?
tial city. St. John, on the barrenest island
of tiae JEgean Sea, in his dream heard trum?
pets an i saw cavalry men on white horsos
and a new heaven and a new earth. No
amount of rough pi dow can disturb the
nizht vision of a saint, an I no amount of
amethystine cnarm can delectate the dream
of a mi-creant.
But, some one will say, why hava you
brought us to this amethyst, the top row ot
the f jun iation of tao heavenly wail, if you
are not able to accept tbe theory of the an?
cient Greeks, who said that the amothyst
was a charm against intox cation, or if you
are not willing to ac:ept tne theory of the
ancient Hebrews that the amethyst was a
producer of pleasant dreams? My answer is,
I have brought you to the too row, the
twelith layer of the foundation of tho heav?
enly wall oi 15)0 miles of circlingametayst,
to put you in a position whore you can get a
new idea of heaven; to let you see that
niter you have climbed up twelve strata
! of glory you are only at the base ot tie
1 eternal* grandeur; to let you, with enchant
ment of sou', look far down and look far
up and to force upon you the conclusion
that if all our climbing haa only shown us
the foundations of this wall, what most the
wall itself be; and if this is the outside of
heaven, what must tho inside be; and if all
this is figurative, whit must the reality be;
Oh, this piled up mazniflcenca of the heav?
enly wall! Oh, this eternity of decora?
tion! Ob, this opalescent, florescent,
prismatic miracle of architecture! What
enthronement of all colors! A mingling ot ;
the blue of skies, and the surf of seas, and j
tbe green of meadows, and the upholstery of
autumnal forests, and tbe fire of August
sunsets. Add the splendors of earth and ,
heaven dashed into thosa twelve rows of |
foundation wall. All that, mark you, only
typical of the spiritual glories that roll over !
heaven like the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
swing in one billow.
Do you not see that it was impossible
that you understand a hundredth part of the
suegestiveness of that twenty-first chapter
of Revelation without going into some of
the particulars of tbe wall of heaven and
dipping up some of its dripping colors, and
running your eye along some of its won- ;
drous crystallisations, and examining som 3 j
of the frozen light in its turquoise, and !
feeling with your own finger the hardness I
of its sapphire, and shielding your eyes
against tbe shimmering brilliance in its
beryl, and studying the 1509 miles of emer?
ald without a flaw'/ Yet all this only the
outside of heaveu, ani tha poorest part of
tbe outside; not the wall itself, but only tbe
foot of the wall, for my text says, "The
foundations of the wall of the city were gar
nished with all manner of precious stones."
Ob, get down your harp if you can play
one! Get down a palm branch if you can
reach one! Why, it makes us all feel like
crying out with Jame, Montgomery;
When shall these eyes thy heaven built walls
And pe&rly gates behold ?
Ob, my sou'! If my text shows us only
the outside, wnat must thornside b;? While
riding last summer through the emperor's
park near St. Petersburg, I was captivated
with graves, transplanted from all Banes,
and tha flower beds?miles this way and
miles that way?incarnadined with beauty.
And the fountains bounding in such revel
with the sunlight as nowhere elsa is saen, I
said: "fh*3 is beautiful. I never saw any?
thing like this bafore."
But when I entered the palace and saw
the pictured walls, ani the long lina of stat?
uary, and aquariums afloat with all bright
scales, and aviaries a*chant"withbird voices,
and the inner doors of the palaces were
swung back by the chamberlain, and I saw
the emperor and empress aud princes and
princesses, lind toey greeted me wita a cor?
diality of old acquaintancesaip, I forget al!
the groves and floral bewitchment I had
seen outside before entrauce. Aud now I
ask, if the outside of heaven attracts our
souls to-day, how much more will oe the up?
lifting when we get inside and see the King
in His beauty and all the princes and
princesses of the palaces of amethyst!
