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THE SUNNY SOUTH.
LAWYER AND JOURNALIST.
Character Studies of Bright and Brainy Men.
A Brief Sketch of Two Well Known Georgians—One a Brilliant and Famous
Lawyer, the Other a Most Able Journalist—The Story of Their Rise.
BY WALLACE PUTNAM REED.
HOH. W. A. HEMPHILL.
When the south was electrified by the
call to arms. In the tremendous days of
'61, there was a youth of nineteen who
left his home in Athens, Georgia, where
he was born, to follow the flag of the Con
federacy.
William A. Hemphill had just graduated
at the State university. With his fine ed
ucational equipment and a superior,intel
lect his future was promising. Descended
from good old pioneer and revolutionary
stock, he possessed the substantial moral,
mental and physical qualities of his etur-
dv ancestors, and boy as he was, his en
ergy and self-reliance made him feel fully
equal *to the duties and emergencies of the
hour. Joining the Troup artillery In
Cobb's Legion, he went to the front and
fought under Lee in Virginia until the
close of the war.
There are many gallant Confederate
veterans who to this day grow enthusias
tic when they speak of the heroic war re
cord of young Hemphill. At the battle
of Gettysburg he received a severe wound,
from which he did not recover until he
had patiently endured many weeks of suf
fering.
“The Gunner of Gettysburg" was the ti
tle of an interesting sketch In The Chica
go Tlmes-Herald, a year or so ago. in
which a thrilling Incident in Colonel
Hemphill's life was graphically described.
It se»ms that it fell to the lot of this
youthful artilleryman to fire the first gun
in this historic and fateful fight.
Many years have come and gone since
that memorable day, but the veteran will
never forget it. There he stood, an un
known stripling from the old red hills of
Georgia, waiting for the order which was
to open one of the greatest battles of
modern times.
He fired a shot that morning which was
heard around the globe. Before Its thun
der had died away two immense armies,
the finest and bravest in the world, rush
ed together In a death grapple, and on
that spot heroes and history were made
for all time.
But Colonel Hemphill is not the man to
talk about his war record. He Is never
happier than when he is with his old com
rades. but he has nothing to say of htB
own experiences in the field, and it was
from the voluntary testimony of others
that the writer of this article learned that
this noble Georgian was one of the best,
bravest and most modest of all the men
In gray who fought through the great
conflict of the sixties.
Two years after the war the young sol
dier settled in Atlanta, where he made a
fine reputation as the principal of a boys'
high school. In a short time; however, he
gave tnis up ami was one of the founders
of The Daily Constitution, of which he be
came the business manager, a position
which he still retains. His Judgment and
forethought pushed the paper forward un
til it was generally recognized as the
leading and most influential southern
newspaper.
Although one of the busiest of capital
ists he always finds time to devote to the
welfare of others, and his public spirit
and progressive methods are so highly ap
preciated by his fellow citizens that they
are constantly pressing him into service,
and few men have to meet such heavy de
mands upon their resources, their ener
gies and their time. But he never falls
to respond when he sees an opportunity of
rendering timely and efficient aid to a
worthy public or private object. He has
served as alderman, president of the
board of education, president of the
Young Men's Library association, super
intendent of Trinity Sunday school, presi
dent o( the Capital City bank, and as di
rector and promoter of various important
enterprises. As mayor of Atlanta h'e made
a splendid record, and If he showed the
slightest political ambition the people of
Georgia would gladly shower official hon
ors upon him.
But Colonel Hemphill is not an office
seeker. He bears cheerfully more than
his share of the duties and burdens of cit
izenship. but when others push him to
the front he never rests until he helps
some deserving man into the office which
his friends hoped to see the colonel ac
cept. He cares nothing for newspaper
fame. The leading papers of the country
frequently say very complimentary things
about him. but while he shows that he is
duly appreciative, he discourages the re
production of such articles, and The Con
stitution men are never able to copy them
unless they do it without his knowledge.
