(President Johnson viewing the massacre of New Orleans. In the lower left-hand corner Grant is staying the sword of Sheridan. Among the little faces in the distance, Manton Marble, Hoffman, Greeley, Logan and many others are recognizable)

CHAPTER XVI

NATIONAL POLITICS AND DOMESTIC HAPPINESS

Little of Nast's work appears in Harper's Weekly during the latter half of 1867. He was chiefly engaged during this period in illustrating a variety of books, including some histories of the war, a portion of Mrs. Dodge's "Hans Brinker," and a lot of toy books for McLoughlin Brothers-the most popular series. ever issued by that firm. Also, he was employed in painting for exhibition a large series of fierce political cartoons-a venture encouraged by the success of the Opera Ball" display. This "Caricaturama " was badly managed, for Nast was never a financier, and was abandoned after a brief season of New York and Boston, during which it excited considerable admiration, a share of resentment, and resulted in no profit whatever.

The ambitious cartoonist was not discouraged. He put the big failure away and went back to his boxwood and pencils. A weekly illustrated paper entitled the News had entered the Chicago field, and in order to command immediate attention engaged Nast to contribute cartoons. He was not then bound by a retainer to draw only for the Weekly, and the Chicago work, chiefly Johnson caricatures, proved profitable. This was in the early part of sixty-eight, during the great Impeachment Trial, for which Nast received one of the special admission tickets, though he did not attend. In May, when the Republican

National Convention came along, the artist went to Chicago to be present.

It was settled beforehand that General Grant was to be the Republican presidential candidate. The great soldier had maintained a calm and noble dignity through all the trying days of conflict between Congress and the recreant Johnson, and was now honored almost as much for his diplomacy as for his success at arms. Indeed, the mantle of sweet renown left by Lincoln would seem to have been laid upon the shoulders of Grant, and he wore it with becoming grandeur and humility.

Realizing that the convention would name Grant as its choice, Nast prepared a little surprise for the event. He painted upon a large curtain the White House entrance, with two pedestals, one on each side, bearing the words " Republican Nominee, Chicago, May 20th," and "Democratic Nominee, New York, July 4th," respectively. On the Republican pedestal was seated the figure of Grant, while Columbia stood pointing to the empty place, opposite. Below, were the words, "Match Him!"

This curtain, with a blank curtain before it, was suspended at the back of the convention stage. At the instant when General Grant was announced as the unanimous presidential choice of his party, the blank curtain was lifted and the great cartoon "Match Him" was suddenly exposed to full view.

The occurrence was so unexpected that the throng was silent for a moment, taking it in. Then, realizing that it was a spectacular climax-the pictorial expression of a universal sentiment-the assembled multitude gave vent to an enthusiasm that turned the great hall into a pandemonium of exultation.

This incident added greatly to Nast's popularity. The "Match Him" picture was redrawn for publication, and then another, entitled "Matched," with Schuyler Colfax, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, seated on the opposing pedestal. Poems and songs called "Match Him" and "Matched "

were written and sung, and articles of commerce were given these names as mascots. Harper Brothers urged him to take up his work once more for the Weekly, and promptly advanced his rate to one hundred and fifty dollars per double page. This was a figure five times as great as he had at first received, and accounted fabulous, as indeed it was, for that period.

In fact " Tommy "Nast, as he was still called by his old-time associates, was making stout strides

along the turnpike of fame." He was without a rival in his new field. The elder Bellew did an occasional caricature, but his work, though not without charm, had little political importance. When Nast did not contribute, the Weekly confined its caricature to small pictures, mostly of a domestic nature.

He no longer lived at his little quarters on West 44th Street, but had moved twice-in 1863 to York

ville, a pretty countrified place (now 89th Street and East River), and a year later to a house of his own in Harlem, on 125th Street near Fifth Avenue-a property that increased rapidly in value and proved a fine investment. He had been made a director in a well-known savings bank, and had become a member of the Union League Club and of the Seventh Regiment. Club and Regiment friends were fond of driving in "Harlem Lane" on Sunday afternoons, and of dropping in on the cheerful Nast household, where the latch-string was always out and the tea-table made long, to accommodate all who came.

To the Harlem cottage came also many friends of former days, and among these were comrades of the Garibaldian campaign

light-hearted soldiers of fortune, who, following the trade of war, had cast their lot with the Union-most of them low in purse, now that their occupation was gone. Nast bade them welcome and helped them with a liberal hand. Among them was the impetuous and fretful De Rohan, reduced but still unsubduedscolding his former protégé while accepting his bounty-and a certain Colonel Percy Wyndham, once the bravest of the brave, now, alas, acting as a dispenser of subscription books until such time as the call to arms!" should summon him to new fields of conquest.

But with the exception of Sunday the Nast home life was usually a quiet one. The artist had built in the rear of his lot a large studio where he worked steadily, while the young wife cared for the babies-there were three now-or discussed his work with him, frequently helping him with the lines that were to go beneath his pictures, verbal expression being ever his weak point. It was Mrs. Nast who had suggested the words "Match Him!" for his Chicago curtain; and many other of the terse and telling legends beneath his cartoons were due to her. Often she read to him as he worked, first the papers, then standard fiction (Thackeray by preference) or some book of useful information. At times he engaged certain impecunious college men who for a dollar an hour were glad to read and discuss solid books of history and science. Thus, in a great measure, did he make up for a lack of school education in youth.

In the matter of historical references-averse as he was to research-Nast seemed never at a loss to find his facts or quotations. He seemed to know as by instinct where to turn, and his wife, whose joy it was to transcribe and verify, seldom found him wrong. Their union of sympathy and labor made their home life ideal. They might have been almost continuously entertained by their friends, as well as by social and political leaders, who, recognizing in the cartoonist a new power, were