The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1868-06-18
YOUNG HARRY CLAY.
A Pen Picture OF Schuyler Col
fax in His "Den."
G. A. Townsend's Washington Letter to. th
Cleveland Leader.

lax IN IEIS NSIs
G. A. Townsend's Washington Letter to the
Cleveland Leader.
In what he called his eden"
found Schuyler Colfax some days
ago: little closet room lighted by
| one basement window, under the
Capitol, 1t was curiosity shop oi
manuscripts and documents, order
reigning through superficial confu-
sion. Here the Speaker hides him.
self away from pages and harpies.
and works unassistedly at his spec
ches and his correspondence, the
latter of itself Il drudgery as great
and exciting as any accountants.
But a lighthouse never grows old
after the hundred years its fame is
as youthful as when it began. The
pure, unaffected, radiant cheerful.
ness of Mr. Colfax keeps him as ro-
sy and hopeful as boy. Here he
sits, smoking his cigar, surprised in
the midst of smile, for all his
thoughts are good companions.
took a seat before him, and
while he answered some questions
I had brought, tried to make out
his face and character, very diff
cult type were both of them, for a
country of which the Speaker is so
representative, and yet Of a temper
ament so uncommon.
We are a sober minded people,
with lines of thrift and anxiety in
their faces, like the marks Of whip
and burden. We go to law and go
to church with the same countenan-
ces. We want to make money fast
and on the way and after the end we
have remorses, aches, wounded self
esteem, asceticisms. The air, the
soil, the worry and the hurry Of
American life provincialize the
American into a hard, repelfant,
dreadfully over earnest man, with a
skin, stomach, and soul equally
dyspeptic.
Out of this population grows, now
and then, like cloverhead out of
stock yard, all freshness and color
and quick to feel the earliest breezes.
This is Mr.. Colfax. His life is pc
rennial hopefulness, having q good
conscience for its compass, and for
its ballast temperament that is
equal as an hour glass. Full of the
elasticity of the Empire City. A
widows son, born forty-fiye years
ago, with parentage reaching back
on one side to the Schuylers on
the other to an officer of Washing
toms body guard. At ten years of
age his schooling ceased and he had
found q new father. At thirteen he
quilted New York and his step-fath-
er's store for home in Indiana At
twenty he was an editor twelve hun
dred dollars in debt. At twenty
en- he was candidate for Congress
already young widower made sad
der but manlier by a deserved love
At thirty he was q Congressman, as
he has been ever since, and three
times elected Speaker of the House.
the third position in the nation. At
the base Of this successful career we
nd neither wealth, chicanery. nor
patronage, but good citizenship,
faithful public services, steadfast
self-respect, and q cheerful temper.
1t is a quiet career of success under
institutions, with steady
talents, quick perceptions, and ex-
celient confidence. His model in the
State has been Henry Clay whose
manners were like his own, and he
confesses to have modelled his speak
ership upon Clay's career as Speaker
of the House: "Never hoping" he
says, ''to reaching this high stand
are, it has ever been before my mind
as the sculptor studies the model of
the Great Master of his art'' In
this position he has never been ira
duced till of late, when during the
trial the majority Of
the House has connived at certain
quarrels, but the Speaker himself
has aimed, in his own language, to
make all forgetful of the ''asperities
which should perish with the occa-
sion that evokes them" Mr.. Col
fax is a member Of the Dutch Re
formed Church, and total abstinence
is one of his private principles. He
is a smoker, however, and loving
traveller by foot and stage. His
oratory is fervid and florid together
and has served his party handsomely
in trying times, while his judgment
is guarded, yet decisive as his mode
of speech, OF his speeches / have
collected some illustrations from va
rious parts of the Globe.
Thus he said of the employment
ofnegro troops:
s'I do not call negro soldiers bet
ter than white ones. If / were to
express my own opinion it would
be that those of my own color are
better and.braver. For I have al
ways told you, in spite of charges
to the contrary, that believed the
Anglo Saxon race was superior to
any other that walks the footstool
of Godr'
So he said of moral faithfaIness in
legislation:
Nv neither travelling in the valley
Of humiliation or disaster, Or keep
ing my eye fixed on the heavens, I
believe God reigns. I don't believe
his blessings will fall on the confed-
Gods ways are sometimes
dark, but sooner or later they reach
the shining hills of day ~
He first announced the Republican
platform after the breach with Mr..
Johnson thus
"Let US make haste slowly, and we
can then hope that the foundations
Of our Government, when thus re-