During the recent financial depression
Colonel Hemphill suggested and was di
rectly instrumental in organizing and car
rying through to its brilliant climax the
great Cotton States and International ex
position. which did so much for Atlanta
and the south in 1896. When all the ad
verse conditions of the time are consider
ed, it must be admitted that no similar
exposition on the continent was ever more
successful.
Last year he colonel Inaugurated and
made a tremendous success of Atlanta's
national peace jubilee. A writer in Arm
strong's Magazine thus spoke of his con
nection with It:
“One dark, rainy day In October Ex-
Mayor William A. Hemphill, of Atlanta,
sat in his office in The Constitution build
ing. looking out upon a leading thorough
fare which at that time gave no sign of
travel, traffic or life. It was a dull, de
pressing prospect,but it did not discourage
Colonel Hemphill. He had seen dull and
hard times before, and he had more than
once rallied his fellow citizens together,
and persuaded them to Join him in push
ing Atlanta to the front. He had sug
gested the great Cotton States and Inter
national exposition of 1895, and had work
ed hard to organize it and carry it
through to its successful climax.
“Why not hold a national peace jubilee
in Atlanta? The idea had hardly flashed
through the colonel's mind before he was
ready to act. He at once visited the top
floor and mentioned the matter to Mr.
Clark Howell, managing editor of The
Constitution. Mr. Howell enthusiastically
favored the suggestion, and Colonel
Hemphill began work without delay.
Leading citizens were summoned, and af
ter hearing the colonel’s views it was de
cided to hold the jubilee. The committees
were appointed and the ball was set in
motion."
The article goes on to say that at the
proper time Colonel Hemphill visited
President McKinley In Washington, and
invited him to visit the jubilee, which was
set for December 14th and 35th. The pres
ident readily consented, and, as all the
world knows, he gave the death blow to
sectionalism in his jubilee speech which
declared that the time had come for the
federal government to share with the
people of the south the duty of properly
caring for the graves of the Confederate
dead.
Colonel Hemphill has made a number of
patriotic and eloquent speeches during the
past few years. His addresses last year
at Independence Hall In Philadelphia, and
. in Atlanta, when he introduced the presi
dent during the jubilee, were notable
speeches, and worthy of a place in his
tory.
Recently he accepted the urgent invita
tion of General Alger, the secretary of
war, to accompany him on a long trip
through Cuba. Porto Rico and Jamaica,
and his Instructive, entertaining and
graphic letters In The Constitution, giv
ing the results of his observation in those
islands, are conceded to be by far the best
that have been written by any tourist In
many years. Secretary Alger upon his
return to Washington spoke in the high
est terms of Colonel He-nphJ»L apd said
that some of his off-hand, speeches in
Cuba and Porto Rico were gems of elo
quence.
As a factor of progress and development
in the south Colonel Hemphill easily
stands at the head of the procession. He
is a broad-minded American; a sagacious
business man; a zealous Methodist; a pub-
pose there is a soul living here now who
was here in 1834, when I first saw the lit
tie embryo city. My parents and my
brother and I stopped over night at the
old Sledge hotel as we Journeyed from
Boston to Georgia in a carriage. We went
to Boston by sea from Savannah, but
came back all the way by land in a pri
vate carriage and never crossed a rail
road. There was none to cross. My next
visit was eleven years later, when I came
to enter the sophomore class. Two mules
at tandem pulled our little car from Union
Point forty miles to Athens. There were
common passengers below and a score of
uncommon ones on top, for they were col
lege boys, and as such, preferred to ride
high, just as college boys do now. With
what rear and trembling we went through
the examination that was to determine
our fate whether we were fitten to enter
or only fitten to get fitten. It was a thrill
ing and momentous ordeal, but we sur
vived it. What awful majesty appeared
In Dr. Church's classic features and in
the quick glances of his dark and pierc
ing eyes. He was from New England,
and after he came south married a sister
MAJ. C. H. SMITH, “BILL ARP,
HON. W. A. HEHPHILL.
