Newspaper Page Text
VOLUME 1.
LITTLK TUIyGS.
A Cup of water iirolcy brought:
An offered cany cjjair.
A turning of the window blind
That all may feel the air;
An early flower unasked beitowed.
A light and cautious tread,
A voice to softest whispers hushed
, To spare an aching head;
Oil,things like these, though little things,
The purest love disclose,
As fragrant atoms in the air
lteveal the hidden rose.
Got Jen Crown.
Reminiscences of the Cherokees.
By HQ*. J. W. H,UN HER WOOD, of Borne,
Georgia.
CHAPTER XI.
Copyrighted IHHS. All rights reserved.]
Mr. Jutnes A. ft. flanks, of Dalton,
Georgia, was born in Darlington District,
8. C., in the year 1813. lie was the
fourth son of Nathan Hanks, an earnest,
conscientious man, a member of the
Baptist church fifty years of his life.
He whs a man of great firmness of char
acter —rather of the hardshell order—
with all the stern integrity of that de
nomination of Christians.
I was a boy when I knew him and
therefore too young to lie his intimate
friend, though quite old enough to re
member ids friendly admonition and
counsel. The stern, unbending princi
ple- of integrity that he dally inculcated,
1 can never forget. lie was a man of
few words, which were in all cases fitted
to the matter in question. I never knew
him to alter a sentence or retrace a step
after once spoken or taken. He was a
true man in all relations of life.
Janies received a good English educa
tion. In early life he clerked in a dry
goods store in Camden, S. C. Dr. Koht.
T. Hanks, an elder brother, married a
native Cherokee, engaging in mercantile
pursuits in the Cherokee Nation on Val
ley river, N. C. When James was about
eighteen years old lie clerked for him
there for several years. He was a great
favorite with the Indians and attended
their dances and other amusements.
Mr. Hanks was of a most romantic
and cheerful disposition. His nature
wits intensified by the grand scenery of
that country. The sweet valley sleeps
in gentle repose on the limpid river from
which it takes its name. The Cheowee
mountains were on the north, the Nauto
holaon the east, tiie Tusquittah heights
on the south, and the Unaka chain on
the west, presented an enchanting view
nowhere surpassed on the globe. He
wlio is so fortunate, or ever has been so
fortunate as to travel the road that leads
from Murphy to Franklin, N. C., be
tween the teutlvami mile post,
will look upon a scene that will certainly
gladden his heart. The perfume of the
crt<b-Apple, the thousands of wild flow
ers, the fresh mountain airs in the month
of May, are infinitely sweeter and more
refreshing than all of Lubin’s extracts.
Mr. Hanks was a great reader of Wal
ter Scott and Burns. In this country he
read the Scottish Chiefs, and studied the
characters of Wallace and Bruce. Ivan
hoe and lthoderick Dhu were his daily
thoughts, as well as the bold, intrepid
McGjegor.
He could chant “Lassie with the Lint
White Locks,” “the Braes of Balquithu,”
“Boon Doom,” and “The Banks of Dee.”
He learned here the songs of the Indians
and tuned his voice with those of the
dusky Indian maidens. When the war
dance and ball-play were on hand, lie
took a part also with all the enthusiasm
of a sou of the forest. He chased the
wild deer and hunted the turkey miles
away.
My acquaintance began in 1833. For
six years we were associates and com
panions. We traversed the hills and
dales of North East Georgia together.
We visited the same houses, read law in
the same ofllee, and often slept in the
same bed, for flve years. I can say of a
truth that they were the most pleasant
years of my life. They are to me de
parted days and departed joys. He was
always the favorite of the young ladies,
but 1 did not envy him. I liked him so
well myself that I was willing for every
body to love him. We have communed
together “oft in the stilly night,” when
there was no other earthly eye to see or
hear. He chose the profession of law,
and was admitted to the Bar in 1833.
He has made an able lawyer, of ster
ling worth, and would reflect honor
upon any position within the gift of the
people of the State. For more than
twenty years Mr. Hanks has been a min
ister of the Gospel, an earnest, sincere,
Christian gentleman, of the Baptist de
nomination. He is an ornament to his
church and an honor to his race.
Mr. Hanks and myself were law part
ners when we first started in our pro
fession, and the firm of lawyers at that
time was not very strong. We had a
case in the lower part of Ilabersham
county—a case of forcible entry and de
tention. Hanks had some business at
lluckcrsville, Elbert county, and a few
days before the trial we went to Ruck
ersvillo and transacted the business.
