Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1868-08-06

exhibit your warm ana generous
confidence whenever you had the
opportunity to exhibit it,
For fourteen years / have been
your Representative; but further
beck than that, as far back as 1860,
eighteen years ago, you first sus-
tanned me at the polls; and from
that hour to this, amid all the vIcis-
STUDIES of the contest, / remember
ed, with an exultation that ] think
have a right to feel, that there
never has been time, even while
the clouds were darkencd with
gloom for the political party which
| represent, or when the sunshine
Of prosperity Illuminated our ban
ner, when the noble county of st.
Joseph has not stood by me faith
fully at every election. To you
owe everything that am. TO your
continued kindness, to your long
continued and unswerving devotion
to me, owe everything | have re-
ceived at the hands of the American
people. 1t was because you here,
who have seen me at home since the
days Of my boyhood, adhered to
me for Il length Of time unparalleled
in Indiana, and almost in the Union,
that the hearts Of those delegates at
Chicago were turned toward me for
the nomination with which they
honored me. They said, if that
people who know this man believe
in him and adhere to him, he is q
man whom we can trust.
Do | not then, say truly that ]
cannot find words to express to
you the gratitude that l have for
those repeated and continued man
ifestatiOns | have received Of love
for me. But to day, as stand be-
fore you, my thoughts turn back
rather to the past than toward the
swift coming future. | have tho't,
this morning, as my life has passed
in review before me, of my early
life in your midst. | have thought
of the faces | was to see here in this
audience before me, when | arrived
at my home. Thirty-two years ago,
remember, when, as boy, first
looked down upon the smiling
prairie of Tcrro Coupee, coming
from my home in the East, with
those who were near and dear to
me, to seek our fortunes in this
Western land. There was the place
where our tent was pitched, and
where at first we found a home in
Indiana; and though but fairly in
my teens, no sooner had | arrived
there than / found myself among
those far older than myself, whose
friendship has grown with my
growth, and strengthened with my
strength.
see some of those friends, and
Of the years succeeding, before me
to day Many have passed away.
The tombstone in the graveyard
tells the record Of their lives and
their names but their children are
left behind, who seem to have in
herited all their parents interest,
and all their parents affection for
me, as they have inherited their
blood from their parents that gave
them birth and they have followed
me, too, with their kindness until
now. / have even seen in past
contests the grandchildren Of those
who welcomed me when first came
among you, and | have seen them
rivaling in their devotion the kind
ness and friendship of those who
have gone before.
Twenty-seven years since, ! came
to this town, then but small vii
age, with my family, who were
compelled, by q circumstance well
known to many of you--by the
election of one Of my family to a
position in your county, to remove
here to your county seat. Well do
| remember the scenes and Incl
dents Of those early years, as well
as should remember them, imprint
ed as they are upon my heart, as
with graver Of steel. In all the
associations of early manhood |
was one in your midst, and many
.ofyour older men remember when
you first saw me, and first crossed
palms with me you remember when
you first became acquainted with
me; remember when you gave me
your friendship. | see many now
in your midst older than |, who
were my friends in that early day
when l was struggling forward in
my career, In the Auditors office
Of your old court house | was en-
gagged in making out tax duplicates,
recording the proceedings Of your
county board, settling with super
visors, DC, and making acquaint-
ances who have ever since been my
friends.
Well do l remember, also, how,
in our mock legislative assembly,
was studying the demands of par
liamedtary law, which recent events
have required me to administer in
the Congress of the United States.
Some of you who have come
here since that olden time do not
know anything about that old court
house of ours, and those associa-
tons which are dear to me, and
which l shall never forget, There
were some things about it which
were peculiar. | remember it was
not in the Ionic, or Dorie, or Cor
inthinian style Of architecture, But
1t was emphatically in the Indiana