Daily Mississippi clarion and standard. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1866, 1866-07-06
From the Port Gibson Standard
BEN HUMPHREYS
WILL GO THE GALS" SECURITY
"REMINISCENCES
OF "FAsr FRIENDS" AND "FLUsH TIMES. y

Some in the ehurchyard laid, some sleep be-
meath the sea,
And when our time shall come dear Ben and we
are called to GO
hope they'll lay US where we lived near thirty
years ago.
~ lids have long been dry, dear Ben, y but tears
come to my eyes
When think of those wo loved 80 we'll those sore
~ broken ties
l Often go to the old graveyard and take some hOw
Upon the graves of those we loved, near thirty
years ago
OLD SoNG-paraphrnsed.
Few men of his age have encoun-
tered more of the varieties and vicissi-
tudes of life than the present Govern
or of the State of Mississippi. In
early life he was put to plowing--from
the pillow he stepped, with moderate
education, into West Point, where he
remained something over two years,
at least long enough, as subsequent
events have shown, to learn all they
could teach him, and to make him a
scientific, as nature had made him q
gallant soldier. He was expelled from
West Point. On certain occasion, in
company with Jefferson Davis, Charles
George Ridgely, of Delaware, and 9th
er noble and generous spirits, the en-
bryo Governor got on ''tare' and
was unhappily caught at it, and few
days after, as sequel to the aforesaid
"tare," "His Excellency," as now is,
was invited to leave, which he did in
double-quick time, returning to his old
home. He soon after married lovely
and wealthy lady, was elected to the
Legislature, and was regarded not on
ly as a man of promise, politically, but
as among the wealthiest and always the
very best of men. His home was in
the country near Port Gibson-his
"Headquarters" in the town. His name
was on every mans paper, for he
couldn't refuse to do a favor, and as q
consequence he was suddenly brought
to the painful realization of ruin and
poverty, rs he has been recently, for
the second time, because of his patri-
otto participation in the war Always
a prudent man. never profligate or
prodigal, he has suffered alone from
his own goodness of heart. In a short
time after his first marriage, he lost his
companion, whom all remember for her
charms and great personal worth, and
in the course of a few years after he
married his present excellent wife,
who i'll all respects, reflects the purity
and perfection and loneliness and gen
tleness of her sex, as fully as the wor-
thy Governor does the best of those
of the masculine gender. Prompt to
meet engagements and liabilities,
though it involved his ruin, he surren-
dered his possessions, and sought not
to conceal them as was the order of
the day, to meet his security debts, but
after years of trial and trouble, and
through the timely assistance of kind
friends, he was enabled to worry
through his difficulties, and to retain
his property, though for many years
after he felt his embarrassment, but
never quit endorsing for friends in
whom he had faith and confidence. In
1889, he was q candidate for the State
Senate against the worthy and venera-
bic VIM. Briscoe, and after q canvass
of unusual labor and excitement, he
was elected by a majority of one vote,
the county polling the largest vote it
evergave before or since that year
1t was just at this time he was married
to his present wife-so he was elected
tt0jce the same year by one vote.
In the winter of 1889, Port Gibson,
amidst its many evidences of flush
times, could boast of a theatre as
handsome and commodious as could
be found in many towns ten times its
size. Stock companies from the
North, with not unfrequently star ac-
tors of rehown, spent weeks of every
winter in our place, and were always
greeted with large audiences of the
beauty and chivalry of old Claiborne.
During one of these engagements it
happened that the people desired to
manifest special concern for two of
Potter's company-Mr A. A. Adams
and his wife, formerly Miss Mary Duff,
of Philadelphia. They were actors of
great popularity in that day, and Mr.
Adams had made himself very con
spicuous on a previous visit to our
town, in serving the citizens in the
hour of q severe calamity. Grateful
for his kindness, he was invited to
name a day for beneft-he did so,
and the house was damned and
crammed," and splendid wreath of
fresh and fragrant flowers, all inter
twined with newly issued twenty dol
lar bills, prepared that day for the oc-
casion, and amounting to several hun
bred dollars, was presented to Mrs.
Adams during the performance.
Theplay was "Virginius," in which
Mr.. Adams greatly excelled, and al
though we have seen Macready-Van-
denhoff-Forrest, and the greatest of
all, Junius Brutus Booth, we do not
believe any could excel Adams as
'Virginius." The play progressed
the audience seemed carried away with
the gaiety of the scene--the pleasure
attendant upon the offering of graft
tude to a generous gentleman-and
the touching incidents of the play, the
very best of all the productions of
James Sheridan Knowles. In the
centre box of the first tier, or dress
circle, sat cold Benz and his bride, the
brides father and other members of
the family. The father-in law was at
that time attorney for several leading
banking institutions, and as such, ii
devolved on him to sue his hopeful
son-in- law, against whom he held judg-
ments to the tune of about thirty thou
sand, but his kindness, with that OF
others, as we have said before, and
good management, and straightfor-
ward dealing, finally saved the accom-
modating endorser the bulk of his
property, but we have always thought
the "old lawyer" took advantage OF
that opportunity to offer a gentle re-
buke to the was-to-be Governor fol
his endorsing propensities, as our mar
rative will show
As this legal gentleman Is mixed up
in the "reminiscences we are relating, q
description of his peculiarities and
personal pulchritude may not be out OF
| place He is five feet ten inches in
height-of ford complexion, and
has very keen black eyes-his legs are
of the genuine "Cruikshank" pattern,
and he has nose long, large, broad
spreading, and intensely red. OF late
years he has eschewed law-reading
and has read nothing attentively but
the National Intelligencer and Gibbons
Rome. He was prominent and able
member of the late State Convention,
and ranks high for his scholarship and
legal attainments, but although very
good scholar, and a very mannerly
| gentleman, he will say "whar'' and
"thar," and he =" chaws" china berries
in the fall of the year, and "cusses y
when he gets "riled.' He has life
long habit of twirling a certain lock Of
| hair on the hack of his head and his