Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1874-05-12
BOB TO0MBS.
ANECDOTE AND RETRO
SPECT.
The AfOrctime Leader of the
Senate Described by a New
York Sun Reporter.

ATLANTA, April 22.-Sitting in the
rotunda of the Kimball House the 9TH
er day, idly watching the men who
loitered in and out, my attention was
directed tO.a portly gentleman, rather
plainly dressed, who came ia and sea-
ted himself on one of the seItees with
which the place is provided. lie had
the appearance of "a well-tO do farmer,
and seemed as if he might ut one time
have been "A popular Justice of the
Peace. His fare W: smooth and rud-
DIS, and his whole appearance was
rather incund. In form he was rather
inclined to the !Und lrusity OF which
Dr.. johnson speaks, and his massive
head was almost lost i'm great shaggy
crop OF hair. Settling himself com
fortably, he fislcd newspaper from
the depths of his coat pocket and be-
gan 10 read.
Presently an acquaintance came
along and accosted him with How
are YOU Grneral?n and then another
and another, until, in the course of
haif all hour, quite Il crowd had gath
cred around Hmm lie transferred II
newspaper to his pocket again. and
then for an hoar he talked tn those
aruLud hin almost without ceaS-
ing. | said to myself, This man is
surely related To Bob Aston, OF the
Atlanta Herald, for it is not I o~SibIe
tllt Providence Las endowed two fam
lilies with such
SCEiIME GIFT OF CAB"
So approat he'd gentleman upon
the outskirts If the crowd and said:
Kind sir, will you inform ne who
that old gentleman Is ,"
The stranger glanced at me from
bead 10 foot, as if waiting for mint
iulpp, but he answered never Il word.
With q Smil, at once >uTgt stiVc of >lil-
prise aud sadness he simply turned Ia
a man On his right lanu, and IN low,
mortified tone. siid
John, here's Teller that don't
know Bob Toombs."
Good goodlemity :" says John.
Aud So this was roOmbs, the afore-
time leader of the United States SENATE
and later the front OF The secession
movement. | could not for the lie OF
me, reconcile my impression of Robert
Toomhs with the garrulous old man
sitting there tiinging his pithly phras-
es into the pleased ears of the thought
less men who clustered around him.
If he ever possessed the haGghtiness
with which he has been credited, 1t l.
gone. If imperiousness sat in state
upon his brow, il has vanished.
With ali the apparent bodily vigcr |
thought ! could detect certain uniall-
ing signs of feebleness and looking at
him little more closely perhaps than
his little audience, it seemed TO me
that he had grown prematurely Old.
With wonderful glibness of tongue
and vivacity of manner, there is, new
ertheless. a certain indescribable air
of nervous WEAKNESS about his CONVEX
sation and actions. If | do not ex-
press myself very clearly, it is because
the impressions he made upon me defy
analysis.
AT one time i'm our history no name
was more prominent in American pol
itics than that of Robert Toombs. IN
the decade preceding the civil war he
| lowered pre-emineiit as the leader of
the extreme Southern element in the
| United States Congress. With All in
tellect almost exceptionally brilliant,
and of great personal popularity, he
led the Senate captive TO his imper-
| ions will and his speeches in those
/ uaNS retriever tic SOiit, tSoaSboA O'SSN
of large portion of that preternaiuI-
al dizziness which seems to brood over
publications. of that class. These
speeches are unique ia their way
Buried as they are in the dust OF polit-
| ical libraries, one can not read them
even now without wishing that the
| career of their author had been some
/ thing different, Here and there sur
rounded by antitllesis, epigranlinatic
/ sharpness, and queer specimens OF
/ phrase building, one lights upon those
MARVELLOUS FLIGHTS OF ELooUENcE,
| fiery. impassioned and classical, for
which Robert Toombs was famors.-
! His queer metaphors and phrases and
/ his really brilliant off-haIId sayings
are still quoted around here. and there
! are some people in the South who will
90 TO their graves labelled with somC
of Toombs' sarcastic Inspirations
/ That was a pithy remark of his whe n,
4 standing in the door of the Conf der
ME Senate chamber. with his military
cloak on his arm, he tnrned upon the
/ assembled wisdom and said:
"You may make Generals. but God
Almighty makes patriots"
But tile old days are no more
When Georgia succeeded from the
Dnion Toombs resigned his seat In
the limited States Senate and went IN
TO the Confederate army, where he ro s.
to the rank of Brigadier General. vi
his record there little need be sala ge-
yond the fact that he was ubhtteu ~
training, education, and taste ior tie
! duties of n soldier.
At the close of that struggle ne Wen'
to Europe under the impression Iiiae !, q
price was put upon his head, ana 10