CONKLING.--Want a guide, sir? GARFIELD.--No; thank you!
_PUCK, February 2nd, 1881._
This cartoon sketches fairly the situation a month before Mr.
Garfield’s inauguration in 1881. Mr. Conkling had shown a certain
willingness to lend a hand to Mr. Garfield’s administration, and Mr.
Garfield had shown no willingness whatever to accept the proffered
hand. It was not to be expected that Mr. Conkling would prove himself
an unreservedly loyal and disinterested Secretary of State, and there
was little room for doubt that the desire of Messrs. Don Cameron and
J. A. Logan to hold office under the President-Elect was of the most
strictly selfish sort.
* * * * *
_Note.--As the word “Mentor,” on the flag over the distant
dwelling-house shown in this cartoon, might be supposed to have some
ulterior significance, it may be well to say that it is simply the name
of Mr. Garfield’s home and P. O. address in Ohio._
[Illustration]