The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1830-01-27

| but 1t Is not the object to make comparisons
between the distinguished men who have
graced the annals of our eloquence. The
person of Ames was tall, thin, and interest
ing; his face was not what might lie called
handsome, but agreeable, and full of soul
The style. of his eloquence was flowing,
warm, and copious, and certainly partook
more of the Roman than of the Grecian or
ator. His manner was bland, but earnest,
and his whole demeanor calculated to at
tract the attention of all eyes. His voice
was musical, and he had the command of it
from the highest to the lowest note, and in
all its variations it was free from monotony
or false tone; for a sweet voice, he had less
of slbllation than most of our orators, an evil
that foreigners complain of in our language.
His IMAGINATION was creative, anu at fIis
bidding new scenes arose, new beings liv-
ed, increased as he chose, and faded away
at his will. He struck his hands across the
chords Of the hearts of his audience, and all
was harmonious to bis touch; but the plain
tive measures were most congenial to mis-
mind he had nothing dark or sullsn in his
constitution, but there was soft and gen
tie gloom that often intermingled with the
light OF his mind, which gave the shade of
the sanctuary to the outpourlngs ofbls heart.
He mourned to think that he could not full
ly impress on the minds of others what he
foreboded for his country the common
fault of a sensitive patriot. The diseases of
his corporal frame entered deeply into his
mind and amid troublesome times he min
gled dark auguries for the nation. He saw
in his Imagination, the myrmidons of France
sweeping over his country with rapine, fire,
and dagger, and the confagration of cities
filled his eyes, and the screams of ravished
virgins his ears.
His countrymen seemed to him in state
of amazing apathy, and he grew almost
frantic at the thoughts but he mistook their
cool, brave, and persevering character, for
want of discernment and feeling. His warn
ing appeals, as he thought them, were all
wasted on the winds. although every one
listened to him with profound respect and
admiration. His friends and neighbors
flocked around him, as being of wonder
FIJI powers and superior sagaclty; but from
their habits of reasoning for themselves,
they thought that all these evils might not
come, and they would wait the providence
of God in this as in other things; but the
honor and honesty of the great man they
never doubted, for he was to them an angel
of light; crowded with all his gloomy
thoughts for his country, he sunk to the
grave but his admirers never lost one par
ticle of their veneration for the genius and
virtues of the man.-Kaapp's Lectures.
Mr.. VAN Buren,. The eduor or the WIZ
Jamestown (Mass.) Advocate has, for sever
al weeks past been amusing his readers with
an interesting account of tour" which
he has recently made through some of the
beautiful towns and Villages which are scat
tered along the banks of the Hudson. One
of the villages through which he passed, it
appears, is the native place of Mr.. Van Bu-
rem, Secretary of State. The editor thus
notices this gentleman in connection with
his birth place.
"One of these villages deserves particu-
lar mention. 1t is Kinderhook, situated on
the cas-: side of the river, eighteen or twen
ty miles below Albany, and containing about
5000 inhabitants. 1t is celebrated as the
birth place of Mr.. Van Buren,, the second
officer in the present, and designed for the
first in the next National Administration.
His parents were extremely poor; so much
so that when a thirst after knowledge
prompted him to employ his long winter
evenings in reading books loaned to him by
friends, they could not afford to furnish him
| with oil and candles, and he was forced TO
search the forest for pine knots, which he
! split up and used for that purpose. After
acquiring enough of the rudlments of sci
ence to appreciate its value, and being pre-
vented by .pecunIary circumstances from OBJ
tanning public education, he commenced
the study of law in his native village, and
was admitted to the bar at the age of %.
He subsequently practised at Sandy Hill
and at Albany, and has rapidly risen through
the various grades OF civil office to the dis
| tinguished station he now occupies. He is
emphatically what has been said of Fraak-
lin, Rittenhouse, and Roger Sherman-a
! self made man. Loud complaints had been
made by his opponents that he has ruled
the State and oppressed the people; but if
| they had spent half the time in endeavol-
ing to elevate themselves that they have in
( trutlessly trying to undermine his standing,
they, and no doubt the public would have
been better off. The only fault to be found
with Mr.. Van Buren, is, that his habits of
| intense thought and untiring industry have
raised him above his fellows who trusted to
the advantages conferred upon them by high
| birth and princely wealth. 1t has been said
! that whatever has been done by man. can
again be done by any man. Whether this
! is true maxim or not we shall not attempt
to decide but we do say, that industry lies
at the very foundation Of all true greatness,
and no man can rise much above his ordi-
nary level without exerting it. All our
young men cannot occupy the chair of the
Secretary of State, but all who are indnstTi-
Gus and aim high will most certainly reach
an enviable eminence."
Complaisance renders superior amiable,
an equal agreeable. Itsmooths distinction,
sweetens conversation, and makes every
one in the company pleased with himself.
1t produces good nature and beneyolence,
encourages the timorous, soothes the tut.
bulent, humanizes the fierce, aud distin-
cuisines society of civilized persons from
confusion Of savages.-- GsardsGn.