Starting home we spent the night at
I'arnesville, and loitered about there
until ten or eleven o’clock in the day.
A Justice’s court, where we had a lit
tle business, was nearly on our way,
about twenty miles from Carnesville.
We concluded to stay overnight with the
Justice ot the Peace who was to try the
case. Accordingly, when we reached
his bouse we put up for the night, then
four o’clock in the afternoon* the sun
about two hours high. We found that
the J. P. had a very interesting daugh
ter just about grown. Hanks and I took
a and after consultation decided it
would be best for one of us to pay the
girl very particular attention. As we
THE OARTERSVILLE COURANT.
could not decide upon the proper one to
perform this interesting duty, we drew
straws. One of us get the long one, and
the business was handsomely enjoyed.
The J. P. treated us kindly and hos
pitably and we were politely inyited to
call again. When we entered the vil
lage of Clarksville that Saturday night
we were as happy as larks—we tri
umphantly gained our case and were
paid our fee.
Mr. llanki Lad a short time before
made a visit to his old home in Camden,
S. C. On hi? arrival he put up at the
hotel —the principal one in the place,
lie had been away more than flve years.
He left as a boy, and returned as a man
six feet and two inches high. Not one
of his former associates and companions
recognized him. He continued incoq,
intending to surprise his former friends
after awhile. The Superior Court was
in session, and being a lawyer (so-called)
he walked into the Courthouse and went
into the gallery. The court was engaged
in trying a young man for gambling. A
witness on the stand proved the case
against the young man very plainly. The
counsel for the accused, in order to test
the capacity of the witness as to his
knowledge of the game about which he
was testitying, inquired of him among
other questions:
“When did you learn the different
games?”
“About flve years ago,” he replied :
Hanks recognized in the witness a fel
low he had known and with whom he
had played, and he began to feel a little
uneasy, afraid the witness might acci
dently involve him in the business.
Defendant’s counsel, not knowing this,
inquired innocently:
“And who learned you to play these
games ?”
The witness answered instantly, “Jim
Hanks.”
Hanks says he walked down and out
of that Courthouse, went to the hotel,
paid his bill, ordered his horse and left.
Not a single soul in that town should
know that “Jim Hanks,” the fellow who
taught the witness to play bad games,
was that near at hand. I furnish this
to show that there is positive proof of
the existence of a conscience.
In 1839, while the late John H. Lump
kin was Solicitor-General of the Chero
kee circuit, daring the term of Union
Superior Court, Judge Trippe having the
criminal docket before him, called the
case of the State vs. Swallow, an Indian.
Some officer of the court suggested that
the case had been previously disposed of
at a former term of the court.
“Hand me that bill of indictment,”
said Lumpkin to the Clerk.
The Clerk handed him the paper.
Lumpkin had an impediment in his
speech which caused him to hang at a
word for a second or kwo at a tim**. He
examined the bill and said to the court:
“The case has been disposed of, please
your Honor, 1 find here the judgment
of the court.” Proceeding to read,
“Whereupon it is considered, ordered
and sentenced by the court that the de
fendant Swallow', an Indian” —just here
his impediment caused him to halt and
hang fire, and before he got his mouth off
again, Hanks spoke our, “Did he do it?”
Lumpkin, with great indignation,
blurted out, “Yes, he did,” and while
the crowd was in a roar of laughter,
proceeded to finish reading the sentence.
Yon will hear more of Hanks.
An amusing scene occurred at Cum
tning, Forsyth county, in the campaign
between Taylor and Cass, for the presi
dency, in 1848, as I now recollect. Gen.
Taylor was the Whig and Gen. Cass the
Democratic candidate. Hon. John H.
Lumpkin had delivered a democratic
speech in the Courthouse, followed by
Col. Thomas C. Hackett, who consumed
the balance of the dinner time recess.
The Judge then came in put a stop to
the speaking by going on with the court.
Col. A , a very prominent Whig, wa3
anxious to reply to those political
speeches. So when the Judge came in
and opened court, he asked to make an
announcement, which was granted. He
stated to the crowd that he would ad
dress them on political issues down at
the corner of the square in front of Mr.
Ferguson’s store, within five minutes.
He then started to the hotel, gathered
up his documents, proceeded to the afore
said corner, briskly twirling a little black
walking cane. He looked to be so ab
sorbed in his own meditations, or per
haps in the exordium of his speech which
he was preparing to make, as to forget
entirely that nobody was ganging along
his way. On he went, and mounting a
goods box with alacrity, began : “Fellow
citizens,” befoie he became aware that
he had net a singlo hearer. Three
fourths of the county were democrats,
who did not intend to hear him and who
were equally interested in keeping all
others away.
