, 1872-12-29
JOHN RANDOLPH.
A Visit to the Home of the
Virginia Statesman.
His Home Reputation-.- comparison
With Public Life Nowadays.

Patrick Henry---Plain Sketches Of Past
Times---Better Days on
Roanoke.
From: Our O,cn CORRESPONDENT.
WAsH IsGToS, Dec. 81, 1879.
THE HOME OF JOHN RANDOLPH OF ROANOKE.
Passing recently from Richmond, Va, to the
Gulf, over the Danyillo Railroad, entered
country new to me. Eight old counties OF the
Old Dominion were threaded by this road, and
it WAS one of the great inner lines OF commune
cation OF the late Confederncy, occupying the
samo relation to it On the east Of the Aleghenies
that the East Virginia g. Tennessee Road did on
the west. By the Danville Road, Davis and tho
Confederate Government fed, barely escaping
By four hours Stoneman's raiders from over the
mountains I passed Amelia Court House,
where Lees army rendezvoused, and wero de-
taiued to forage for supplies, while Sheridan
and Meade cut them off ahead at JetersYil1o,
and. near BY, Ewell's corps surrendered.
The country was very beautiful in the late
fall, with the trees nearly leaaess, go that the
landscapes were exposed; and, where ne enter
ed tho valleys Of the Steunton and the Dan, I
saw richer country than upon the clay hillsides
VI tANiA VI b1u1A-1Ulib hotAUA6, iuuIt1-SId9Cd3
widening around the woody hills, and a juicy
look, as of marsh-fowl and rank vegetation, in
the strong soil-ike air. The houses sat upon
lofty capes and points Of hills, sometimes old
brick mansions surrounded by negro quarters,
and again merely large log structures, and all in
more or less decay. The woods would have
seemed dense at any other time of the year, but
| in the plains were some cattle and wild pigs,
| md al u, o1o
ity, giving a look Of populousncas to the region
to which it was not entitled. This is the great
tobacco-Iand If the aeaboard still, for hundred
| miles along the second terrace Of Virginia and
| tho Carolnas.
NEIGHB0EHOOD TALK ABOUT RANDOLPH.
"Yonder is the house Of John Randolph, Of
Roanoke" said an engineer of the railroad, who
sat at my side. "Wood Bouldin, Of the Vir~
ginia Court Of Appeals, lives there now. He
is no kin to Randolph thatI know Of. Bouldin's 9
father Tom succeeded Randolph in Congress,
and died OF paralysis in hls seat, as he roso to
announce Randolphs death, in 1884. Yes sir,
this is Randolph's country, end Patrick Henry
died here also. The lnnd is worth about $15 an
| acre"
looked up and saw on high hilltop,
amongst large forest~trees, and backed by dense
and extensive woods, the her1nit-like home Of
this celebrated oddity and human riddle. Tho
place had been altered by its later proprietors,
but there still remained the small clump Of
negro quarters, and the two wooden houses
separated from each other,-one Of logs,
tho other clapboardod whore, in d sort
| of savage lawn, the great Shareholder
had passed so many years. IT was hardly more
than Indian comfort as it seemed low build
ings, only one-story and garret high, with few
and small windows, and on one d low log porch.
How differont are the ideas Of comfort in differ
ent ages! What American statesman now
| would live like Randolph for his land? And
yet he merited the respect Of widely different types
Of men. The Quaker poet of New England Gang
| OF him with mistaken ideas Of the geography:
I There, whore with living and eye
| He heard Potomacs flowing,
/ And through his tall, ancestral trees
/ Saw Autunns sunset glowing,
| he sleeps, still looking to the West,
Beneath the dark wood shadow,
As if he still would see the
| Sink down on wave and meadow.
The second line ought to be: "He heard the
| Stauntons flowing" if it is meant to denote his
! rosting-place; for Randolph's ashes still rest
here, Ia the midst OF thei forest near his log
cabins, q tree by the grave, and formerly also an
| unmarked stone. He Was the last OF his race.
| THE MAN REVIVED.
As looked upon this lonesome autumn Vir-
gina Eceue, and the deliberate and warning
poem Of Whittier came to my mind, with it's
too truthful ending,
! o, more than all thy dead rcnown,
We're now one hero living,
endeavored to believe what manner Of man
might this have been who in our day would be
an impossibiity in public life. For nearly thirty
years he WAS in Congress. Like Thadde:'s Ste
vens, who possessed some Of his power Of scorn,
he was bachelor; for years he WAS Chairman
OF the Committee Of Ways and Means. and JET
ferson hahitually consulted him. Benton-a
cold, digniicd critic-says that for thirty years
he was tho political meteor Of Congress-, and
often the planetary plague, and, as the scourg-
CT OF pre-. ansion, meanneBs, vice, and doma-
gogery, the benefactor Of the House.
| Aud on 't:.:1l-top he lies. like the Indians OF
| whose blood he boosted, amongst tho naked t<oos,
ed any Institution or public measure. Might he
arise and look around Ills country now, it would
seem to deserve less Of his terrible e1cori.tion
forty years ago: "Poyerty stalking through the
les, and, amidst our filth and vermin like the
Spanish and Portuguese, look down with contempt
on other nations. We hug our lousy cloaks
around us, take another cla,o Of t.tbbackcr, float
fro-irous, where they happen not to be nasty,
and try conclusions upon constitutional points.
Poor old Virginia! Poor old Virginia."
| RASDoLPH's NE1ouBon, HENRY.
"How iB this called Roanoke" said to the
affable engineer, "being on the staunton ?"
swell, there is q little creek, believe, called
Roanoke, winding through Randolph's old es.
tate. At any rate, this is in the general Valley
OF the Roanoke, and Roanoke is the name Of tue
railroad station, two miles from the old fellow'f
abode. He was born at Caveons. an estate neal
City Point, just before the Revolutionary War
His youth was spent at Matoax, another estate
this side Of Petersburg, and ho also lived al
Bizarre, 8 third estate, all of which we're dc.
stroyed by fire. He often came here to shoot
and stop while, but he moved here otter 1910
when Bizarre burned up. He never built any
thing extensive down here"
"Was he rich ?"
"Oh, yes! ono Of the largest shareholders il
Virginia. He left 318 slaves and $50 horses, ono
he had some Of the best racing stock in rhit
country"
"Haye any more recent great mea come from
about here ?"
Yes, air. Tom Bocock and General Joe
Johnston"
"Are you much acquainted around here?"
! I" Putty torbul well"
"What do the people at this day think o1
,1yh