TORPID LIVER.
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and Ready Relief These two medicines
have done me and my family more good
than a whole drug store. I am 5? years
old; I used about six boxes of your pills
since last spring. I am as regular now
and feel like a healthy man of 20 years.
Now. I want to find out about your
Resolvent, to use in case of a young lady-
fete.. etc.). Respectfully. '
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542 E. 134th St., New York.
April 8th, 1898.
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Be sure to get "Radway's.”
lie-spirited citizen enjoying the respect
gud confidence of legions of people north
tied south, and In his charming home cir
cle, and in the company of his loyal
friends, who know and esteem his many
admirable qualities of head and heart, he
Is at his best, companionable, sympathetic
and unselfish In his untiring efforts to ad
vance the interests of others.
CHAS. H. SMITH—“BILL ABF.”
Nc southern writer has a larger circle
of readers and friends than Bill Arp.
Ihla delightful humorist and philoso
pher for more than a generation has held
a high place In the esteem and affection
of millions of people who weloome his
weekly letters aa they would a flood of
sunshine.
Major Charles H. Smith is a native of
Gwinnett county, Georgia, where he was
born in 1826. He attracted attention as a
remarkably bright boy, but, like other
youngsters, he was full of fun and frolic,
and enjoyed the pastimes of the boys of
his age. His father was a scholarly New
Englander who first settled In Savannah,
when he came south, and there married
a young lady who was one of his pupils.
Young Smith enjoyed fine educational
advantages and profited by them, though
he was by no means a bookworm. Hav
ing a perfectly sound mind in a sound
body, he moved about in the world and
found that it was possible to be a stu
dent and a thinker without bending over
musty volumes all the time, and without
wasting the midnight oil.
It was said by those who knew him that
when he was interested in a book or a
subject he could master it in an incredi
bly short time, but when he felt no inter
est In it he could forget the whole busi
ness without the slightest effort. He was
a student at Franklin college at Athens,
where he made a fine record.
In a recent letter he gave an Interesting
account of a vialt to Athena, and his re
miniscences of his old school days were
peculiarly touching and suggestive.
Among other things he said:
"My visits to this classic city have
been few and far between. I do not sup-
of our Judge Trippe, a beautiful woman
and the mother of five of the most beau
tiful daughters ever seen in one family.
They were queenly. These yankee school
teachers all mated with our southern
girls and didn’t mind owning a few ne
groes any more than so many horses or
cows, especially if they came with the
wife’s patrimony. Old Judge Warren got
his that way. but It cut him off from his
yankee relations. Nathaniel Beman wa
another distinguished yankee
whether he became h slake owher or
I have not learned.
“My father was a yankee school teach
er, but didn’t get any slaves by marriage.
He bought some, however, and that creat
ed a coolness among his northern kindred.
It took those yankees a long time to
acquiesce in slavery unless they came
down south. Old Bill Steward tried to mar
ry a Putnam county girl who had about a
hundred, and because she wouldn’t have
him he went back north and raised a
howl about slavery. Joslah Melggs, an
other Connecticut yankee and a grandson
of Return Jonathan Melggs, was the first
president of this college and held his place
for twelve years. I think that he, too,
married a southern girl—a sister of Gov
ernor John Forsyth. Next came Moses
Waddell, an educator of great renown.
He married a sister of John C. Calhoun
and educated him and Legare and Petti
grew and other notable men before he
became president. After that he had for
his pupils many of the great men of
Georgia, including Stephens, Toombs,
Howell Cobb, Johnson, George Pierce and
the Crawfords. And there were giants
In those days. Some folks say there are
just as great men now, but there are so
many more of them that they have be
come common and do not attract so much
attention. Maybe so—yes, maybe so.”