Avery interesting slander action was
put on trial, and the most popular law
yer at the Bar was appointed to speak on
the case. Those who did not go to the
Courthouse lingered over their dinners.
Political excitement was very high and
circumstances were so arranged as to
give the orator a slim show that day.
Our readers have already heard a little
of Maj. Malcolm J. Walker. He was
also a man of excessive piety. He ap
peared to think it was impossible for
anybody to be as pious as Walker pre
sumed to be or looked to be. He was
constantly lecturing the younger and
livelier members of the bar upon their
sinful amusements. If one of them
took a drink or smoked a cigar or played
a game of whist, he was certain to catch
a lecture. The youug men determined
to play off a practical joke on him by
way of regulatiug matters. They were
tired of his everlasting complaints.
Towards the end of the week, during
court, he would purchase apples, chest
nuts, candies and small packages of dry
CARTERSYILLE, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, MAY 21, 1885.
goods to carry home to his children,
generally filling his capacioua saddle
bags. When he reached his own house,
being a stout, short, chunky fat person,
he would Hold up one end of his saddle
bags, and pull out the little bundles with
his right hand. This habit had been no
ticed and remarked upon very frequently
by us, as we all went and came from
court in his company. On one occasion,
after spending near a week at Rabun
court, and preparing to return home he,
as usual, filled up his saddlebags with ap
ples, chestnuts and candies. While he
was out making his final preparations for
a start, the conspirators procured a deck
of well-worn playing cards and put them
in one side, and a pint flask of strong
corn w'hisky in the other side.
All pioqnted their horses and left. It
was twenty-five miles to Carnesville.
Walker’s house was the first one as w r e
rode into town. It had a low’, open
piazza on the ground floor, without ban
isters. • {t was a lovely atternoen in Oc
tober. Walker had a most excellent la
dy for a wife and nine children, with
about two years difference in their ages.
As they were expecting him, all wceT
gathered, out on the piazza. We pur
posely allowed Walker to get ahead,
those behind coming along to see what
was about to follow.
’ Walker dismounted from “old gray”
aud turned him loose, “gray” knowing
very well the journey was ended.
Walker said to his wife and children,
“How-dye J” “How do you do,” all re
plied.
He threw up one end of the saddlebags
jtfst a3 we expected him to do, and out
run the loose deck of cards, scattering pro
miscuously on the floor. Walker looked
consternation itself, and ejaculated:
“What in the world is all this?”
“Well, I say it’s an old deck of cards,
and show's how you spend your time at
court,” says Mrs. Walker.
The children were amazed and also
amused.
“I declare,” began Walker—
“l don’t care wdiat you declare,” re
plied Mrs. Walker, “for I’m astonished
at you!”
Walker gave the saddlebags a flirt and
threw up the other end and down came
the flask of whisky, breaking on the
floor, and as it was regular mountain
sweet mash corn-juice, the perfume was
rather strong and stifling. It told its
own story without words.
Mrs. Walker was in a state of confu
sion ; worse, confounded, and the chil
dren began to look distressed.
Mrs. Walker at last found voice:
“ Bless my soul, Maj, Walker, what
can all this mean ? What can you mean
by coming home with a deck of cards
and a flask of whisky when the hymn
book and Bible should be..your care ?”
Walker was the picture of despair.
He stamped his foot, clapped his left
hand to lus forehead, dropped the saddle
bags, and sat down in a state of mind
and body that is indescribable, llis
breath came quick and hard. lie clenched
his list, but could not speak. As Under
wood and Hanks passed on, lie shook
his fist and soliloquized : “Oh, Jim Hanks
and John Underwood; old Satan holds a
mortgage on you both, and I don’t care
how soon he forecloses it, either! ”
Turning to Mrs. Walker, he said: “I
solemnly declare I know nothing of
this.”
“Well, who did it,” replied Mrs. W.
“Why, that Hanks and Underwood.
Their match can’t be found on this earth.
I am not certain but they will cheat the
old boy out of his dues yet. If my Wes
(his son) was big enough, he should whip
them both.”