Are you not glad that we did not stop in
our ascent this morning until we got to the
top round of tbe foundation wal ot heaven,
the twelfth row, the amethyst! Perhaps the
ancient Hebrews were not, after all, so far
out of the way when they thou gbt that the
touch of the amethyst gave pleasant dreams,
for the touch of it this hour gives me a very
peasant dream. Standing on this amethyst
i dream a dream. 1 cose my eyes ani I seo
itali. We are there. This is haa van I Not
the outside, but the inside of heaven.
Witn what warmth of we.conaour long
ago departed loved oaes have kissed us. My!
How they have caanged in looks 1 They
were so sick when they went away, and now
they are so well. Laok' Yonder is tho
plata of our Lori tbe King. Not kept a
moment outside we are usnere l into the
throrieroom. Stretching out His scarred
hand He says, "I have loved theo with an
everlasting love," and wa respond, "Whom
have I in heaven but Tbetr?"
But, look I Yonder is the playground of
the children. Children do you want a throne.
A throne would not flt a child. There they
are on the playgrounds of heaven?the chil?
dren. Out of tue sick cradle of earth they
came into this romping mirth ot the eternal
playgrounds. 1 clap my hands to cheer
them in tbe gie?. Yonder are the palaces of
the martyrs, and before their doorway the
flowers, crimson as the bloody martyrdoms
through wnich they waded up into glory.
Yonder is Apostolic row, and the highest
turrets is over the home of Paul. Here is
Evangelist place. Yonder are the concert
halls in which the musicians of eartn and
heavon are taking part?Handel with organ,
ani David with harp, and Gabriel with
trumpet, and four and twenty elders with
voice?.
And an angel of God says: "Where sb a! I
I take you? Oa what street of heaven
would you like to live? What celestial
habitation would you like to occupy?" And
I answer; "Now that I hava got inside the
wall made up of all manner of precious
stones I do not care where you put me. Just
show mo where my departed loved ones are.
I have seen the Lord, and next I want to
soe them.
"Bat here are those with whom I toiled in
the kingdom of God on earth. They are
from my old parishes at Belleville and Syra?
cuse and Philadelphia and Brooklyn, and
.rom many places on both sides the sea
where I have been permitted to work with
them and ior them. Give them thu best
pl ces you can find. 1 will help steady
them as they mount the thrones. I will help
you burnish their coronet?.
'Take these, my old friends, to as good
rooms as you can get for them in the house
of many mansions, and with windows look?
ing out upor tho palace of the great King.
As for myself, anywhere in heaven is good
enough for me. Halleluiah to the Lamb
that T-? stain." But 1 awake. In the ecstasy
of the momont my foot slipped irom the
layer of amethyst, that so called producer
ot dreams, and in the effort to catch myself
the vision vanished. And, lo, it was but a
dream I ^_
Lunatics Do Not Shed Tears.
Oje of the most curious facts con?
nected with madness is the utter absence
of tears amid tbe insane. Whatever the
form oi the madness, tears are conspicu?
ous by their absence, as much in the de?
pression of melancholy or excitement of
mania as in the utter apathy ol dementia.
If a patient in a lunatic asylum be dis?
covered in tears it will be found that it,
is one beginning to recover or an emo?
tional outbreak in an epileptic who is
scarcely truly insane; while actual in?
sane persons appear to have lost the
power of weeping, it is only returning
reason which can once more unloose the
fountains of their tears.
Even when a lunatic is telling one in
fervid language how she had been de?
prived of her children, or the outrages'
that have been perpetrated on herself,
her eye is never even moist. The ready
gush of tears which accompanies the
plaint of the same woman contrasts
strangely with the dry-eyed appeal of
the talkative lunatic. It'would indeed
seem that tears give relief to feelings
which, when pent ur, lead to madness.
It is one of the privileges of reason to be
able to weep. Amid all the misery ol
the iusaue they find no relief in tears.
