Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1875-08-28

-
member elect Of the next House OF
Representatives, and the jolly
Beverly of especial confederate
conspicuity {" Bev." he will allow
me TO refreshingly nickname hinll
whom have occasionally met
here, of late years, as | shall rejoice
to meet RAM next winter, if
alive to welcome him to a seat
which / shall expect to see him
well and worthily fill, as true
representative of his section. And
here | must suffer my pen 10 be
long enough detained, from what
| sat down to write about, to sa y
that | have, ever since the restorak
ton of peace, thought it fair and
wise for the various eli tricts and
states OF the whilom eoniederacy
to be represented by men in sym
pathy with their people in thought
and aim, be that thought anu aim
what it may. rather than by men
not " native and to the manor
born,' commonly called carpet
baggers.o
The unwisest of all expedients
in a representative Government,
such as ours, is suppression. The
EXTREMIST and widest thoughts
imaginable are safest when avow-
ed in the open forum. If Jefferson
was not right in his celebrated
axiom that error may be safely toll
Grated while truth is left free to
combat it, then is our representa-
tive system failure and a sham
If our system cannot withstand
the freest discussion, it must be
voted failure of the latest con
ceivable kind. But you say the
result may be another war, ] an
swer, without the antagonism of
the freest discussion, there would
indeed be danger of that, for it is
the safety-vaive of our system
other words, the very essence of
our governmental autonomy.
Among the students at Judge
fuckers law school, of whom l
propose to make a passing notice,
was Henry A. Wise, certain of
whose characteristics, as since de-
veloped in his fussy public career,
were not unfittingly foreshadowed
by the words of my heading,
Wise and otherwise"
OF this distinguished Virginian
there is an anecdote floating in my
memory, which he would laugh
al himself, were it to meet his eye
He was very studious youth, and
very reserved withal. Winches-
ter was a gay place then, and
Bushrod Taylor's hotel w $ in the
height of its popularity. lii the
spacious ballroom attached to it,
cotillion parties were frequently
given. While all the rest of the
law students and such of us CLASH
cal students as were old enough 10
attend, couldn't have been persua-
ded to stay away from these, no
amount of persuasion, for a good
while, could induce Henry to at
tend, so diffident was he. Tile re-
ally was diffident then, even to
bashfulness, strange as it may
sound to those who were familiar
with his future bearing But at
length he was driven into the
whirling maze of the ball room.
Unaccustomed to the society of la
dies, he made a thoughtless re-
mark amid group of them, with
whom he was chatting between
the sets of the dance, which their
significant glances at each other
convinced him, and some of hi.
fellow-students who were listen
ing, had been misconstrued into
something smutty, that was not in
his thoughts. Mortified, chagrin-
ed, and disguised, Wise shot out
OF the ballroom and sought the re-
tirement of his boarding-house.
Wise could never be induced
again to exchange the society of
his law-booEs for that Of ladies',
at the ballroom or elsewhere
He was often heard to remark
after this occurrence, that mortify-
ing as 1t was to his feeling at the
time, he had come to regard il as
most fortunate. But for it he
would have been inescapably
drawn into the giddy whirlpool of
what was called fashionable life,
ard in all probability would have
left Winchester, at the end of his
law course. with more Of its small
talk and smaller gossip in his head
than of the lessons to be learn
ed from Blackstone and Judge
Tucker. j. T.. S.
WAsHINGToN, ID. L.