The jokers made the proper explana
tion, and while they were intensely de
lighted, it was thought best to be a little
shy of Walker for a few days—but they
had many a hearty laugh at the recollec*
tion. Walker never lectured us again,
perhaps he thought we were past receiv
ing grace. To have called them “scape
graces,” would have been in his mind a
compliment, and what ho thought they
deserved is unmentionable. For all that
he would consult and confer with us
both, and rarely went off to court with
out us. He was satisfied the same that
they were both unequalled for mischief.
Walker rode “old gray” once to Un
ion court. He was a heavy man, and
his ponderous saddle bags weighed fully
thirty pounds. His horse’s back was
pretty badly injured, the sore was on the
backbone in the middle of his back, and
was as large as a man’s fist. We stop
ped to stay all night at Maj. Logan’s,
who kept a most excellent house, with
good entertainment for man and beast.
As we went along “old gray” cast a
shoe and became pretty lame. It was a
positive necessity to have it replaced at
once. Logan had a blacksmith’s shop
and a man named Sutton kept it, doing
the work. Next morning, as Sutton had
the horse’s foot up, nailing on the shoe,
the man who held the horse spied the
sore on his back.
“Before I’d ride a horse with such a
sore back, I’d walk,” says he.
Sutton stopped hammering long
enough to say: “I’ll tell you how it is,
this horse belongs to a democrat, and a
democrat will just ride anything.”
This was in 1344, when politics ran high.
Walker once endeavored to continue a
case in Union court, when his showing
was weak and small. He felc it to be so,
and said he was not very well. Judge
W. H. Underwood was the opposing
counsel, and simply replied, “the show
ing relied on did not come up to, or in
the neighborhood, of any rule in law
with which he was acquainted.” Wal
ker answered, in great excitement, ges
ticulating fiercely, “he had known of
cases continued on account of illness of
counsel or the court, in fact the death of
the counsel, or of the court, or of the op
posing counsel, would be a good ground
for continuance, and I have a good no
tion to continue this case.”
Judge “Underwood arose instantly and
rejoined: “If you propose to continue
this case by the death of the court or of
the opposing counsel, or by your own
death, I hope we shall have a case of
suicide, and not a homicide.”
The court continSed the case, remark
ing, “The argument of Major Walker
was conclusive proof that he was too un
able to try it.”
With all his pecularities Maj. Walker
was a useful citizen and a man to be
liked, fle lias been dead several years,
and I only notice his peculiarities to give
an idea of the olden times, and to show
how the winds and waves of time drifted
us all against the foot of the Blue Ridge.
Railroads have penetrated this section
now, and civilization and commerce are
advancing, and with these elements of
progress the Switzerland of America will
become one of th.’,uiost cultivated sec
tions of the sfafedh: course of time. It
would afford me great pleasure if J had
• the time and the a .llity to write an es
say on the dignity of labor. Holy Writ
tells us labor of the results of
the disobedience of the first pair of the
human race. It is by the “sweat of the
brow” thou “shaL eat bread.” All val
uable ores and minerals are dug out of
the ground. Thu food that sustains
millions of people are produced by the
husbandman, while the forests are clear
ed by his axe. The mechanic builds the
cities, the towus and thß buildings in
the country. Labor has constructed the
railroads and built the ships that carry
on the commerce of the age. Labor
navigates the ships, and drives the en
gines, in fact, the labor of a country is
its wealth, not ;‘s gold and silver. Mon
ey is simply a medium of exchange, not
wealth. There can be no calling more
dignified than labor, and none to which
we owe more respeot and protection. The
yield of “ten, fifty or one hundredfold,”
depends on this protection and fostering
care. Burns, Scotia’s sweet poet, has
immortalized laboFin the “Cotter’s Sat
urday Night.”
All this is true and much more, but
the demagogue who would excite the
laboring classes against those who exer
cise mental labor are a most pestiferous
class. It is often a fraud and delusion to
get votes unworthy. The devotee of
science labors also. By labor in the
strenuous exercise of the mind, thou
sands have fallen into early decay and
died from excessive study.
Hugh Miller’s case is in point just
here. The age and mind that produced
the “Testimony of the Rocks,” marked
a woaderful era of progress. His rise
from the working people, and Sir Charles
Lyeil’s from the dignified aristocracy,
i>- life or
the enervating influence of ease and lux
ury, cannot dim the fires of genius. Sir
Isaac Newton, John Herschel and Lord
Ross, are also brilliant examples, while
Moi-se and Franklin tamed the light
ning and made it useful to man. We
can stand on the confines of Europe and
another person can listen on the shores
of America, and’talk to each other in an
instant of time. All this is labor.