In some respects It was a sad visit. All
of Major Smith's preceptors were dead,
except one. and not more than a dozen
of his old college mates survived. The
visitor missed the solid men of Athens—
Lumpkin, the Cobbs, Hulls, Mortons,
Thomases, Newtons and Albon Chase,
John W. Burke, Dr. Nathan Hoyt, Dr.
Reese and Dr. Crawford Long, the dis
coverer of anesthesia. Then, too, he
missed the pretty girls of his youth,
whose bright companionship was In it
self, as he happily said, a liberal educa
tion.
This Is not a biographical sketch, and
will not attempt to deal with dates and
details. The following facts, however,
should have a place here. The young stu
dent who went to Franklin college In
those golden days of southern civilization <
was admitted to the bar at an early age,
and rode the circuit with the most fa
mous lawyers of that period. These men
were Intellectual giants, and young Smith
was their pet. They recognized his bril
liancy and sterling worth, and their lov
ing and appreciative comradeship did
much to encourage and stimulate him. In
the course of time he was happily mar
ried to Miss Mary Octavla Hutehlns. and
then began an Ideal home life, which has
continued for more than a half century,
blessed and brightened by the presence
of devoted children whose talents and
virtues have made them deservedly popu
lar In every circle. Some years ago a
biographer wrote of the subject of this
sketch:
"His famous letters first appeared when
the war commenced, and were written in
the phonetic style of spelling. They were
rebellious letters In a humorous way, and
attracted attention, not only for the hu
mor. but from the fact that what he so
good-naturally said was so much to the
point that It reached every true southern
er. TheCourier-Journal said of his letter to
Artemus Ward In 1865 that it was the first
chirp of any bird after the surrender, and
gave relief and hope to thousands of
drooping hearts. Another paper said:
"His writings are delightful mixtures
of humor and philosophy. There Is no
cynicism in his nature, and he always
pictures the brightest side of domestic
life, and encourages his readers to live
up to It and enjoy it.” He dropped the
phonetic spelling shortly after the war,
bought a farm at Cartersville, where he
lives and writes and revels in a charming
home life. His cheerful philosophy can
not fall to brighten all around him. At
present he Is writing letters to The Con
stitution and The Sunny South, and has
recently written a “History of Georgia."
It would be an easy matter to fill many
columns with the tributes of famous men
and women to this apostle of sweetness
and light. Humorists, poets, philosophers
and statesmen are among his warmest
friends and admirers, and no living south
ern writer has such a hold upon the
masses. A few weeks ago when he and
his noble wife celebrated their golden
wedding In their charming home at Car
tersville. they were overwhelmed with a
flood of letters, poems and rare and cost
ly presents from every quarter of the
continent.
But the writer of this article started
out with the intention of devoting the
greater portion of his space tq one of
Major Smith's books which should re
ceive more attention than has been be
stowed upon it. His "History of Geor
gia" is a valuable work, and unlike many
histories designed for use in the schools,
It is of remarkable and exceptional inter
est to general readers, not only in Geor
gia, but elsewhere. In fact, It is not
too much to say that it deserves a place
in the library of every patriotic and intel
ligent southerner, and thoughtful and
fair-minded northerners will find it both
entertaining and instructive. The book
is published by the great publishing house
of Ginn A Company, which makes its
southern headquarters In Atlanta. Some
years ago, when there was no complete
school history of Georgia In print, these
publishers employed Major Smith to write
this book, and in a composite.handsomely
Illustrated volume of less than 200 pages
he has managed to condense more inter
esting facts than can be found elsewhere
in any half dozen works on the subject.
