In 1883 the ring carried every district but Mr. Russell's, and he was re-elected by forty plurality, and remained during the year a minority of one in the Board of Aldermen, but powerful for good because of his unsparing opposition to and exposure of the corruption he could not prevent.
His identification with opposition to the ring had become so absolute that when, in 1884, the citizens of Cambridge, without regard to party, united to overthrow it and set up a businesslike government, Mr. Russell became the natural candidate. He made speeches in all parts of the city, and his knowledge of the facts was so great that his speeches had deadly effect. His victory was complete, and the ring was so badly beaten that it has never regained power since. As Mayor Mr. Russell's course was most honorable and successful. Though not thirty years old, his thorough study of government, his reverence for American institutions, and his knowledge of the peculiar needs of Cambridge made him better able to serve the city than an older man of a different bringing up. He destroyed the ring, root and branch, and made his own appointments to office for fitness only. He saw that the laws were obeyed, even though they were laws he personally opposed. He reduced the city's debt, lowered its taxes, and made its name as respectable as it had been before the days of its local Tweed.
Indeed, so grateful were the citizens to him that they re-elected him without any opposition in 1885, 1886, and 1887; and in 1888, although he desired to retire, he withdrew his declination on being presented with a petition of three thousand names, and was elected again by two thousand majority, carrying every ward and every precinct but two, in spite of hostility to him because of his firmness in stopping disorder during the great railroad strike during the winter before.
His administration as Mayor had made him so conspicuous a leader in his own party that in 1886 he was offered the Congressional nomination for his district, which he declined to accept; and in 1888 he was made the Democratic candidate for Governor—city and State elections coming in different months in Massachusetts. As Massachusetts is strongly Republican, he did not expect to win, but his personal popularity gave him more votes for Governor than Mr. Cleveland received for President. In 1889 he was renominated by acclamation, and made a brilliant campaign of the State, which established his reputation as a debater of the highest ability; but although he made great gains in the Republican part of the State, he lost it by a small majority. In 1890 he was again renominated, and made his third canvass of the State, which was more thorough than ever, and resulted in his triumphant election as Governor.
His administration of his new office was like that of his other one. He never made a promise he did not keep, nor did he ever make a promise he could not keep; so he became the "reform Governor," and put out bad men to put in good ones, kept the taxes down, saw the State funds were properly spent, and that the government was the people's and not the politicians'. He accomplished a great deal, but most of all the converting of political opponents into personal followers, for he won over enough Republicans to make him Governor again in 1891, and still a third time in 1892; and he might, it would seem, have kept on being Governor as long as he had kept on being Mayor except that he refused, in spite of many entreaties to do so, to run again after his third term.
So he left public office, which he had had to undertake for a dozen years, and went quietly back to his law practice, which he makes as successful as his campaigns, and to his home, for he was married while he was Mayor, in 1885, and has a charming wife and three jolly children. You may see him any day in Boston going quietly about the streets, or riding his horse out to Cambridge over the Milldam. He spends his vacations, as he always did from boyhood, in the Maine woods, and loves fishing and shooting as much as if he were still a boy.
[CAMERA CLUB PRIZE COMPETITION.]
Never since the Round Table first offered prizes for best specimens of photographic work has the competition been so widespread or so many pictures submitted for prizes. The pictures sent have been, as a rule, much finer than in former years, showing that our club is raising its standard of work, and that the members profit by the hints given in the Camera Club Department. This was shown especially in the finishing and mounting, very few pictures being sent in on small cards. The picture which won first prize in marines had no name. This picture is well finished and mounted, and justly merits first prize. The second prize for marines was won by a Lady of the Round Table, and this also having no name, it has been called "A Good Take," and is a picture of a number of fishermen just shaking out the last fishes from their net on a huge pile which lies on the ground; the boat is drawn up on the beach, and a number of interested spectators, fishermen, are looking on.