So the lawyer works. He labors to
know his case in the law, as connected
with the facts, and stands by his client
when his life, liberty or property is at
stake, with a fidelity that challenges the
admiration of mankind. Lawyers have
worked in the lead of every movement
for the amelioration of the human race.
They were to the front in setting and
building English liberty. Six centuries
ago, the lawyers of England, then called
barons, who, at -Runnymede, wrested
Magna Charta and the writ of habeas cor
pus from King John, with their swords
by their sides. These two form the
great basis of civil liberty among man-,
kind, and when honestly enforced, af
ford sufficient protection to the guaran
tees of liberty.
Lawyers were the prime movers in es
tablishing liberty of conscience. When
the reformation of Luther and Melanc
thon had tilled Europe, the lawyers in
augurated the immigration of the llu
geenots and Gavilliers to this country in
search of liberty of conscience. They
incited the American Revolution. They
declared our independence, fought and
won it. Assembled in convention, they
formed the Constitution of the United
States, which, so long as it was faithful
ly regarded, ensured the blessing of civil
aud religious liberty to us. So let the
lying fable in Webster’s spelling
book be expunged. Let the low and
vulgar prejudice against lawyers be dis
sipated, aud let all men stand on merit
alone without reference to trade or call
ing.
The Constitution of the United States
provides for the protection of life, liber
ty and reputation, guaranteeing all this,
it makes a capstone well suited to the
glorious structure by providing for lib
erty of conscience and religious tolera
tion. Asa mountaineer,. I stand for the
defense of my native land, likewise being
a lawyer, I speak a frequent word for
my honorable profession.
(CONTINUED NEXT WEEK.)
Plain Questions.
Mythical ideas are fanning the public brow
with the breath of prejudice, ignorance and
humbuggery. Hare you the remotest idea that
your scrofula was created by the use of potash
and mercury? Xo matter what the eause, B. B.
B. is the peer of all other remedies. Do you
presume that your troublesome catarrh is the re
sult of mineral poisoning? B. B. B. is the quick
est remedy. Are your chronic ulcers and boils
and sores the result of potash and mercery?
Medical gentlemen will not tell you so, but B.
B. B. is the only sovereign remedy. Were your
terrible kidney troubles created by mineral
poisoning ? Not a bit of it, but B. B. B. has
proven to be a reliable remedy, Are your skin
diseases, your eczema, dry tetter, etc., the effect
of too much potash and mercury ? The me iical
profession are the best judges, and they say uay,
bat B. B. B. makes more pronounced cures than
all other preparations combined.
MI N OF RENOWN.
Correspondence of the Courier-Journal.]
Washington, D. C., May 7 A histo
ry of parliamentary government is a his
tory of human liberty and intellectual
development; it is the anthesis of abso
lutism, though an offshoot of the feudal
polity.
This thought was suggested by a visit
to the now silent and deserted legisla
tive halls of the United States Capitol,
whose walls have resounded the eloquence
9 a continent and contained the intel
lect of a nation. I was here a little more
than flve years ago, and, in looking
through a congressional directory, I am
struck with the changes wrought in the
personnel of the senate in so short a pe
riod. Then Conkling, Carpenter and
Blaine hel<3 seats on the republican side
of the chamber, and Ben Hill, Thurman
and McDonald were conspicuous on the
democratic side. Now, except in the
case of Thurman, one must consult a di
rectory to ascertain who succeeded these
men in the senate.
Matt Carpenter stood in the front rank
of the men of his day. He would have
been a conspicuous character in any age
or clime. His abilities, natural and ac
quired, were at once solid and brilliant.
He was one of the most genial men that
ever lived, and as generous as a prince.
There was nothing sordid or selfish about
him, and he had a sovereign contempt
for money, as he had for the arts of the
demagogue. Of all the members of con
gress who supported the measure known
as the “salary grab,” he alone command
ed the respect, if not the admiration, of
the country, for the bold and aggressive
stand he took in the matter. Asa law
yer he was the equal of the greatest, and
Judge Black said that his peer was never
called to the bar in England or America.
In the senate he took high rank, and but
for his carelessness or contempt for par
liamentary distinction he would have
been the master of the body. He much
resembled the great and accomplished
statesman of whom Dryden wrote:
Of pleasing wit and frequent thought
Endowed by nature and by learning taught
To move assembly.