The history deals with Georgia aa a
colony and a state, from 1733 to 1893. It
has chapters devoted to Oglethorpe, the
original grant and Its changes, Ogle
thorpe's charter, the earliest settlements,
the progress of the colony, the Spanish
invasion, the administration of William
Stephens, the surrender of the charter,
the administration of Reynolds, the ad
ministration of Ellis, the administration
of Wright, Georgia in the revolutionary
war, the Yazoo fraud, the great seal of
the state, the war of 1812. Clark, Troup,
Gilmer, Lumpkin and Schley, the Mexican
war, Cobb and Johnson, Joseph E. Brown,
the war between the states, the close of
the war, reconstruction, Jenkins, Bullock,
Colquitt. Smith and McDaniel. Then
there are historical readings embracing
the African slave trade—its origin and
growth; the condition of the negro as a
slave, why Georgia withdrew from the
Union, the common people and the aris
tocracy, the ilterature of Georgia and the
condition of the state. There are several
maps and full page pictures of Ogle
thorpe, Robert Toombs, Joseph E. Brown,
Alex. H. Stephens, C. J. Jenkins, John B.
Gordon, the new capitol, W. J. Northen,
Chas. F. Crisp and Hoke Smith, besides
many other illustrations.
The whole book Is of Inestimable value
as a history. It Is as readable as a ro
mance. and no intelligent Georgian should
be without It. It Is a condensed library
of state history and costs only 70 cents!
It brings out the fact that General Grant
was a slave owner and lived off their hire.
It gives a burning review of the old aboli
tion leaders and their disloyal utterances.
It is a complete vindication of Georgia
and of the old south.
Read this extract from one of the chap
ters on “The Common People and the
Aristocracy:"
"Before the late war there were two
distinct types of Anglo-Saxon civilization
occupying the southern states, especially
those states lying east of the Mississippi
river. They were the common people and
the aristocracy. While these classes In
termingled and sometimes intermarried,
the line was plainly marked and seemed
to grow more visible as the years rolled
on. The Institution of slavery helped to
keep it bright.
“It was not a line between the poor and
rich, nor between the ignorant and the
educated, nor between slaveholders and
Ton-slaveholders. <t was not a political
.tine Whigs from the Detno-
. but nevertheless it was- a line
which all of these helped to make, and it
gradually grew into one of social equality,
of Inequality. The tollers did not often
mate with the aristocrats nor Intrude up
on them socially. Indeed, they occupied
for the most part different sections of
the state, the common people settling In
the mountain region or down in the plney
woods, while the wealthier class lived in
middle Georgia or on the coast, where
their slaves could grow cotton and rice to
advantage.
"These common people had settled down
in advance of the schoolmaster and long
before railroads were built, so their chil
dren grew up without education, and their
only chance for learning was a mother's
love and solicitude. She would teach
them all that she had not forgotten—she
always does. The father may be educat
ed, but he will not trouble himself to
teach his children. He Is too busy by day,
too tired at night. Before the war there
were In north Georgia at least two gen
erations that had grown up with but a
limited education—In fact, with none to
speak of, for It was rare to find a man
among them who could read or write. It
was history repeating Itself. Daniel
Boone could read, but his children could
not. The year before the war the per
centage of illiteracy In Georgia was 26.
Twenty-six white persons over 8 years of
age in every 100 could neither read nor
write. This was for the whole state, but
In some of the mountain counties the
average was 66. The Itinerant preacher
had been there, but net the schoolmaster.
The rude people had been taught how to
live and how to die. Their morals had
been preserved, but not their manners.
"The cotter’s Saturday night in old
Scotland was not more humbly devotional
than the gathering of these rough people
at the log church on a Sabbath morning.
There were none to molest or make them
afraid. They came as best they could—
on foot, on horseback or In the farm wa
gon. They came in families, parents and
children. They sat upon the pneheon
seats and devoutly listened as the preach
er stretched forth his arms and said:
"Let us worship God.” It is a lasting
tribute to these people that while their
percentage of Illiteracy was-66. their per
centage of crime was only two In one
thousand adults. In portions of the north
where illiteracy is from 4 to 6 per cent,
crime seems to have Increased in an In
verse ratio, for as Illiteracy decreases
crime Increases, unless morality and re
ligion are taught In the schools. And so
since the war, when railroads and revenue
laws have penetrated the mountain homes
of these people, crime has been on the In
crease, and the moonshiner has become
an outlaw. There was a time when his
father and his grandfather distilled their
fruit in a limited and honest way, and
worshiped God. and violated no law.