Our boldest bridge jumpers were out?
done by a "Sam" Patch of the Middle
Ages, the Austrian Knight Harras, who
survived a leap from the top of a cliff to
the valley of the Zohoppaa River, a ver?
tical distance of 400 feet.
^ The Berlin Telephone exchange has
7000 wire* in connection.
JAMES G. BLAINE
Bis Pnblic Career Erom Man?
hood lo Old Age
TRIUMPHS AND REVERSES.
His Earlv Life as a School Teacher
and a Journalist,
Beginning ol His Political Career -
Speaker, .senator. Secretary ot
State, Presidential Candidate anil
Historian?His Bereavements and
Hl-Katecl House in Washington?
Ihe Blaine I Iou ne li ol cl*
J AMIS O. Il AINU-FROM HIS LAST PHOTO?
GRAPH. TAKEN IN 1803,
James Gillespie B'aina was born on tho
3lstof January, 1880, at West Brownsville,
Penn., ina housa built by his great -grand?
father before the "W ar of the Revolution,
which still stands. Tha Gillespies and Blaine?
were people of standing befora the Revolu?
tion, Colonel Blaine, who was commissary
general of tbe Northern Department of
Washington's army during the Revolution,
was James G. Blaine's great-grandfather.
When eleven years old, he went to live with
uncle, Thomas Ewinr, in Ohio, where his
mother's father, Neal Gillespie, an accom?
plished scholar, directed his studies. Later
he attended Washington College, at Wash?
ington, Penn., graduating at the age of sev?
enteen.
After ler.ving college be taught school at
Blue Lick Springe, Ky. It was as a profes?
sor in tho military school thero that he made
the acquaintance of the lady?a school
teacher trom Maine?who afterward beoime
his wife. Later he weut to Philadelphia,
where he tauzht school and studie 1 law.
But after two vears he abandoned law stud?
ies, went to Maine, and becama proprietor
and editor of the Kennebec Journal.
At the birth of the Republican Party ho
was a delegate to the Philadelphia Conven?
tion in 1856, which nominated Fremont.
After serving as Speaker of the Maine Leg?
islature, he was sent to Concxess and began
his National career in 1862, with the out?
break of the war. During the Forty-first
Forty-scond and Forty-third Congresses he
was Speaker of the House.
Mr. Blaine'9 administration of the Speak?
ership is ecr.-.monly regarded as one of the
most brilliant and successful iu the annals of
the House. He had rare aptitude and equip?
ment for the duties of presiding officer, and
his complete mastery of Parliamentary law
his dexterity and physical enduranc?, hiV
rapid dispatch of business, and his firm and
impartial spirit were recognized or all sides.
It was during his occupancy of tha Sp^ak -
er's chan- in 1874 that he took the floor an 1
succeeded in defeating the passage of the
original "Korea bill."
The political revulsion of 18W placid the
Democrats in control of the Housf*, and Mr.
Blaine became the leader or the minority.
The session preceding the Presidential con?
test of 1876 was a pariod of stormy and ve?
hement contention. On the 2 I of May a
resolution was adopted in tbe House to in ?
veetigate au alleged purchase by the Union
Pacific Railroad Company of certain bonds
of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad
Company, lt soon became evident that the
investigation was aimed at Mr. Blaine. An
extended business correspondence on his
part with Warren Fisher, of B aston, ruu
ning through years and relating to various
transactions, had fallen into the hands ot a
clerk named Mulligan, and it was alleged
that the production of this correspondence
would confirm the imputation against Mr
Blaine. When Mulligan was summoned ti
MR. BU INK'S BIRTHPLACE I
Washington Mr. Blaine possessei himself ot
the letter?, together with memorani-turu
that contame 1 a full index and abstract. Od
the 5th of Juno, 187 i, he rase to a personal
explanation, and a ter denying the power
of the House to compel the proluction
of his private papers, and his willingness to
go to any extremity in defense ot his rights,
be declared that he propose 1 to reserve noth
'nir Holding up the letters he exclainiad:
"Thank God, lam not ashamed to show
them. There is the very ortenal package.
