214 POLITICAL LIFE-XI 



brought up in strongly Sabbatarian notions during his 

 boyhood in Pennsylvania, he had ever since, from the 

 force of habit, reserved Sunday as a day of complete rest. 

 Speaking of the customs in Pennsylvania at that time, he 

 said that not even a walk for exercise was allowed, and 

 nothing was ever cooked on the sacred day. 



I met him afterward on various occasions, and could not 

 but admire him. At a dinner-party he was vexatiously 

 badgered by a very bumptious professor, who allowed 

 himself to speak in a rather offensive manner of ideas 

 which Mr. Elaine represented; and the quiet but decisive 

 way in which the latter disposed of his pestering inter 

 locutor was worthy of all praise. 



Mr. Elaine was certainly the most fascinating man I 

 have ever known in politics. No wonder that so many 

 Eepublicans in all parts of the country seemed ready to 

 give their lives to elect him. The only other public man 

 in the United States whose personality had ever elicited 

 such sympathy and devotion was Henry Clay. Perhaps 

 his nearest friend was Mr. Phelps, to whom I have re 

 ferred above, one of the best, truest, and most win 

 ning men I have ever known. He had been especially 

 devoted to Mr. Elaine, with whom he had served in Con 

 gress, and it was understood that if the latter had been 

 elected Mr. Phelps would have been his Secretary of State. 



Mr. Phelps complained to me, half seriously, half jo 

 cosely, of what is really a crying abuse in the United States 

 namely, that there is no proper reporting of the pro 

 ceedings of the Houses of Congress in the main jour 

 nals of the country which can enable the people at large 

 to form any just idea as to how their representatives are 

 conducting the public business. He said: &quot;I may make 

 a most careful speech on any important subject before 

 Congress and it will not be mentioned in the New York 

 papers, but let me make a joke and it will be published all 

 over the United States. Yesterday, on a wager, I tried 

 an experiment: I made two poor little jokes during a short 



