The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1869-05-11
Correspondence of New York Herald. !
Senator SDrague.

We took long look at the Senator'S
face to see if we could d'find therein any
trace of the malady called craziness,
which his enemies conveniently attribute
to him. There was none in the eye at
least, and the other features are not gen.
orally known to offer any sure indications
of the complaint in question. Sprague
looks old, on near acquaintance. He
has small head, small features, large,
lustrous eyes, slightly dashed with dim
ness, that necessitates the wearing of glass
es. His face is of the pro eressive Amer
lean type ofthe present generation, just
such as you see hurrying along Broad
way in the morning tide oftravel to Wall
street and the downtown regions OF
wealth and commerce. Spraeue might
have been & fast young man at some per
iod of his life, Or he might have been a
hardworl,irg student of business; for on
the outer edges of his face there are fur
rows which one of his age should not
have. He wears his hair somewhat long
and with extreme carelessness, as though
the comb that nature provides in the fin
gers had been the only one he had ever
made use of. 1t certainly presents very
dishevelled appearance, but it shows at
least that he is above the small vanity of
lavishing on the outside of his head the
time that is better bestowed in cultivatine
the inside. In speaking on the great
subject of reconstructing the present vic
ious system of finance and taxation, he
appears ike one who had in his minds
eve something's of such colossal proper
ton that the bald vocabulary of the Eng
lish language and the finite powers Of ex-
preston vouchsafed to men were wholly
inadequate to represent its immensely;
Therefore it is that he hesitates as he
speaks, and his eye moves TREMENDOUSLY,
as through he were inwardly swearing al
the inefiicacy Of words to translate at
once the thoughts that heave tumultu-
ously in his soul.
Sprague is man without the faintest
trace of outward affectation. He could
roll in his carriage, with lacqueys and
livery, if he chose, but he prefers to walk
and we remember several times seeing
him walking alone, miles from the city
with his head bent down, and the inscrut-
able machinery of thought working, NJ
doubt, at a hard rate within. Some OF
the results of these long and lonesome
walks are now before the world-crudc
in shape, perhaps, but pregnant with the
image of immortal truth. A mild man.
nered man is the Senator from Rhode
Island not timid, not diffident in asser-
ting his opinions, and ridiculously indif
ferent to the criticism, Of the whole
world and the worlds wife combined
He has one of the elements of greatness
-tenacity Those who suppose he in
tends to subside, quit the busy stage and
retire forever from the living drama after
startling his audience with one or two
spoken pieces, are wofully mistaken
PIE has but fairly commenced, and a:
Sampson,by a vigorous and persistent ap-
pIication of an assinine jawbone to the
head of the Philistines, made everlasting
smash of that unhappy community, SC
shall Sprague, going forth ON the war path
with the club of truth in one hand and
the State of Rhode Island in the other
spread terror among the tribes Of money.
shysters and Shylocks.