The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1873-01-23

tr0lled and uncomfortable sensations"
He was the inheritor of decimated
and artificial gentility, which had run
along in Tidewater Virginia, like the
friable soil, steadily toward barrenness,
for nearly two centuries; and he could
not distinguish between the affectations
Of this social inheritance and the simple
sympathies Of IA new Republic. With
out slave to own, he might have risen
to the radicalism Of fanatic, and been
the monster of that conservative age, in
stead of its curiosity; for the few mean
things that he did were not the emana-
tions of mean nature, but the fruit Of
provincialism and fury. With all his
toadying for Old England, the Throne,
etc, he could write, when the prints
burl esqued his mission to Russia: "Ihe
yearnings of my heart after home have
been stilled by the monstrous and ma
lignant caumnics which have been
heaped upon my unoffending head
Thus it was with the archer, when an
arrow which might fit his quiver strikes
himself, as @e saw but yesterday with
another great figure i'll public events.
Randolph's private and public life vul-
CARRIED and heightened each other, and
the meanness of anecdote often reduces
his public stature, while the man EN-
balms the anecdote, mean rs it may be-
RANDoLru's NEIGnBoE, HENRY.
How is this called Roanoke" said |
to the affable engineer, "being ON the
Staunton 2"
"Well, there is little creek, be
lieye, called Roanoke, winding through
Randolpl's old estate. AT any rate,
this is in the general Valley OF the
Roanoke. and Roanoke is the nume Of
the railroad station, two miles from the
fellows abode. He was born ut Cav
sons, an estate near City Point, Just
before the Revolutionary War. His
youth was spent at Matoax, another eS
tate. this side of Petersburg, and he
lived at Bizarre, a third estate--all Of
which were destroyed by fire He often
, came here to shoot and stop awhile, but
he moved here after 1910, when Bizarre
burned up. He never built anything
extensive down here.
"Was he rich 2"
oh, yes one of. the largest slave
holders in Virginia He left 318 slaves
and 1SO horses, and he had some Of the
best racing stock in this country. >"
Have any more recent great men
come from about here q
Yes, sir. Tom Bocock and General
Joe Johnston"
Are you much acquainted around
here?"
Putty tol'bul well"
"What do the people at this day
think of Randolph ?'
"Thc old people remember him as
naughty. honest, and although never
mixing much with the voters, sure to
get their support. They never under
stood him; nobody did; but he had two
or three acquantances, and one of them
was the tavern-keeper at Charlotte
Court house, who knew from contact
that he was great man.. He WAS a
brave fellow, too, and good hunter
part of his life. One idea is, that he
got in love, and was afraid to marry on
good grounds, and that it sOured him
all his life. But his memory is getting
very indistinct, and is kept up most al
together by anecdotes.
Whereabouts III this country did
Patrick Henry livc?"
He lived at Red Hill, thirty miles
from here, and his descendants, think,
occupy the place yet. That was said
to be little better for comfort than Ran
dolph's place, though Henry had some
mountain views from his yard. They
were competitors, sir. Henry only lived
in this country five years, and he died
in 80, making his last speech just rs
Randolph made his first, ut our old
Courthouse town. Neither has got
any mark set up on his grave!
THE HERO IS WORST.
Still, we would not apologize for
public man nowadays who rose in his
strrups, in the height of his fame, On u
Long Island race-course, after having
betted all his money, to shout thus vul
carly: "I'll bet crop of niggers Oh
Sir Henry - We should not associate
Southern hospitality with public man
who replied to constituents pleasant
address: '.Mr. Randolph, ] passed
your house to-day" ''Please continue
to do so, sir r' We should still consid.
er him very mean Congressman who
accused door-keeper falsely OF listen
ing at key-hole to secret session, in
order to have him turned oil, and then
blutfed the man without explanation, as
John Randolph did vanzandt, merely
because he was an enemy's protegc.
And we read of his causeless chastise-
ment of his negroes and wounding their
feelings with no more repugnance than
of his sending his books to England
because his Northern countrymen might
otherwise get the job. He showed, in
this last respect, equal want OF national
ity and sagacity, because to spite the
Yankee by incurring greater cost was.