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.