it was. I stood out for my own opinion, alone. I took the best
mugwump stand: my own conscience, my own judgment, were to decide
in all things. I would listen to no argument, no advice. I took
the isolated peak on every issue, and my people left me. When I
looked around, before the session was well under way, I found
myself alone. I was absolutely deserted. The people didn't
understand. The men from Erie, from Suffolk, from anywhere, would
not work with me. 'He won't listen to anybody,' they said, and I
would not. My isolated peak had become a valley; every bit of
influence I had was gone. The things I wanted to do I was
powerless to accomplish. What did I do? I looked the ground over
and made up my mind that there were several other excellent
people there, with honest opinions of the right, even though they
differed from me. I turned in to help them, and they turned to
and gave me a hand. And so we were able to get things done. We
did not agree in all things, but we did in some, and those we
pulled at together. That was my first lesson in real politics. It
is just this: if you are cast on a desert island with only a
screw-driver, a hatchet, and a chisel to make a boat with, why,
go make the best one you can. It would be better if you had a
saw, but you haven't. So with men. Here is my friend in Congress
who is a good man, a strong man, but cannot be made to believe in
some things which I trust. It is too bad that he doesn't look at
it as I do, but he DOES NOT, and we have to work together as we
can. There is a point, of course, where a man must take the
isolated peak and break with it all for clear principle, but
until it comes he must work, if he would be of use, with men as
they are. As long as the good in them overbalances the evil, let
him work with that for the best that can be got."