papers in the country. Father was on terms of near-intimacy with Mr.
Weed, and this brought him in touch with Horace Greeley. Father, though
never a politician, was interested in party affairs and in constant
communication with the Old Line Whigs of the Henry Clay following, and I
am under the impression that the consultations of the political firm of
Seward, Weed and Greeley were sometimes held in father's library. When
he was editing the "Log Cabin" the party paper in the first Harrison
campaign, Mr. Greeley was often a guest at our house, and at that
period, he and father formed a warm friendship which continued during
the remainder of their lives.

Having referred to Mr. Weed as the Boss of the Whig party in New York
State, I think it due to the memory of an honorable man to state my
belief that he never made one dollar out of politics. He gave a great
deal of service and a great deal of money to the promotion of his
political ideas, but never received a penny in return. He was a Boss
indeed, directing party affairs with the strong hand of a Dictator, but
he sought no profit and gained none, not even the thanks of those he
served. So far from bettering his fortunes, his public activities
involved constant demands upon his private purse. Not only party friends
but party enemies called on Thurlow Weed for help when in distress,
knowing that his hands would be open and his lips closed. Closed they
were, but it was generally understood in the Old Colonie that the many
seedy and needy applicants coming to his door must have made serious
inroads on his income.

One noticeable case was that of a saloon-keeper, a Whig politician in a
small way, who was supposed to control the "canal vote," that is the
vote of the floating population in the canal basin, among whom were
boatmen ready to cast their ballots either way for a price. Mr. Weed did