Red Wing sentinel. [volume] (Red Wing, M.T. [i.e. Minn.]) 1855-1861, 1859-11-26
THE REV. MR.. MILBURNB POR
THAT OF SENATOR DOUGLAS. u

WHO III Cno age Oh CWeuCy"tWO WdS
elected chaplain of Congress. Rea-
son at one extreme having been al
most shut out" as in the case of Mil
ton, rare food of celestial light pour
ed in upon his soul. He writes as he
breaches, in . strain of touching ear
nestness and poetic beauty. His
sketches of several ofthe leading mem
bers of Congress of the present
and past generation, including Web
ster, Clay, Calhoun, Randolph, Pink
ney, Stephens and others, are truly
admirable. That of Senator Douglas
we cannot refrain from copying. It is
accurate and well defined as portrait
and when once started will go the
rounds Of the Press:
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS.
The first time saw him was in June
1888, standing on the gallery of the
market house, (which some of my read
ers may recollect as situated in the
middle Of the square in Jacksonville.-
He and Col. John J. Hardin, were
canvassing Morgan county for Con-
gress. He was upon the threshold of
that great world in which he played so
prominent a part, and was engaged
in making one of his earliest stump
speeches. I stood and listened to
him, surrounded by a motley crowd
of backwood's farmers and hunters
dressed in homespun or deerskin, my
boyish breast glowing with exultant
Joy, as he only ten years my senior,
battled so bravely for the doctrines. Of
his party with the veteran and &C.
complished Hardin. True I had been
educated in political sentiments oppos-
ite to his own but there was something
captivating in his manly straightfor-
wardness and uncompromising state
mcnt of his political principles. He
even then showed signs Of that dex-
terity in debate, and vehement i'm
pressive defamation of which he has
since become such a master. He gave
the crowd the color of his own mood
as he interprets their thoughts and di-
rected their sensibilities. His first
hand knowledge Of the people, and
his power to speak to them in their own
language, simplifying arguments suit
ed to their comprehensions, sometimes
!clinching aseries Of reasons by from
tier metaphor which refused to be for
gotten, and his determined courage
which never shrank from any form o1
difficulty or danger, made him one o1
the most effective stump orators I eve,
heard,
Less than four years before he
walked into the town Of Westchestcr
sixteen miles Southwest of Jackson
vile, an entire stranger, with thirty
seven and half cents in his pocket!
his all of earthly fortune. His frs
employment was clerk of a village
"vendue'' as the natives call sheriff
sale. He then seized the birch of tn,
|pedagogue, and sought by its aid, ant
by patient drilling, to initiate a hand
full ofhalf:wild boys into the sublim,
mysteries Of Lindley Murray. Hi
evenings were divided between read
ing newspapers studying Blackstone
and talking politics. It is drol
sight to see a crowd of men and boy
gathered in one of the primary conven
tons Of squatter sovereigns, at th
store on the public square after night
1t is a rialto for the merchants, a new
room for the quidnuncs, a mixture Q
the townhall and caucus room tor tn
politicians, and a theatre and circu
united for the huge entertainment Q
the boys. The establish &ment is close,
for business, but the dopr is open 70
all corners, and in winter time a cheer
fire is kept blazing for the benefit Q
all. The 6 counterhopper,'' as tn
clerk is familiarly called, is on duty a
..)sentry, the counters, bales, boxes an,
barrels are used as seats by the poten
assembly, while every one is solacin,
himself with a quid Of tobacco lai,
away in his cheek, or rank cigar poet
|ioally styled cabbage leaf Th
principle speakers are expected to SUI
--|round the stove, each with his bac]
toward it, his hands occupied in keep
ling the tails of his coat as far asun
! der as possible. The members of tn
society address each other by the dim
|inutive of their Christian names, a
Pete, Jim, Bill, or Steve, and the grea
doctrines Of liberty, equality and fra
ternity are realized on the common
level of smoke, storytelling, tobacco
, Ispit and boisterous defamation.
Such are the debating clubs where
lin most of our Western orators, lega
and political, have first spread thei
unfedged wings and tried to soar to
wards distinction |; doubtless it wa
: iin Just such q school that Mr.. Dougla
took his first lesson in oratory, III
before long, by virtue Of bis indomnita
BILE energy, acquired enough Of lega
!, |lore to pass an examination an,
/" stick up his shingle," as they cal
putting up lawyers sign. And nov
tIbegan series Of official employments
: -Iby which he has mounted within TWEEN
llty-fve years, from the obscurity Of
Z village pedagogue on the borders q
civilization, to his present illustriop
and commanding position.
j. First he was elected the States Al