Page:Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs (Volume One).djvu/159

Rh Georgetown, we stopped at a shop where Cushing obtained a loaf of bread. Upon reaching his place we were taken over the land. Its quality was inferior and it showed the neglect of former owners, and there were indications that the present owner had done little or nothing for its improvement. The foreman was a Virginian, with but little knowledge of farming. The house-keeping was crude. The table was a coarse one. There was neither tablecloth nor napkins. The repast consisted of tea, the bread purchased on the way, soft butter, cold corned beef, and blackberries. When we entered the room Mr. Cushing went to a bureau, and took from a drawer a package which contained steel knives and forks, such as I had been accustomed to sell when a boy in a country store. From the appearance the cutlery had never been used, but its antiquity was marked by spots of rust.

This incident shows the democratic side of Mr. Cushing’s character. He had also an aristocratic side. During General Grant’s administration, a Mr. Kennedy, who had been a merchant at Troy, New York, came to Washington and distinguished himself by his somewhat ostentatious entertainments to diplomats and other notable persons. This proceeding annoyed Mr. Cushing, and he gave voice to his feelings in this manner:—“Mr. Kennedy, an ironmonger, comes here from Troy and sets himself up as a personage. He is not a personage at all, sir: not at all, sir.”

When I became Governor in January, 1851, there were a large number of offices at the disposal of the Governor and Council. Of these there were sheriffs, district attorneys, registers of probate, clerks of courts, and registers of deeds. There were also individual places that were subject to executive control. As a general fact, and I do not recall an exception, all the offices were filled by Whigs. We entered upon a policy of removing the incumbents and appointing members of the Democratic and Free-soil parties.