And with some sense of humiliation, with a
mortification I do not attempt to concaa',
with a sense of outrage which I think any
man in my position would feel, I invite the
confidence o: 40,000,000 of my countrymen
while I read these letters Irom my des c."
The demonstration closed with a dramatic
fcene. Josiah Caldwell, one of the origina?
tors of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Hail
road, who had full knowledge of the whole
transaction. w/?s traveling in Europe and
hoth rides were seeking to communicate
with bim. After finishmr the reading of
the Utters Mr. Blaine turned to the Chair?
man of the Committee and demanded to
know whether he had received any dispatca
from Mr. Caldwell. Receiving an evasive
answer Mr. Blaine asserted, as within his
own knowledge, that the Chairman had re
c-ived such a dispatch "completely an 1 ab
s-o'utely pxoneratini ma from this charge
nu hava suppressed it"
and you
0"
MR. BLAINE'S RESIDENCE
In 1875 Mr. Blaine was appomtelto the
Senate to fill the vaoancy caused by the re
donation of Senator Morrill, au I the next
ivinter was; elected bv the Legislature to tho
.ucceeding term, His career in the Senat9
?vas both brilliant and distinguis ie 1. as it
lad been in the House He was called from
die Senate to enter President Garfield's
Cabinet as Secretary of State. It was while
aassing through the railroad deaob leaning
Ni Mr. Blaine's arra and nleasantly chatting
.vith him about his co nmg holiday that
Jarneld received tho assassin's fatal bullet,
roe death of Mr. Garfield led to Mr. Blaine's
?etireraent from thc Caoinot, in December, '
188'i. From that date until he entered Mr.
Harrison's Cabinet as Secretary ot Stat?,
io was in private life except during his
:arncaign for the Presidency iu 1884.
During his retirement Mr. Blaine wrote
lis "Twenty Years in Congress," a work of
?reat historical value. It was in accordance
vith his original suggestion and au3 to his
tamest efforts that provision was made in
he McKinley bill for the reciprocity trea
des which formed such prominent features
>f National policy. Tne Samoan difflcul
ies, the complication* arisin; out of the
yncbing of Italians at New Orlesn'.and the
MRv JAM'S 0. BL4.INK.
[illili* of American seamen at Valparaiso
vere also disposed of while Mr. Blaine was
it the heii of tha Stata Department. The
vents precading and attea iiag tha recant
ilinneaoolis Convention ate too recant al
nost to need recounting. Mr. Blaina was
nduced to permit his nana ta be used as a
indidate, and resignal his placa in the
Cabinet. Wnether in public position orin
irivate life, ho always ramainei a central
ipire in National affair?.
BLAINE'S LIFE IV WASHINGTON.
For nearly thirty years Mr. Blaine ha->
wen a resident of washington. While he
lever gave up his homa an I hone life in
daine, where he had a town residence in
"lugintaand a funnier residence at Bar
larbor, yet he also had a home in Washing
on. It wa; only a few years after going
there as a Member of Congress that he
Lought the residence, 821 Fifteenth street-,
EAR WASHINGTON, PENN.
ivhere he lived so manv years. This
?vas about the year 1869. when he was
sleeted Speaker of the House tor the first
tine, The house he bou;ht was one of a
?ow which had just bean ouilt and was re
jarded at that time as one of the chief
architectural features of the city.
He mads* dis home at 821 Fifteenth street
For over ten years, and thea having built
the fine residtneo fronting on Dup3nt Circle.
[ie sold tha old bouse and took poss3S3ion of
the new one. The death of Garfield an 1 Mr.
