The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1876-03-24
THE
BY REBECCA HARDING DAVIS.

Nahia village, Hdu us great man ana ltS
town fool. People boosted of the magni-
tude of the one and measured themselves
by the littleness of the other. In any
case they were complacent. Let what
might come, Tarrytown was always
complacent. The great man was Judge
Samuel Rice. He was never on the
bench, but every body called him Judge.
The little man was Johnny Twit; bap-
tiled John, nc doubt, but every body
called him Johnny. Judge Samuel
stood six feet two in his stockings-gray
yarn stockings. "None of yer fancy
silk for me, though I've got two hun
dred thousand dollars to pay for 'em, if
L like" he used to say, slapping his
breeches pockets. His head and shout
ders were broad and heavy rs those of
his own oxen, his hair and beard long
and snow-white, his voice sonorous,
with a cruel creak in it like the crack of
a whip. You could not find a better
figure-head for n town-meeting, or for
a public dinner, or for a church. For
forty years he presided in all and drove
the Tarrytownists here and there as he
pleased. If they rebelled, he slapped
his breeches pockets and beloved and
gored and trampled them down, OK
like. He was known all through the
State as the philosophical Judge Rice.
He was regarded rs the foundation Of
Tarrytown, its m under-pinning.
When he vas taken away, the whole
thing would tumble down. All this
without the gift of one of his dollars to
any public enterprise. He paid his
taxes and church dues; but not u penny
over. He paid every body to an exact
fraction; and on the ground of the
money he kept in his breaches pocket
he bullied all poorer men. "Look at
mel" he used to roar at n town meet
ing. 81 began without a cent, and |
could buy out Tarrytown! Do 1 have
Brussels carpets on my floors? They're
bare and my da'arters scrub 'cm. DO l
hang fal-lal picters on my wallP leave
picters and pianos and china jimcracks
to some men | could name, whose
pockets are as lean as their wits. You
know what they've got in bank, and you
know what I've got. There's my argy-
ment."
While his W table vas niggardly
and his floors bare, he was always will
ing to squander unlimited money or his
son, who lived in Ohio. Once aycarh he
went to Columbus, to see "Tom" j the
Senate; would wait all day in the gallery
to hear him vote, or sit in their gorgeous
drawing-room at night to watch Toms
wife entertain her guests. He was apt
to choose somebody to whom to confide
his delight, and would nudge him and
chuckle as they sat apart on the sofa
"She's a high-hyer-Tom's wife--I tell
you! Knows how to make the money
go! 1t all ONE from me. | armed
every dollar of it. Began, sir, breakin'
stones for the pike. When think how
| used to work in the blazin' sun in the
buff to my waist, and look at Toms
wife and her cloes, it shows, sir, how
honesty and virtue pays in this coun.
try"
One day the Judge died, and there
was a very hurly-burly of lamentation'
The papers and Toms wife went into
mourning. The town.house was draped
with black muslin. Sermons were
preached, mufled drums beat, unend'
ing funeral parades went up and down
Remembering how he had fought fol
the dogmas of his church, how he hat
: harried the village with his loud-mouth
l ed merit for nigh half century, it really
did seem as if, in the words of the editor
l of the Standard, "Virtue for Il momen
, babe the world farwell.'" At the enC
of a month Tom Rice withdrew hi
fathers money from the bank. Whel
I it was gone the gap suddenly healed
: over which the Judge had left, and PEG
U pie began to wonder if that was all tina
. there had been of him. Was it tn
u 5000, 900 in his breeches pocket that hat
s ruled them so longP Was the publ
, spirit and the honesty and blatant viz
. tue a mere frothy bubble, and the none.
. the roalityP
At the end of the year nobody eve
spoke of the Judge but Johnny Twit
J To Johnny he was still a modern Cato
Franklin, a smaller Washington. Twi
had his photograph hanging up in hi
= Office, with an autograph letter below
"a good and great man." he woul
,, say, shaking his little bald head. +"
u am proud to have known him." John
ny, people said, was more "cracked'