Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-03-06


cullarly neat hand, to Mr.. d. G. Wick
lille, the editor, requested him to insert
It IN the next number of his paper.
Certainly, Mr.. Clay" replied Mr..
Wlcklltfe. But you have not read ii, "
said Mr.. Clay. "Read it; perhaps you
VIII not approve it" Mr.. Wickliffe
read the notice, which he saw at a
glance, as he had seen in the eye and
port OF Its author, portended mis-
chief to the knot of young
msubordinates headed by Mar
shall. Though short, it was very sie-
nlhcant, importing that on a certain
day, two or three weeks distant, Mr..
Clay would address the people in the
Courthouse IN Lexington on the prin-
clples and measures of the Wing party,
which OF late had been the subject of
anlmadversion in various quarters.
Such was the import, but the words
and their collocatiOn Enthusiastically be-
spoke the hand Of Mr.. Clay. Wickliffe
tlll the day of his death could repeat
the notice word for word. 1t duly ap-
peared IN the Observer and Reporter, a
few hours after which Tom Marshall
entered the Office. Mr.. Wickliffe's
middle name was Carmichael, from
which his friends nicknamed him Mike.
Mike, said Tom, with that tossing of
the head which betokened him very
sure of the scent, "who wrote that no
tice at the head of your columns this
morning.? "Who wrote itP" answered
Wickliffe eYasively; "why, it appears as
editorial." Il know" rejoined Tom;
''but you didn't write it. Tell me,
didn't Mr.. Clay write that himself"
well" said Mr.. Wickliffe, ''to be
frank with you, Mr.. Marshall, be did,
Il knew it, exclaimed Tom with an
oath, 'and he means mel" adding, with
another oath. land / intend to answer
him." Nothing more was needed to
put the whole community on the tiptoe
of expectation.
The excitement was great, and grew
until the appointed day, which saw the
flower Of the population of the Blue
Grass Region assembled in and around
the Lexington courthouse to witness
the intellectual contest PoUtrdnee be-
tween the imperious leader and his
gifted but refractory young subaltern.
The public interest was wrought up to
pitch almost painful Mr.. Clay be-
gan his speech. Tom Marshall was
present, stationed upright in a remote
window, slightly back of Mr.. Clay's
position, where he thought Mr. Clay
would not see him. But he was mis-
taken. The Great Commoner" was
IN excellent plight, and spoke In his
happiest vein, with even more than his
usual head of magnetic power, en-
chanting and fairly electrifying the
multitude, not excepting Marshall him.
sci, who, drawn by unwilling sympa-
thy with the speaker, had leaned for
ward from his "coigne of vantage" un-
til his tall figure stood IN full view.
AT this point, Mr.. Clay, having come
to the subject of the clique Of which
Mr.. Marshall was chief, closed a with
ering sentence by turning round sud
denly upon Tom, and hurting his look.
voice and gesture N one electric missile
at the spell-bound culprit, who shot
back into the window as If struck by a
cannon ball, or as If himself discharged
from the lannon's mouth. His demon
aGzation was complete. Mr.. Clay con-
cluded amid tumult of applause, up
on which arose everywhere loud shouts
for MARSHALL" "Marshalll' But
Marshall did not appear. Marshall was
not to be found. His followers had
nothing to do but to retire, leaving Mr..
Clay in undisputed possession Of the
feld-a movement which they executed
we may be sure, with ill-concealed dis
gust at the conduct of their recent
champion.
The next morning Tom Marshall, ac-
cording to his custom, stalked into the
Office of the Observer and Reporter.
"Well, Nike" said he, 90 reckon you
think Mr.. Clay made a speech yester.
days" Yes" replied Mr. Wickliffe,
d" / do. Don't you?" Not so great
as he could have made" said Tom,
with a meaning look. "If | had |
spoken, and had rowelled him up as 1 |
could have done, and he had come back |
at me as he would have done, then, you
would have heard 4 great speech"
But why didn't you speak, Mr.. Mar
shall?" asked Wickliffe. Because"
cried Tom, with bitter emphasis, 81 was !
a - coward / have lost the oppor- |
tunity of my life. Il had spoken, 1
should have been certain to make fine |
speech anyhow, and, whether l got the
best of it or not, sn the Democrats
from Maine to Louisiana would have /
sworn that l made mince meat of Mr..
Clay" This was a shrewd view,
and it must have occurred to
Marshall beforehand, but it un-
fortunately required more nerve
to act upon it than he happened to have
at the pinch. The truth is, Tom Mar
shall Away felt the moral mastery Of
Mr.. Clay, and almost always chafed I'M
der it to such a degree that his we'll
known arrangement from that lea Ter
of men was, at bottom, probably owing
as much to this one cause as to all other
causes united. 1t was a kind of tribute
that genius paid to character.
Marshall, in at least one point of his
Congressional career, however, gave
to Mr. Clay, for he cherish
ed and expressed as great contempt for
the administration of Tyler as Mr..
Clay himself felt, declaring ON the floor
Of the House that when the history of
the country was written the Tyler adj
might be put in parenthe-
sis, which he defined from Lindley Muir
ray as ga clause of a sentence incIosed
between black lines or brackets; which
should be pronounced in a low
tone of voice, and might be left
out altogether without injuring the
sense" For this sally Mr.. Clay might
well land probably did forgive much.
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF
DICKENS.
The world cares To see its great men
closely, and Mr.. Forster, with delicacy and
taste, enables us to see the manner of man
Dickens was in his ways and conversation.
a now most sOlemnly impress upon yOu,"
be writes to his son, ''the truth and beauty
Of the Christian religion as it came from
Christ Himself, the impOSsibility of going
wrong if you humbly but heartily respect
IT, ''NeyerpbandOn the wholesome prac-
liee of saying your own private prayers
night and morning. have never aban-
lOned it myself, and know the comfort of
It" He disliked display, monuments and
funeral ceremonies, and would not
speak over Leigh Hunts grave for