success of Blaine. He would have been satisfied with any one of several other candidates, but he had not counted on the success of Garfield. His " Credit Mobilier " cartoon of May 15, 1873, had expressed his sentiments concerning those implicated in that disastrous exposure, and he had seen no reason for a change of convictions. He greatly admired General Garfield's ability and statesmanship, and he was loyal to the party represented by the Ohio nominee. He would work for that party, as hitherto, but he declined to introduce the Republican candidate into any of the pictures.

With the nomination of Hancock, his difficulties were more complicated than before. General Hancock was one of his friends and heroes. He had fought bravely through two wars, and had distinguished himself on many fields of conquest. His record was that of a splendid soldier, a thorough gentleman, an upright and lovable man.*

"I hear you are very fond of General Hancock?" was said to Nast, when the news came that the hero of Churubusco, Antietam and Gettysburg was likely to be the convention's choice.

"The man, yes; his party, no," the cartoonist replied with some feeling.

He wrote his troubles to Grant, congratulating him on being out of it all, urging him to come to New York to review the situation. But Grant had had enough of politics. He replied from Galena, June 26th:

Dear Mr. Nast:

I have your letter of the 23d. You had better devour the proposed luncheon and get another ready sometime in November. I start next Thursday for the Rocky Mountains, and may remain all summer. At all events, I have no intention of going East until after the November election. As you say, I am "out of the Wilderness," and I feel much relieved thereat. But I don't

* General Sherman once said of Hancock, "If you will sit down and write the best thing that can be put into language about General Hancock as an officer and a gentleman, I will sign it without hesitation."

see how you are
there. I would like
very much to see
you, but unless you
take a run to Color-
ado, or come out
here after my re-
turn, I do not see
how this is to be be-

fore fall. If you
come here bring
Mrs. Nast with you.
Mrs. Grant would be
glad to see you both.
Give her and the
children my love.
Mrs. Grant would
return hers, but she
is not yet up.
Very truly yours,
U. S. Grant.

Perhaps to relieve himself, Nast opened

BOOM!!!-SO NEAR, AND YET SO FAR

S. J. T.-" By Jupiter! can't they understand a joke! Catch me believing in

lightning-rods again!"

the campaign with another caricature of James B. Weaver, who with B. J. Chambers, of Texas, had received the "Greenback" nomination. "Greenback the Weaver" seemed fair game, and one could at least laugh at the vagaries of this midsummer night's dream. Tilden's letter of withdrawal, a "lightning rod "that had failed to attract the nomination, was likewise a mental explosion which helped to clear the air and harmed nobody.

But at this point trouble began. A cartoon showing a general surrender of the various Democratic elements to the brave and soldierly General Hancock was rejected at the Harper office, and briefly strained relations were the result. There was to be no continued break, however. A compromise was effected whereby Nast was to attack party principles without severe caricature of the Democratic leader, and to leave Garfield out of the car

toons altogether. It was upon this basis that the campaign was conducted an arrangement requiring skill on the part of the artist, with the result that most of the pictures were notable rather for their delicacy than for the customary fierce vigor.

As the campaign proceeded, the Harpers were not altogether satisfied with this idea, and engaged other illustrators to help out with the cartoons. Gillam, Worth, Thulstrup, Woolf and Rogers were tried with varying results. They were all young capable men, but Nast had been so long the political cartoonist of Harper's that the public did not then receive their work kindly, and the press began to comment on the fact that Nast was "no longer allowed full swing." General Garfield's Credit Mobilier association had, of course, been recalled, and the papers did not fail to remember Nast's cartoon on the subject. Neither did they fail to explain at great length just why the Republican candidate failed to appear in Nast's present drawings. Then half of

the big Credit Mo

bilier cartoon-the end which showed the victims of that conspiracy-was reprinted by the Democratic managers, with names carefully put under each figure, and this, with a fac-simile of the Harper title-head and columns of newspaper comments on the investigation, was uni

NAST-"I went through that Ring in 1873; but I can't go through it

again. I am not that kind of a Jim Nast."

versally circulated

as a campaign document. The stir that this made was such that for a time it would seem as if the situation in Franklin Square was of more importance than the national contest. The Harper's Weekly candidate being destroyed by one of its own pictures, was something to make its enemies rejoice and temporarily forget the larger issue. The added fact that Nast continued to ignore the Republican candidate was an added source of gratification. Puck cartooned the situation, caricaturing Nast as a bare-back rider on a rocking-horse, blanketed with Harper's Weekly. He points to the Republican "Ring," which he is expected to leap through, and says:

VACANCY

"I went through that ring in 1873, but I can't go through it again. I am not that kind of a Jim Nast."

Eventually Mr. Curtis found it necessary to explain the paper's position, and to announce as he had done six years before, that its real views were to be found in its editorial columns. Some of the Republican papers that had been devoted admirers of Nast, now

took occasion to announce that he never had been much of an artist any way. One excited adherent of Garfield declared that there were at least a "thousand better cartoonists than Tom Nast," a statement which would seem to have been unnecessarily large. Yet Nast by no means failed to strike blows for his party. On August 28 appeared a double page of General Hancock, regarding sadly the burial field of the Confederate dead at Gettysburg," The silent (Democratic) Majority," whose "votes he would miss on election day." It was a striking picture, showing as it did the fine dignity of the Northern general who had fought so well, now thoughtfully considering the section where he must look for his chief support. Hancock, perhaps not grasping it fully at first sight, said, "That picture will elect me." But men studying it carefully did not regard it as an

WIFE "Ah! since ye've had stiddy wurrk, haven't ye had splindid dinners? and now yer always talking about change, change, change, and

sure I thought I'd give ye wan."

argument in his favor, while Wade Hampton's declaration in a speech at Staunton, Virginia, that General Hancock represented the principle for which Lee and Jackson had battled four years, proved so unfortunate that a denial was considered necessary. The tiger during the campaign of 1880 was represented as an emaciated beast starving for office.