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WHERE THERE IS AN EVIL" (CÆSARISM SCARE) THERE IS A REMEDY "-(RIDICULE) no one cares to dismiss him, we see ourselves drifting upon the rock of Cæsarism, smoothly, pleasantly, silently, swiftly drifting upon a danger even greater than that which menaced either Spain or France We mean the third term idea. We remember that the crown was thrice offered on the Supercal, and although thrice refused, each time it was with less and less reluctance. And we can name twenty Mark Antonys in our city who would carry the crown of a third nomination to General Grant with pride and swiftness."

Expressions like these filled many columns, almost daily, and curiously enough affected not only an element of the public, but other leading journals. At another time, referring to the military qualifications of Grant, the Herald in a "communication" said:

"Grant's victories were won by a dogged determination not to know when disaster came, and though he was whipped several times during the march through the Wilderness he never knew it. Was there anything brilliant in that?"

That Grant should have been "whipped without knowing it," seems a fact worth preserving. Certainly there is no record of his enemies ever having made such a mistake. One can imagine Mr. Bennett smiling audibly when he wrote or approved that line.

CHAPTER XXXII

A MARCH OF TRIUMPH AND MUCH PROFIT

But though long postponed the inevitable must come at last. Summer waned and died, and with the advent of the entertainment season the first night of the Nast Lecture Series drew near. Long since, his schedule had been arranged, extending throughout the East and for a distance into the Middle West. His enterprising press agent had advertised him as the "Prince of Caricaturists," the "Destroyer of Tammany," and a multitude of loyal countrymen were waiting the day of his coming.

But the "Prince" himself was in a bad way-grievously frightened and half ill with the ordeal ahead. It was at Peabody, Massachusetts, on the evening of October 6th, 1873, that he made his beginning. To Redpath he said: " You got me into this scrape; you'll have to go on the platform with me." And this Redpath did, sitting in a chair close behind the artist.

Yet it seemed a tragic occasion. Redpath confessed afterward that never in his long career had he seen a man so badly frightened. The hero who had laughed at the threats of desperate men and despised the censures and derision of the press, found his lips dry and his knees as water before an audience of admiring friends. He was ghastly pale and there were heavy beads of dew upon his brow. Perhaps in that dire moment Redpath had visions of the "twenty thousand profit "slipping away.

Yet somehow the man of caricature got started. Somehow he got confidence-somehow won the goodwill of the audience. The spectators sat breathless as they watched the pictures grow under his hand, while he told them something of his work and its beginnings. Nor did they fail to cheer as each sketch was completed, nor to applaud at the proper points of his address.*

And so the thing was done-the great beginning was made. The Peabody Press spoke in terms of praise of the entertainment, only suggesting that the lecturer speak a little louder in future, and this, with growing courage and confidence, he did. He had a natural faculty for impersonation. Often at home he had amused the juvenile members of the family with imitations of the French teacher and eccentric callers. This talent now came in good play, and added to the success of his exhibitions.

Early in November he was in Boston, with a crowded house at Tremont Hall, by which time he had gained sufficient courage to have Mrs. Nast present, though Redpath had discouraged this idea. On the 18th he reached New York City, where, at Steinway Hall (in the language of the Tribune, which would appear to have become friendly once more), "his audience filled every inch of space.

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Of the New York papers, only the Herald was inclined to ridicule the cartoonist's efforts in the lecture field. Mr. Bennett, who perhaps felt that he must have revenge for the Cæsarism caricatures, started a mock subscription for the indigent artist who was obliged to go abroad in the land to relieve his family from want." "The Blackboard Martyr," "Neglected Nast," "Abandoned Thomas," "A Distressed Artist," these were some of the headings of this daily hoax column, and letters of pseudocommiseration and crocodile lamentation were printed from day

* From Nast's letter home: "It's done! The people seemed pleased, but I'm not. When I draw, all eyes are on me and the silence is dreadful. But when I get through, their pleasure is very loud. There was no backing out. I offered Redpath moneybegged him to let me off, but all no go. Last night I slept better. Write again soon to your travelling circus boy."

to day, with a list of the articles contributed-old shoes, broken umbrellas, cancelled postage stamps, bad pennies and sometimes a few cents of genuine money.

Those were the good old days of give and take personalities, and Bennett enjoyed hugely this successful burlesque, which he kept going for a considerable period. In one issue the Herald. facetiously likened Nast's entertainment to Dan Bryant's celebrated singing of "Shoo, Fly!

which suggested to Nast his only reply a small cartoon entitled "Shoo, Fly!" in which he depicted himself as brushing away "THE the Herald insect, while a carica- BOARD ture of the "Cæsar Ghost," a caricature of a caricature, appears on the blackboard near at hand. All this was good advertising for the lectures, had they needed it. But they did not. The name of Nast was enough. For seven months he went up and down the land in a continuous march of triumph. The wildest financial estimates of Redpath had been doubled, and forty thousand dollars was the increase when, in May, the long migration ceased. The mortgage on the home was no longer a thing of dread. The Prince of Caricaturists " had become a comparatively rich man.

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'SHOO, FLY!"

Of course the delight of Redpath was unbounded. He had made his word doubly good, and he had earned a large commission for himself. In addition to the latter, Nast sent him a personal check for five hundred dollars-a gift which Redpath at first regarded as a joke. Then one day it was suggested to him that he try to cash it. He did so and found it a better joke than he had thought. No one ever had played so good a joke on him before.

CHAPTER XXXIII

THE SKIRMISH LINE OF EVENTS

Nast's pencil had not been idle during his lecture tour. His days were his own, and the Harper engraving blocks had followed him, to be returned bearing timely cartoons. It would have been better for him had he worked less continuously. The use of his hand, night and day, resulted in a lameness from which he never entirely recovered. Yet with the Harpers more anxious than ever for his work, it was not easy to refuse. After his Boston lecture the firm wrote him:

FINE-ASS COMMITTEE

What a splendid advertisement the Herald has given you. I see they shut up to-day. At this writing, ten A.M., your "comic "has not come to hand. Give us all the time you can and let us hear from you as often as convenient.

The conviction of Tweed and his sentence to Blackwell's Island for twelve years the artist-lecturer recorded in a front page entitled" Justice," and among the letters received at this time is one relating to this incident which seems worth preserving.