Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1869-12-25

iDAY, DECEMBER rs, Is
Of scanning his features, for bA It re
membcred that I had not seen him
for twenty-five years. I learned In
cidentalIy that he was In Clarksvills
ON the LIST day of December, 1860, bul
inasmuch a. I was there myself bu,
twice during that year, once on the
10th day Of May, and once on the
2Srd day Of July following, and Of
course I did not see him, did moi
even learn the object Of his visit,
When we had seated ourselves hs
leaned YEARLY and languIdly back
against the solid wall of rock at the
entrance Of the cave, and ne appeared
as though he was greatly fatigued,
he even looked care-worn and hag-
gard, and his eyes while In youth,
though small, black, and piercing,
bore the unmistakable evidences OF
nobleness Of soul, and generosity OF
nature, now glistened and CLEANED
like those Of an exasperated serpent.
Not q word had been spoken by eth
er of us since the simultaneous ex-
preston as above stated. At length
the protracted silence becoming pain
fnlly oppressive, at least 90 to me,
ventured q query: "Friend Ciai-
borne how has the world used you
since last we met?n Net muscle
moved, nor was there any other indi-
cation manifested Of his having
heard me. -
I became somewhat alarmed, not
on account of my own individual
safety, but on account Of my ftiend's
sanity. I repeated my question In
somewhat louder tone; he started
suddenly, a. n electrified, though he
answered me promptly, "The
world has used me sufficiently; It "a
now my turn to use the world, and
intend to do 1t or die In the attempt
He then calmly took q match from
his vest pocket, lighted his lantern,
and beckoned me to follow him,
which I did, not however without
some awful forebodings as TO the q.
male Of our intended exploration Of
Dunbar's Cave. I was not afraid Of
Claiborne, at least I had no fears that
he would do me any bodily harm
why should I bet We were born to.
gethsr, he being my senior only two
weeks; we shouted hide and seek to
gether In the halcyon days Of youth
our attachment strengthened and
mstured during the fight of year,
and the Ispse Of time. Our attach
ment 10 and for each other might b,
compared to that of Damon and Ply
thias, Alexander and Hephestion, Of
even that At Jonathan and David
and even Auditing that he designet
tevil towards me, I Ait conscious o
possessinogr nnuscular strength
than he, yet he n,ay have been en-
dowed with greater activity than I.
At our maturity I took my ina
leave Of the +" dark and blood,
ground,n and wandered Off not onl,
into Tennessee, but my home wa
any and everywhere, from the "Stat,
! Line" to tho Colorado. I had re
ceived and accepted invitations Il
Seminaries and Colleges, had ever
cloaked myself with the externa
rites Of q worshipper, and had visi
ted voluntarily almost every gamb
ling hell from the Cumberland Rive
to the Great Salt Lake. I had als,
visited freely And voluntarily tn,
race-course, where the wild and way
ward profligatc holds high carniva
to the syren notes Of seduction ant
blasphemy. ,,.,.'...'i 81, ,.',
In short, / was what ID usually
termed "a man Of the world" I an
thus particular in giving Q synopsi
of my life, and the many trials snt
scenes through which I had passed
to convince the skeptic reader OF thu
truth of my assertion, when 1 statet
that ] was not afraid Of Claiborne.
j 1t Is true, that Claiborne would b,
no mean antagonist In the death
struggle, or prize-ring, being six fee
two, in his stocking feet. and welghet
about one hundred and slxty-fiv,
pounds, while my height 10 Eve fee
eleven and a-half and weigh pre-
cisely one hundred and seventy-eigh
pounds. Assbove stated, he TOOK VI
his lantern and struck out swiftly fo
the interior of the cave, and / follow
ing In his wake ~ fast a. I could
We had passed the Wheel-Ba
row." and the "Ball-Room," som,
distance, I know not exactly how
far, when I noticed that my guild,
slackened his pace, and commenced
Ipeering scrutinisingly into the gloom
overhead, coming finally 10 dead
halt and said, as II to himself, "Yes
this must be the place." BY thi,
time had fully Joined him and
looked about me to ascertain, n pos
sible, If there was anything In ,thI'
portion Of the cave very striking, OF
peculiarly demonstratiye. The walli
of the cave ut this place presented
the same general characteristics that
they did at other places. The fiooI
presented, also, the same general out
lines as at other points, being covered
over with light loose sand, with herr
and there light aud heavier boulder
lying about; but all these indication,