The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-02-24
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS.
circumstances OF His Advent Into I'LL
nOis-A Scrap OF History with Which
the Public Is Not Acquainted.
TFrOu the Ouincy Wbiq I


MEREDOSIA, ILL, February 1O.-Ex-
cepting Abraham Lincoln, there Is not
one of that remarkable cluster of pub
lie men who flourished about his time
in this State and in the Nation at large,
regarding whom n historical remi-
niscence could be of more interest than
one about Stephen A. Douglas. 1t is
true that his life, after he became pub
lie man, is pretty well known; but that
portion of it lying between his arrival
in Illinois and his getting business
| fOOthOld, so to speak, and down to the
point of his first political adventures,
has something in it not generally
known. Shall L recount little of it to
you?
Nowhere is this period so well
known as here, for here, and within POO
yards of where l am now sitting, Doug
las first set foot upon Illinois soil. 1t
was in 1888, say early in the autumn of
that year-as to the exact date | am not
now particular to inquire. a boat had
| just arrived from st. Louis, and Mr..
Daniel Waldo, then merchant, now the
Postmaster here, had gone to the land
| ing to receive some goods. While thus
engaged, a green-looking young man
stepped up to him, and inquired wheth-
er he knew of any place where a teach
er was wanted. Mr.. Waldo replied that
if any place in this glorious domain of
the screaming eagle needed school, it
was emphatically Meredosia, and that,
if the young man would 90 up to the
store and wait few minutes, the sub
ject should be properly canvassed as
soon as the goods were disposed of.
Stephen A. was young Douglas of
good address, and in a few moments
made the acquaintance of a clerk in the
store by the name of Z. ID. Plasteridge,
who had been a student at CastletOn,
VT, and, as Douglas was raised within
a short distance of that place, they i'm
mediately found interest in each other
and were in busy conversation when
Mr.. Waldo returned. But the youths of
Meredosia were not hungering and
thirsting after knowledge, and, in fact,
their parents were more absorbed in
problems of prairie land, corn and pork,
than in ''readin', 'ritin' and 'rithmetic." "
AS result he failed to get a school,
such as he wanted. There was then, of
course, no place for popular education
in the State, and if a subscription failed
of obtaining enough signatures to war
rant a teacher in devoting his time to
the public secured, the children were
let to run to grass. This is why so many
of them went to seed.
Between the time spent in determin-
inc whether the school could be secured
and that used up in awaiting develop
ments in some other direction, about
three weeks were consumed here. Dur
ing this time young Douglas employed
himself in attending a small grocery for
Willis Jones, his board being the only
compensation received. He slept with
Plasteridge in Waldo's store. He had
nothing in the way of baggage or goods
but little bundle tied up in a yellow
cotton handkerchief, and is believed to
have been entirely without money.
About the end of the third week,
James Ethel, Esq, of Bethel, happened
in Meredosia, and Douglas inquired of
him in regard to chances for getting n
school. Ethel replied that they wanted
one in Bethel, and the young stranger
went with him to that place the sane
day. He began teaching there, and con-
tinued about three weeks, but he was
not suited, and abandoned it. After
leaving the school he husked corn for
Ethel a few days, some say as COM
penSatiOn for the use of team to carry
MIN to Winchester, where he determined
to try the experience of teaching again ;
others say this work was done to pay
his board-bill, and it is probable the lat
ter conclusion is the correct one, and
that he walked to Winchester, as
would appear from the following anec-
dote:
On the way to Manchester he came to
farmers residence-a residence was a
shanty then-where large crowd was
gathered for some purpose, he could
not discover what, but he made free to
inquire and learned that they had a
public sale of farm property, that every
| thing was ready to proceed; the auc-
tioneer was there charged to the muzzle
with all the stale jokes of his profession,
that the requisite amount of whisky had
been provided for the proper conducto
the business, but that they were ''clean
done" for lack of somebody ''to keep
the reckoning" as they called it. That
is, there was nobody there who could
write, and so they had no clerk. Mr..
Douglas indicated that keeping the
reckoning was his strong point, and he
was accordingly pressed into the SER
vice. The days work being satisfacto-
riiy concluded, he received 81 for his
services, and this was the first money
he ever earned in Illinois.
He went to Winchester, secured a
school and taught for about 4 year,
awaiting the time when he could be ad-
mitted to the bar. During this time he
was comparatively unknown at Mere
dosia.
The great Van Buren campaign came
now, and the Democracy of Morgan
County, then including the present
Scott, Cass and Morgan Counties, un-
dertook thorough organization, and
at their Convention in Jacksonville
nominated full ticket for county Of
ficers, State Representatives and Sena-
tors. Among the nominees were such
names as the Hon. Newton Cloud, Rich
ard Walker, Colonel William Water
ford and Daniel Waldo. The business
partners of the latter gentleman were
dissatisfied with his going into politics,
and he accordingly signifed his inten-
ton of declining the nomination. There
then sprung up number of aspirants
for the vacancy-the nomination was
for Representative-and old General
Mcconnell, w. w. Happy and young
Douglas all called on Mr.. Waldo solicit
ing his resignation in their favor. He
was favorably inclinedtoward Douglas,
j but proposed holding an election on the
three names in his district, the one get
ting the largest number of votes to be
the nominee. About two-thirds of the
votes were cast for Douglas, and thus
he was pretty fairly started toward the
Legislature.
Time passed on and the campaign be-
gan to warm up. A political meeting was
announced to be held at ''Greasy School
house," as it was called, few miles
south of Jacksonville, but the speaker
sent word that it was impossible for him
to come. The Hon. John Wyatt, well
known in the history of Morgan County,