I heard him once. His voice, flexible
and musical, was like the ripple of a pel
lucid brook. His language, chaste and
elegant, was like a chapter from Victor
Hugo, and his whole discourse as argu
mentative as a decision of Mansfield, and
as convincing as a speech of Webster. It
w r as not till then that 1 could appreciate
the compliments that Ben Johnson paid
to Bacon : “The fear of every man that
heard him was lest he should make an
end.” He died in his prime, all too
soon for his fame, and left a void in the
senate that will not soon be filled. He
was not faultless. He was human, an
unmalicious Aloibiados. Balzae says:
“The worst of all defects is to be free
from defects.” The Redeemer said to
the young man who had kept the law,
“Something yet thou lacketh.” How
true the couplet of Keate:
Even bees, the little almoiter of spring bowers,
Know there is richest fruit in poison flowers.
Roscoe Conkling is a different order of
man. He is more of the Roman than the
Grecian; Carpenter more of the Grecian
than the Roman. In one respect the
American congress has never produced
the peer of Conkling. In facility, felici
ty and fecundity of expression he stands
without a nyal and without a peer in our
parliamentary history. To find his equal
we must consult the prose writings of
Edgar Allan Foe, or the essays of the
Spanish publicist, Castellar; to find his
superior we must go to Shakespeare him
self. The writer of thi3 is a bourbon
democrat, intensely and radically south
ern by birth, by education and by asso
ciation. He hates many ideas that are
held sacred in the north with an intense
and a cardial hatred, but he can see ex
cellencies even in an enemy. Mr. Conk
ling is master of a “pure and magnifi
cent diction, such as flowed from the lips
of Socrates, and which Cicero declared
Jupiter would use if Jupiter spoke
Greek.
The student of American eloquence
should consult the Congressional Globe
for the session of 1871-2, or, perhaps, the
session just preceding, when the great
debate on the “French Arms Sales”
came on in the senate. The administra
tion of Gen. Grant, at that session, with
stood an opposition more formidable for
ability than any other of our presidents
ever contended with. Beside the dem
ocratic senators, whose ranks contained
Thurman, Bayard, Cassidy, McCreery
and Garrett Davis, the assailant* num
bered such great names as Sumner,
Schurz, Trumbull, Doolittle and Tipton.
On the side of the administration were
Conkling, Sherman, Fessenden, Morton
and Frelinghuysen. But Conkling was
the leader and bore the brunt, and well
did he sustain the cause of his chief. In
a somewhat varied, though not exten*
sive reading, I. have never seen the
wealth, power and beauty of the Eng
lish language better exemplified than in
the speeches of Conkling during that de
bate, which was protracted for more
than a fortnight. It was a battle of the
giants. Sumner brought to that gladia
torial contest all history and all litera
ture; Schurz, a very Mephistopheles of
debate, brought all the powers of his sub
tle and incisive mind, trained in the
schools of both hemispheres; Trumbull
brought all the learning of the bar and
all the illustrations of precedent and all
the authority of statutes. But Conkling
met them all, received their blow# in
front, and, hoisting the black flag, neith
er asked nor gave quarter. In that de
bate the liberal republican move was
born, but Conkling bereft it of vitality,
even before the Wonder at Cincinnati be
reft it of hope.
It is easy to turn from Conkling
to his rival and enemy,
James G. Blaine. The two men are
radically different in temperament,
habits, thought aud education. Each
represents a type. Each hoped to estab
lish an oligarchy. There never existed
a man of more bustling activity, more
restless energy and more consuming am
bition than Blaine. Ilis. thirst for
wealth, position and power, in intensity,
is akin to the desire of Troilus for Cresi
da: “This is the monstrosity of love—
the will is infinite and the execution is
confined; the desire is boundless., and
the act a slave to limit.” So with the
boundless cravings of Blaine for power,
wealth and distinction. If he had more
ability, he might play the part of Mira
beau; if he were dressed in petticoats,
he would rival Becky Sharp.
It is the fashion to tickle his inordi
nate vaiu-glory by comparing him to
Ilenry Clay, whom he no more equals
than Hamlet’s uncle equal Hamlet’s dad
dy, or to borrow his own figure, mud
equals marble. He was twenty years in
Congress and was dominated by Thad
Stevens and Ben Butler, while the eter
nal devil himself could not have domi
nated Henry Clay. He was twenty
years in Congress and no man can point
to a solitary measure of national import
that he originated or championed as a
leader. No, he was too busy letting his
soul, body and breeches to railroads and
other corporations to give his time to
statesmanship, even°had he been a states
man. ne dressed in tinsel and was be
decked witli pinchbeck, and was the pet
and god of the groundlings, but he was
no less a scrub, and once a scrub always
a scrub. He is supremely and intensely
selfish. To promote his own interests
he would embrace his bitterest enemy, to
further his own plans he would stab his
best friend—be equally ready to fawn or
bully, as he thinks best to attain an end.