B.-lina's retirement from public life caused a
change in his plans and he leased his Dupont
Circle house to Mr. Laiter. He was
absent from the city for saveral years, al
tiioUrTh he spans a portion of one or two
winters thero and occuoied tne home on La?
fayette square adjoining Gaoeral Beare'*
residenca, which is owna 1 by the dau jater
of tha lat> R<pfesentativa Scott.of pennsyl?
vania, Mrs, Scott Town-end.
About the beginning of his administration
he purchased his late bama, which is on the
opposite side of Lafayette square, an'l ls
kv.own as the Sewar 1 House. The old placa
had bean BDOcaapiei for soma years and
was in a dilapidated condition, lt wa?
cansidere I notoriousl t uuluc cy, two
tragedies haviug occurred within its portals.
Daring Buchanan's administration it was
occupied as a clubhouse. One day Philip
Barton Kay, t.'ie voua? and handsonia Dis
tret Attorney of tha District of Columbia,
?HiiiliiiiMi
IN WASHINGTON, D. C.
ha 1 just lett the oiuohousa when he was
shotdown by Congress maa Sicilies, of New
York. Mr. Key was carrie! bac% to the
clubhouse. An intrigue whicti Key bad
been carrying on with Siciks's wife was
the cause ot tba encountar.
Two years after this occurrence the house,
whiei was for a time unocaupied, was tauen
by the then Secretary of State, William H.
Siward, ant he moved into it with his fain -
BLAINE'S AUGUSTA RESIDENCE.
ily. Ou the night o' Aord H. 1865, while Mr.
Seward lay sick in bed in one of the upper
rooms, a big, oak complexioned, broad
shouldered man ran-; the door ball and
told the servant who admitted him that
he had a package of medicine which the Sec?
retary's p'lysiciin had ordered to ba deliv?
ered to bim personally. Thy servant ra
fused to allow him to no upstairs au 1 the
Secretary's son, Frederick >V. Seward, also
opposed him; but the stranaer, making a
feint of departure, suddenly sprang at
Frederick and felled him to the floor with
the butt of a revolver, almost on the same
instant slashing the servant with a knife.
He then darted forward and reached the
sick chamber where Secretary Ssward wis
sitting up in bed. The knife gleamed again
and Mr. Seward, weak and helpless, was
stabbed in tbe faca and neck, but tha band?
ages that swathed his neck saved him
from a mortal wound. As the murderous
intruder retreated he was again intercepted,
this time by Major Augustus H. Seward
and an attendant, but he shook them off,
and running down stairs, leaped on his
horse and rode off. He was captured a
few days later, and being fully identified
as Lewi? Payne, ono of the men
implicated in President Lincoln's
death, was tried, condemned and ex?
ecuted with bi* fellow-conspirators.
Secretary of War Belknap was the next
tenant of the house of misfortune, and for a
time the sober old edifice became gay with
thelifeof the Grantregime. Before a twelve?
month its evil geniiu had again asserted it?
self and Mrs. Belknap lay dead under it**
roof after a brief illness. Then, after the
Belknans vacated, it again did duty, as in
the earlier days, as o boarding-house, but
Washington hal somahow got the impres?
sion that the place was uncanny a nd that its
tenants were dogged by an evil fate For
a time the Commissary General's staff
held possession, then when they had
moved to the War Department's new build?
ing it was again tenautless. lt was about
this time that Mr. Blaine, shortly alter his
appointment as Secretary of State by Presi?
dent Harrison, astonished his friends by
renting the ill-omened house for ten years
at $3000 a year. He decorated and reno?
vated it throughout, teariug down the walls
of the room in which tho attempt on Mr.
Seward's life took place, and by generous
expenditures transformed the dingy old
wide-roomed house into a magnificent mod?
ern residence. Yet all the changes failed to
eradicate the characteristic attributed to the
mansion by the superstitious Washington?
ians. Becoming its tenant, Mr. Blaine has
encountered the greatest reverses to his am?
bitions, and experienced the keenest sorrows
of his life.