There was a time when there were no
locks on their doors, and the stranger al
ways found a welcome—a time when there
were no hip-pockets for deadly weapons,
when Jails were empty and half the week
was sufficient to clear the courthouse
docket.”
Major Smith is now a few years beyond
the three-score-and-ten limit, but he Is
still youthful in his feelings and sympa
thies. He is a power on the lecture plat
form, a splendid talker and a delightful
companion. In the course of the next few
years it is to be hoped that he will favor
the public with many of those interesting
reminiscences which he makes so fasci
nating and so instructive.
Nothing has been said here about his
public services, civic and military, be
cause this does not purport to be a bio
graphical sketch. It should be said, how
ever, that Major Smith’s career as a law
yer, patriot, legislator and model citlxen
Is one of which any man might be proud.
mb. johm xl McClelland.
Among the younger lawyers at the At
lanta bar it is generally conceded that
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Mr. John E. McClelland is undoubtedly
the most brilliant and successful.
His career has been a wonderful one,
when it is judged by the results achieved
in a brief period, and when one considers
the judgment and energy displayed by a
self-made young man who has not yet
reached the age of thirty.
Young McClelland is a native Georgian,
and his earlier years were spent in Rock
dale and DeKalb counties. He obtained a
good education in the excellent schools
of Conyers and Stone Mountain, and his
studies did not end with his school days.
His father, the late Rev. J. F. McClel
land, was a popular, useful and greatly
beloved educator and minister, of excep
tional piety, talent and scholarship. He
had pastoral charge of flourishing Pres
byterian churches at Stone Mountain and
Lawrenceville. and was chaplain of the
Georgia legislature when he died in 1885
at Stone Mountain, where he then resided.
This distinguished divine in his life and
works nobly Illustrated the virtues of the
fine old Scotch-Irish stock from which he
was descended. He possessed a strong,
clear Intellect, and was an Indefatigable
student. He ranked among the ablest and
most successful educators of the state,
and soon after entering the ministry he
became a recognized power in the pulpit.
He died In his prime, but not before he
had rendered service of priceless valor
to his fellowmen and to the Master, to
whose work he eagerly and logically de
voted his best energies.
Under the loving care of such a father
the subject of this sketch had his charac
ter shaped In early boyhood, and as a lad
In his teens he was noted for his pluck
and energy, comprehensive Intellect, un
tiring industry, and those moral qualities
which form the basis of true manhood.
The death of his father left this high-
spirited and independent boy of thirteen
with his own way to make in the world,
and he started out with the determination
to succeed.
He came to Atlanta and secured a posi
tion in the great dry goods establishment
of J. M. High & Co. He was very young,
without Influential friends or money to
aid him, but his remarkable abilities at
tracted the attention of the head of the
firm, and at the age of eighteen the
youngster became the financial manager
of the house, and was admitted as a part
ner before the age of twenty.
In a short time Mr. McClelland was
widely known among business men
throughout many states. Merchants in At
lanta soon recognized him as the best and
most reliable authority on the subject of
retail credits. Close attention to his spe
cialty naturally threw him in contact
with the legal profession, and in order to
increase his usefulness he read law until
a late hour night after night. His pro
fessional studies were directed and aided
by leading lawyers, but very few students
ever devoted themselves to their text
books with closer application and a keen
er appreciation of their contents than
were exhibited by young McClelland.
About this time he had attracted favora
ble attention among prominent commer
cial men In New York, and his articles in
the Dry Goods Economist, an Influential
periodical of that city, did much to shape
the policy and methods of merchants and
lawyers all over the continent.