There is a ridiculous cock-and-bull
story told by his henchmen in Washing
ton, the past winter, to the effect that
ten days before the election the Chair
man of the Republican National
Committee went to Mr. Blaine and
informed him that Mr. Conkling had
argeed to make him four speeches for the
Republican candidates if the head of the
ticket would personally request him to
do so, and that Blaine said he would see
him d—d first—that he could be elected
without him. All of which may amuse
the marines. There is another story,
much more probable, which is that in the
early days of September, last year, a
committee of Don Cameron’s friends,
headed by a certain gentleman not un
known to fame—especially Pennsylvania
fame—of the name of Quay. The com
mittee appeared before the Plumed
Knight with something of the air, man
ner and deportment of the Count—when
that good lance was the emissary and
embassador of Charles the Bold to the
crafty and unscrupulous Louis XL Mr.
Quay, as gently as the circumstances of
the case and the urgency of the occasion
would permit, delivered an ultimatum,
which was that unless the aforemen
tioned Don Cameron was returned to
the Senate without Republican opposi
tion the electoral vote of the Keystone
State would be cast for a then compara
tively obscure, but now pretty well
known gentleman, of the name of Gro
ver' Cleveland, for President of the
L T nited States, and the tradition is that
the Plumed Knight tumbled and gave
orders to the happy family of Half
breeds in Pennsylvania to keep civil
tongues in their heads and obey Mars
Don, which they accordingly did.
The Plumed Knight is a sprightly de
bater, but in debate, as in everything
else, except the art of money-getting, he
is superficial. He has a ready tongue
and a dashing style that pleases the vul
gar herd. He was out of place in the
Senate, and made no reputation there,
though always cocked and primed for a
shindy. There is an amusing story told
of Thurman and him, which will bear
repeating. On one occasion the Plumed
Knight came into the Senate chamber,
and casually glancing at the seat
of the old Roman, he discovered
that that worthy had dined and had not
passed the wine without exacting double
toll. In a few moments the man from
Maine was on his legs attacking, in his
skirmishing way, some pet hobby or
theory of Thurman, who between naps
became conscious that he was being as
saulted. Finally, the Ohioian roused
himself and returned the blows with in
terest, and, as a result, the Senator from
Maine wa3 soon reduced to pulp. When
the affair was concluded, Thurman
i walked out to his committee-room, fol
lowed by McDonald and Edmunds.
Pulling out his bandana and giving a
bugle blast from his proboscis, lee said :
“Boys, did that d—d harlequin get
away with me?”
“No, no, Senator, you did splendidly;
you demolished him.”
“Never mind, never mind,” said the
old Roman, “one of these days he will
tackle me when I’m sober, and then, d—n
him, won’t I mash him ?”
Blaine is not a deep man. He knows
nothing thoroughly, but he is dogmatic
and self-assertive. He illustrates a say
ing of Poe: “In ratiocination, not leas
than in literature, it is the epigram which
is the most immediately and the most
universally appreciated. In both it is
the lowest order of merit.*’
On one occasion the Senate was con
sidering a bill to make some disposition
of the Geneva award. There was much
variety of opinion among the lawyers
of the body as to whom the fund rightly
belonged. Edmunds said it belonged to
the Government of the L'nited States
and should be covered into the Treasury.
Conkling, Thurman, Carpenter and Ben
Hiil said it belonged to the insurance
companies who had taken risks on the
vessels destroyed by the Alabama.
Blaine, Garland, Hoar and McDonald
said it belonged to the owners of the de
stroyed ships. The question was entirely
NUMBER 16.
and wholly a legal one, and was ably
discussed by all the ablest lawyers in the
Senate, but the Plumed Knight sailed
in under the wing of Garland
and Hoar, and for more than a
week was conspicuous in the
debate. Thurman crushed him a half
dozen times, and finally he tackled Car
penter. A debate occurred between
them that would have been far more fa
mous than the celebrated “amnesty” de
bate between Blaine and Ben Hill, a
few years previous, bad the question at
issue been political. Blaine knew noth
ing about the subject and Carpenter
knew all about it. But the man from
Maine was audacious, reckless, epigram
matic and somewhat personal. When
his better equipped and far abler adver
sary would sink him under a tidal waye
of argument and epigram, too, he would
emerge somewhere else like a gun-ball
that had been submerged into a pool,
ready to renew the contest. Roland and
Olivers flew across the senate chamber
like meteors, but the victory was with
the lawyer. The man from Maine has
eaten the sunny side of many a peach.