MR. BLAINE'S HOUSEHOLD.
Of Mr. Blaine's six children, three?two
tons and a daughter?were suddenly stricken
down by death af t8r reachiug maturity. His
eldest son, Waker, a young man of
fine parts, who had given evidence
of rare abilities and was apparently
destined to a brilliant future, died two years
ago. Kaimona, his second soo, a bright
business man, in manner and character
closely resembling his father, also died sud?
denly in tho heyday of youth and prosperity.
A tnird and crushing bereavement was
the death of the eldest daughter, Alice,
who was married to Lieutenant Colonel
John J. Coppinger. It followed closely
on the death of her brother, Walker
Blaine, whose funeral she was at?
tending when seize i by the fatal ill*
ness. Of the tiree surviving children,
the son, James G., made an unfortunate
marriage, the results of which em?
bittered the lattar years of his father's
life. One of tho daughters. Miss Margaret,
is married to Mr. Walter Damrosch, the ta
raous New York musical director, and the
other, Miss Harriet, is unmarried. Mr*.
Blaine is still an active and brilliant
lady. She bas been a devoted wife to the
prreat statesman, whom she married forty
one years ago when both were school
teachers in a country district with but little
to indicate the prominent place they were
destine 1 to fill in the highest circles of the
Nation.
Mil is num.
The End Comes Unexpectedly at
His Washington Home.
Jamel Gillespie Blaine died rather uo6*#*
pectedly at ll o'clock Friday Moraiug.
Mr. Blaine's death,although it has removed
from the world a charactar w o wa* pron ??
nent in everything ha undertook, caused but
little surprisa. Tho news of H\ had boan no
long discounted that tbero romafnid but tao
1 ne of ai no nceoient at tho hoad of this dis?
patch. It was a foregone conclusion that
his tattle with death would be tho final do
feat of his life.
Though the facts as to his Illness have f ron
I he first been studiously concealed through
t be official channels of communication, ho
was a sick man wh?u he returned to "Wash?
ington to sett e down for tho wintor, death
aud its bereavements added moro and moro
to hi* ailments. He has grown woree and
has cont.nued rm his journey to tbe grato ts
fast as the days would carry him.
Science and skill have furnished him tho
weapons of defense for a comparatively long
tim.', but h s death has furnished the end of
tho fight. He was a doomed man from the
start. His mind bas been almost a blanc for
weeks, h s iuc.d moments having bo n but
few, aud at times far between; but hit phy?
sical i rame has withstood tho ravages of
wasting disease until now.
Dating from the crad e to tbe tomb Mr.
Blaine's (id) ears bave been active ones. All
the trials and tribulations that fall to tho
lot of a public man have been his, and bara
camed for him the peaceful ending of ?
career which closed when life's cradle made
its last flicker today. .
Mr Blaice, on his deathbed was surround*
ed, just as be had b en almost incessantly
for w? oks, by those wno were nearest and
dearest to lim. Ia laat, it was oily his
own family aud those very closely associated
with them thar have bera permitted to see
or even hear from bim during th* last days
ot his life.
Trained journalists, calling into requisi?
tion every honest means at their command
and resorting to every possible means with?
in the line of legitimate journali-m, b??e
kept a most watchful pye on every move
ment without (and as far as possible within)
the now tamous "red house" where the dla*
tinguished stat smau breathed his last.
Naturally enough there has been a dispo?
sition, both on the part of the family and
the attending physicians, to either conceal
or distort in some way,the real coudition in
the i lainem insion; bat, from time to time,
accurate information as to Blaine's condi?
tion has been obtained and faithfully re?
posed. It is quite safetosay ihafHhere are few
if, indeed, any, journalistic experiences
which could furnish a more thorough ex?
ample of watching and waiting thau hat tho
casa of Mr. Blaine.