When he felt that,_he was ready, and
not before, he was a.4teitted to the bar,
after an examination which satisfied the
court that he was one of the best equip
ped students who had ever applied for a
license In Fulton county. His new pro-
sive and convincing, carrying his point
quietly, without the noise and display
which so frequently characterises the ef
forts of young lawyers who are trying to
push their way to the front.
As a rule Mr. McClelland is successful
with the cases entrusted to him. He is
noted for speedily arranging big settle
ments and winning satisfactory verdicts.
In his lexicon the word ''fail" seems to
have been left out. Yet he is not fond of
litigation. He prefers to settle cases out
of court, and frequently he succeeds in
dcing this In very Important matters In
volving large money and property inter
ests, and his settlements are so just and
satisfactory that both creditors and debt
ors come to a friendly understanding and
unite In thanking him.
With -hls already large and growing
practice hls time is occupied almost every
hour In the day, hut hls taleqts and en
ergies enable him to do an enormous
amount of work without yielding to the
pressure. He is always bright, alert and
ready to begin a new task the moment
he has finished the matter on hand. The
oldest and ablest ' lawyers think very
highly of his judgment, and are always
delighted to have him associated In big
cases with them. They predict for him
a phenomenal degree of success, and It
must be admitted that they have the best
of reasons for making this prediction.
Mr. McClelland's law office is in Atlan
ta, but his delightful home is In Decatur,
where a charming wife and two bright lit
tle boys are always eager to welcome hls
return from the city. His wife is the
daughter of the late James D. Spence, of
Lawrenceville, and like her husband, Is a
general favorite In a large circle of
friends and acquaintances.
Even this brief outline of . the story of
the brilliantly successful career of a
young lawyer who has won by sheer merit
alone should be Inspiring and encourag
ing to other brainy young men. It shows
what a man of superior talent and energy
can do, when he starts on the right line
and does his best work.
John e. McClelland.
fession caused him to give up one of the
best commercial salaries In Georgia, but
he felt confident that he would soon
make his way to the front. Without over
estimating his own powers, he believed
that in the specialty of commercial law
he could easily hold his own, and speedily
establish himself in a successful and lu
crative practice. He had to meet the
sharp competition of hundreds of lawyers
In Atlanta, which has one of the ablest
bars In the entire south, but he entered
the arena with a superb equipoise and a
serene confidence which his subsequent
success fully justified.
He did not have to endure long years of
weary plodding. There was no anxious
waiting for clients. Business men had
known McClelland for some time. They
knew and appreciated his cool, clear
head; hls indomitable will power; hls tre
mendous energy: his mastery of the prin
ciples and details of hls chosen line of
practice, and they came to him at once
with a fine class of profitable business.
The young lawyer surprised hls older
competitors by his quick and comprehen
sive grasp of new questions. When the
present bankrupt law was enacted he
showed that he was familiar with the
whole subject, and Indeed before the act
was passed one of his articles discussing
the policy of such a law created quite a
sensation amonk the numerous readers
of the New York periodical in which it
was published.
Mr. McClelland would he singled out
anywhere as a man of strong individuali
ty and intellectual power. Hls bright and
handsome face wins confidence and re
spect at once, and reflects the personal
magnetism, and the frank, fearless and
kindly nature of the man. His polished
manners and easy grace are thoroughly
natural, and whether talking to a little
circle of Interested hearers, or delivering
one of his masterly arguments In a
crowded courtroom, he Is always persua-
Ingersoll on Shakespeare.
If Shakespeare knew one fact he knew
Its kindred and its neighbors. Looking
at a coat of mail he Instantly Imagined
the society, the conditions that produced
it. and what In turn it produced. He saw
the castle, the moat, the drawbridge, the
lady In the tower, and the knightly lover
spurring across the plain. He saw the
bold baron and the rude detainer, the
trampled serf, and all the glory and grief
of feudal life. He was a man of Imagina
tion.