He has received the adulation of the
New York Tribune and its Chicago
namesake to a surfeit. He has been
championed by William Walter Phelps,
and absolved by George Frisbie Hoar.
His book has been reviewed by Gail
Hamilton aud pronounced very good.
But when he looks to the south of La
fayette, where Grover Cleveland has his
present habitation, he is not happy, and
no doubt he frequently quotes from that
delightful story of love and murder, the
Book of Esther:
“Yet all this avails me nothing so
long as 1 see Mordecal, the Jew, sitting
at the King’s gate.”
But the people had the hanging last
November.
GEORGIA MINERALS AX NEW OR
LEANS.
Referring to the table of building
stones, with its many shades of marbles,
granites, soapstones and claystones, our
attention was directed to a fine-grain
pink marble and another of cream and
black variegation, which surpass most
any stones in tecture and color we have
ever seen, and for inside ornamentation
cannot be surpassed. The specimens
were blasted from an untouched bed
near Rockmart, within a stone’s throw
of two important railway systems lead
ing into Atlanta. Our space not per
mitting of minute particulars, we can
only note in this connection the large
grain white, pink, blue and gray, and
the fine-grain white statuary marbles
from the Tate quarries, of Pickens coun
ty. The variegated marbles of Whitfield
county are identical with the renowned
Tennessee marbles, the deposits being
but continuous into Georgia, of those oc
curring in the same geological forma
tion of Knox county, Tenn. The gran
ites of Elbert, DeDalb, Fulton, Bald
win and Richmond counties show capa
bility of high polish and elegant finish,
while the crushing tests and analysis ac
companying each illustrate their value
more completely.
In reply to a question as to what min
erals were in greatest demand for manu
facturing, and what efforts were made to
supply the demand, Commissioner Pratt
said that the late rapid growth of sul
phuric acid works in Georgia, Tennessee
and Alabama, in the last few years, has
created a yery considerable demand for
Pyrite, a mineral compound of sulphur
and iron. The sulphur therein is utiliz
ed in the manufacture of the acid neces
sary to the production of commercial fer
tilizers, and it will gradually supersede
the use of Sicily sulphur, now imported
for that purpose, in quantities almost in
credible. Georgia has an abundance of
the ore known in Haralson, Paulding
and Fannin, and in many other counties
it is clearly indicated, but as yet uncov
ered.
The manganese of Bartow county,
from the Dobbins and Chumney Hill
mines, ha3 attracted the attention of
many Northern and foreign chemical
manufacturers and steel makers. Mr.
Pratt states that Messrs. Matheson and
Grant, of London, Eng., on seeing the
samples of finely crystalized ore, with
the chemical analysis attached, imme
diately visited Cartersville and contract
ed with the owners for a shipment of
some thousand tons to Liverpool as soon
a3 possible. As far as known now the
ore is to be had in Bartow, Polk and
Floyd counties in abundance, and it is a
matter of expressed surprise that the lo
calities have remained so long unworked.
The display of Iron Oree is very large
and complete. It embraces most all of
the known varieties. We notice the mi
caceous specular and the limonite ores
from Bartow, the magnetic from Haral
son and Douglas, the red fossiliferous
from Walker and Chattooga, the chromic
from Troup, with more of the same va
rieties from many other counties, while
accompanying the ores are specimens of
the limestones or fluxesto be had in the
immediate neighborhood for their smelt
ing.
Adjacent to the above are specimens of
Polk county Hoofing Slate, the only
known deposit of this very important ar
ticle of tiade in the Atlantic or Gulf
states, south of Virginia. Its clearage is
as straight aud i>erfect as possible; it has
a firm, sounding ring when struck, a
dark huff color and an excellent grain.
Without any reflection whatever on our
Georgia friends, because all of our South
ern states are just now wakening up to
their industrial development, these Polk
quarries should be swarming
with hundreds of busy workmen, split
ting out material for roofing, mantels,
hearths and tiles, for distribution from
Virginia to Texas. But these things are
coming.—New Orleans Times-Democrat.
Jones Bros. & Cos. are selling great
bargains this week.