Every element of discomfort?rain, sr^w.
sle t and frost?has been a (actor in the
line of duty of the reporters who have
noted the scenes and incidents ot the BJaino
residence for weeks past.
Dr. Johnson wai summoned to tho bed?
side of Mr. Blaine early in the morning, but
his presence was not known to those outside
until 11-10, when, in company with Dr.
Hyatt, he left the house. Both physicians
were unusually pale, and when accosted by
the reporter for the latest news the signifi?
cant look in their faces answered the qu. ?
tiou.
"Re is dead," said Dr. Johnson, "and ho
j.assed away peacefully."
The doctors did not give the exact lime
of death, but lt was observed that about
10.-15 the windows in the room of the sick
chamber wen' slightly raised.
The news of Mr. Blaine's death spread Uko
wildfire. Crowds gathered on the corner
and visitors flocked to tho house.Dr. Hamlin
vho was pa sing the house when tb.?an"
Doun- etnent of death was made at once en?
tered and rta rained with tho family for
some time. Word wt a sent to tho President
immediately after ihe death.
At 11.20 President Harrison accompanied
by Private Secretary Halford and Lieut.
Parker, walked over to the Blaine matuaioD.
The Preside:.t showed marked signs of grief.
Postmaster Genual Wanamaker followed
the footsteps of the President.
The President's Proclamation.
"ExecvtiiC Mansion, Washinglon.?It it
my painful duty to aLii tuite to the people
of tbe United States tbe death of Jamei
Gillespie Blain3, which occurred In this city
at ll o'clcck.
"For a full generation this eminent citi?
zen bas occupied a conspicuous aid influ n
ti il position i i tie nation. His first public
servi e was it> the legislature of bi* state.
Afterward for 14 >ears he a was tnemlt-r of
tbe Na lonni House of Representatives, and
w?.s three times chosen its Sj eaker. In 1876
be was eke ed to the Senate. He resigned h *
.seat in that body in 1881 to accept the posi
tion ot Secretary of Stat- in tbe Catina-t of
President Garfield. After tho tragic ctatb
of his chief he resigned irom the Cabinet and
devoting bi i sell to literary woik, gave to
ihe public hit "Twenty Years in Congress" a
most va uable and en-juriug contribution to
our po it cal literature.
"In Mirch, 188P- ne again became Secre?
tary ol State, and continued to exercise this
office until June, 18fZ. His devotion to tbe
public interests, his marked ability and bit
exa ted patrioti m bave won for h rn tbe
gratitude and affection of his countrymen
and thealrairation of th" world. In the
varied pursuits of legislation, diplomacy and
litera ure his gemus has added new lus.re tu
American cit zensh p.
"As a suitebla expression of the national
appreciation o: his g eat public services ard
of tbe g neral t rr>.w causal by h^s death I
direct that on tho day of his funeral alt the
department-, of tue executive branch of tho
government at Washington be closed, and
that on all p ,b ic buildings throughout the
United State? the national flag shall be dis
played at half saff, ani that for a pariod of
30 days the Department of State be draped
in mourning.
"By the President. Benj. Harrison.
"John W. Foster, Secretary ot State."
Tbe Funeral.
A public funeral was >uggested, but tho
w iahets of the (audry prevailed and the cero
iii nies will be of a private nature. They
?il. lie held at the Presbyterian Church of
the Covenant, where Mr. Blaine was a pew
holder. Dr. Hamlin, who officiated at tho
fu eral of Mn. Harrison and her fa her.
wid conduct ila- services. The temaius will
be kid to rest in tbe beau i ul Oak bid
Cemetary iii Geor^ot >wn, which now form*
part cf \\ ashi gton l ity, by the side of his
favorite son, Walker B.aine, and bis
?laugh.*-r, Mis. Coppineer.
Th* physician have officially made public
the cause if death aa Bright's di; ease ag
g ra vated by tubercular di ease of the lung*
?nd followed by heart failure.

xml | txt