The Cairo daily bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1870-1872, 1872-01-05
THE BULLETIN.
Publication once, Bulletin Building
Washington Avenue.
HENRY CLAY.
ASEcpoTE or THE GREAT STATESMAN.

| ASECpoTE OF TIE GREAT STATESMAN.
A correspondent furnishes the Dcnvc
Tribune with the following characteristic
anccdote Of Henry Clay:
In the fall Of l8i3, Nicholas Longwortb
Of Cincinnati, sent to Mr.. Clay domijohr
Of native wine. Mr.. Longworth had i'm,
ported the grape seed from winc-maker:
in Italy, and prided himself on having q
splendid thing 1t was a five-gallon dem
John, the stopper covered with wax, and
stamped with the letter a." There were
six Of US boys in the family, averaging
some lG or II years old. We used to study
in the evening in our room; and would
borrow the the cellar key Of Mrs. Clay,
and bring up pitcher Of cider and hat
full of apples to help us along in our les
sons. One night it was proposed that we
should taste the Cincinnati WINE. We
found corkscrew, and carried up pitch
or full. 1t was capital, and before many
days we found the demijohn empty. We
knew Clay was liable TO want it at any
time, and IL must be filed. On
the following night we took
Il servant, who toted the big bottle on
his head TO small storc-roOm, two or two
and half miles away, kept bya negro,
where VIC had il filled with whisky at ff-
teen cents gallon, which, with quarter
we gave the boy for helping us along, cost
us a dollar. We had hard work getting
this demijonn back to the house-it was
not shaped right for easy carrying-but at
length Il was safe in the cellar We had
previously made some wax about the coll
or Of that which was on the stopper, and
had carved a letter " l. out Of a piece of
l,rl Ia H., Ia, l,,1, LII ed
and deposited in its prope- pIac'' In
tniybt he nrcsido.L and he thought 50
himself lie gave n grand dinner, among
hi, guests being John j. Crittenden and
Tom Corwin. Every one was in the best
of spirits, and after the ladies retired the
merriment was even higher than before.
We boys remained, never being excluded
from his great dinners. As the party
were about rising, said Clay: Gentle
men, have some Of the finest wine in the
world, and the first native American ever
manufactured; and there can be no more
citing opportunity for testing
it, merits than the present
John, do you know Whereabouts in the
cellar that bottle of wine is, which was
sent to me from Cincinnati p "Yes, sir,
replied the servant. ado you think, John,
you can bring the demij0hn here, under
your arm, and not shake it up2' Eyes,
SIR" well, GO" Ina few minutes John
came back with that big hve-gallon demi-
john under his arm. Now John, set
II down and take out the cork The cork
came out pretty easy-it had been out be-
fore "Now, John, take that demijohn in
under your arm again and tilt out a little
in all the glasses John again took the
demijohn under his arm and went around
filling all the glasses, while We looked on
in woeful silence. Nov, gentlemen con-
,inued Clay, 1--WE will drink this standing
to the health OF my friend Longworth of
Cincinnati" lie raised the glass to his lips,
stopped, and gave look about the table.
We six were just going out of the door in
single file, just as fast as our legs could
carry us. We heard the word "Boys !" in
the lion-voice Of Clay, but the remainder
of the sentence was drowned in the shouts
of laughter from his guests.