ity, and
was happy in his office. His serene amiability and hopefulness,
especially in regard to affairs in the Southern states, were a source of
irritation to the Stalwarts; but it was the serenity of a man who felt
himself fully equal to his responsibilities.

In his inaugural address, Hayes contributed an addition to our political
idiom, "He serves his party best who serves the country best." His
administration was a striking illustration of this maxim. When he became
President, the Republican party was in a demoralized condition, but,
despite the factional criticism to which he was subject, he gained in
the first few months of his Presidency the approval of men of
intelligence and independent thought, and, as success attended his
different policies, he received the support of the masses. The signal
Republican triumph in the presidential election of 1880 was due to the
improvement in business conditions and to the clean and efficient
administration of Hayes.

In recalling his predecessor in office, we think more gladly of the
Grant of Donelson, Vicksburg, and Appomattox than of Grant the
President, for during his two administrations corruption was rife and
bad government to the fore. Financial scandals were so frequent that
despairing patriots cried out, "Is there no longer honesty in public
life?" Our country then reached the high-water mark of corruption in
national affairs. A striking improvement began under Hayes, who infused
into the public service his own high ideals of honesty and efficiency.
Hayes was much assisted in his social duties by his wife, a woman of
character and intelligence, who carried herself with grace and dignity.
One sometimes heard the remark that as Hayes was ruled in political
matters by John Sherman, so in social affairs he was ruled by his wife.
The sole foundation for this lay in his deference to her total
abstinence principles, which she held so strongly as to exclude wine
from the White House table except, I believe, at one official dinner,
that to the Russian Grand Dukes.

Hayes's able Cabinet was likewise a harmonious one. Its members were
accustomed to dine together at regular intervals (fortnightly, I think),
when affairs of state and other subjects were discussed, and the
geniality of these occasions was enhanced by a temperate circulation of
the wine bottle. There must have been very good talk at these social
meetings. Evarts and Schurz were citizens of the world. Evarts was