Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1861-03-14
From the Dayton Empire
Specimen Of Missouri ElOquenee

A friend in Jefferson City sends us the
following speech delivered by Gen. Riley
Of the Missouri Legislature, in the House
Of Representatives Of that State, February
s. 1861, during the discussion on the ref
erence ofa bill amending the charter oi
the city of Csrondelet, to q standing com.
mittee Of the House.
Mr.. Riley obtained the floor, and ad
dressed the House:
Mr.. SPEAKER: Everybody is pitching
into this matter like toad frogs into a
willow swamp, on lovely evening in
the balmy month Of June, when mellow
light Of full moon fills with delicious
food the thin. the ETHEREAL atmospheric
air. (Applause. Sir, l want to put in
a word, or perhaps a word and half
There seems to be disposition to fight.
| say, if there is any fighting to be done.
come on with your corn-cobs and light
ming bugs! TApplause. In the language
Of the ancient Roman,
From its firm base, in pigs eye."
Now, there has been a great deal Of
bombast here to-day. call it bombast
from alpha" to Omega" I don't
understand the meaning of the words
thought Sir, the question to refer, is a
great and magnificent question. 1t is the
all absorbing questiou--like a sponge,
sir--a large unmeasurable sponge, OF
globe shape, in small tumbler Of water
it sucks up everything Sir, / stand
here with the weapons have designated,
to defend the rights Of st. Louis county,
the rights Of any other county-even tn,
county of Cedar itself. daughter and
applause. Sir, the debate has assumed
a latitudinosity. We have had a littl,
black jack buncombe, little two bit bun
combe, bombast bumcombe, bung-h hole
buncombe, and the devil and his grand
mother knows what other kind of bun
combe. Laughter.
Why, sir, just give some of 'em littlt
Southern soap and little Northern wa
ter, and quicker :han hound pup car
lik skillet they will make enough bun.
combe-lather to wash the golden flock
that roams abroad the azure meads oil
of heaven. Cheers and laughter. j
allude to the starry armament.
The SPEAKER. The gentleman is ont
Of order. He must confne himself to the
question.
Mr.. RILEY. Just retain your linen if
you please I'll stick to the text as close
as pitch plaster to pine plank, or a
lean pig to hot jam rock. Cries OF
"go on" you'll do"
want to say to these carboniferous
gentlemen, these ingenious individuals,
these decorating demonstrators, these
pereginious volcanoes, come on with your
combustibles! If l dop't--well, I'll
suck the gulf of Mexico through goose
quill. Laughter and applause. Per-
haps you thik l am diminutive tubers
and sparse in the mundane elevation
You may discover, gentlemen. you are
laboring under as great misapprehension
as though you had incarcerate1 your in
ner vestment. In the language of tho
noble bard,
~ was not born IN q thcket
To be scared by cricket" Applause. J
Sir, we have lost our proper position.
Our proper position is the zenith and ma
dir--our heads to the one, our heels to
the other, at right angles with the horizon
spanded by that azure arc of the lustrous
armament, bright with the curruscations
of innumerable consultations, and proud
as speckled horse on county court day.
Cheers.
"But how have the mighty fallen" in
the language of the poet Silversmith. We
have lost our proper position. We have
assumed sloshindicular or q diagono-
logical position. And what is the cause?
Echo answers "buncombe," sir, "bun-
combe." The people have been fed on
buncombe, while lot of spawned, rim g.
boned, hamstrung, wind-galled, swyn-
eyed. splithoofed, distempered, pollevill-
ed, pot-bellied politicians have had their
noses in the public crib until there amt
fodder enough left to make cruel for a
sick grasshopper. [Cheers and laughter.
Sir, these hungry brats keep tugging
at the public pap. They say. "let down
your milk, Suky, or you'll have split
bag" Do they think they can stuff such
buncombe down our craw? No. sir; you
might as well try to stuff butter in u wild
cat with hot awl. CONTINUED laugh
ter. The thing can't be did.
The public grind-stone is a great insti-
tuition. One of the greatest perhaps that
ever rose, reigned or fell. But, sir, there
is too much private cutlery ground. The
thing won't pay. Occasionally big
axe is brought in to be fitted up, ostensi-
bly, for the purpose of hewing down the
gnarled trunks of error and clearing out
the brushwood of ignorance and folly that
obstruct the public highway of progress.
The machine whirls, the axe is applied.
The lockers on are enchanted with the
brilliant sparks elected. The tool is pol
ished. keenly edged; and while the public
stare in gaping expectancy of seeing the
road cleared, tho implement is slyly TAX
en- off to improve the private acres OF
some "faithful friend OF the people. -
What is the result? The distractions
remain unmoved. The people curse be-
cause the car lags--or. if it does move,
tits at the expense of broken wheel and
jaded and sore backed team. | tell you,
the thing won't pay. The time will come
when the nasal promontories of these dis"
interested grinders will be put to the
stone. instead Of their hardware. APP
plause. am mighty afraid the ma