He lived the life of all.
He was a citizen of Athens in the days
of Pericles. He listened to the eager elo
quence of the great orators, and sat upon
the cliffs, and with the tragic poet heard
“the multitudinous laughter of the sea."
He saw Socrates thrust the spear of ques
tion through the shield and heart of false
hood. He was present when the great man
drank hemlock, and met the night of
death tranquil as a star meets morning.
He listened to the peripatetic philoso
phers, and was unpuzzled by the sophists.
He watched Phidias as he chiseled shape
less stone to forms of love and awe.
He lived by the mysterious Nile, amid
the vast and monstrous. He knew ‘the
very thought that wrought the form and
features of the Sphinx. He heard great
Memnon's morning song when marble lip's
were smitten by the sun. He .laid him
down with the embalmed and waiting
dead, and felt within their dust the ex
pectation of another life, mingled with
cold and suffocating doubts—the children
born of long delay.
He walked the ways of mighty Rome
and saw great Caesar with his legions In
the field. He stood with vast and motley
throngs and watched the triumphs given
to victorious men, followed by uncrowned
kings, the captured hosts, and all the
spoils of ruthless war. He heard the
shout that shook the Coliseum’s roofless
walls, when from the reeling gladiator’s
hand the short sword fell, while from hls
bosom gushed the stream of wasted life.
He lived the life of savage men. He
tpod the forest's silent depths, and In the
desperate game of life or death he match
ed his thought against Instinct of the
He knew all crimes and all regrets, all
virtues and their rewards. He was vic
tim and victor, pursuer and pursued, out
cast and king. He heard the applause and
curses of the world, and on hls heart had
fallen all the nights and noons of failure
and success.
He knew the unspoken thoughts, the
dumb desires, the wants and ways of
beasts. He felt the crouching tiger's thrill,
the terror of the ambushed prey, and with
the eagles he had shared the ecstacy of
flight and poise and swoop, and he had
lain with sluggish serpents on the barren
rocks uncoiling slowly in the heart of
noon.
He sat beneath the bo-tree's contem
plative shade. wrapped in Buddha's
mighty thought, and dreamed all dreams
that light, the alchemist, has wrought
from dust and dew, and stored within
the slumbrous poppy’s subtle blood.
He knelt with awe and dread at every
shrine—he offered every sacrifice and ev
ery prayer—felt the consolation and the
shuddering fear—mocked and worshipped
all the gods—enjoyed all heavens, and felt
the pangs of every hell.
He lived all lives, and through his blood
and brain there crept the shadow and the
chill of every death, and his soul, like
Mazeppa, was lashed naked to the wild
horse of every fear and love and hate.
The Imagination had a stage In Shakes
peare's brain, whereon were set all scenes
that lie between the morn of laughter
and the night of tear, and where hls play
ers bodied forth the false and true, the
joys and griefs, the careless shallows and
the tragic deeps of universal life.
From Shakespeare's brain there poured
a Niagara of gems, spanned by fancy's
seven-hued arch. He was as many-sided
as clouds are many formed. To him giv
ing was hoarding—sowing was harvest—
and waste Itself the source of wealth.
Within his marvelous mind were the
fruits of all thought past, the seeds of
all to be. As a drop of dew contains the
image of the earth and sky, so all there
is of life was mirrored forth in Shake
speare’s brain.
Shakespeare was an intellectual ocean,
where waves touched all the shores of
thought; within which were all the tides
and waves of destiny and will; over
which swept all the storms of fate, ambi
tion and revenge: upon which fell the
gloom and darkness of despair and death,
and all the sunlight of content and love,
and within was the inverted sky. lit with
the eternal stars. Shakespeare was an
Intellectual ocean, toward which all riv
ers ran, and from which now the isles
and continents of thought receive their
dew and rain.
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