Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1878-01-18

Ane sHAS kf&Wh 10 A<@s3mA~ y 4%AatA
70 remonssrate against The CO zion b.
which Il was done, and ~ - ahouId
be lost IN presenting her re-. s.sancs.
Alexander Il. Slephl
A little "a the lefl pf he Mafn aisle
sf ihe Hsase aad list tbttwez8 shs -
row of desks and the clerk, is little,
withered up, nervous old man. Mounted
upon a complicated pedestal built Of
wheels, platforms, and back. be bobs
his head or mods il in accord or discord
with the gentleman speaking. Rarely
is his voice heard. Whoever passes
stops to shake hands with him and
speak few words to him. Not that
they all have anything special to say,
but the green members think it looks
well from the galleries to be seen IN
conversation with the Hon. Alexander
III. Stephens, of Georgia. The old man
is piufully thin. His face is livid and
cadaverous. His head ~ sunken be-
tween his shoulders. His chest is de-
pressed, and his arms and lower limbs
are fearfully and wonderfully thin. Bot
weak and emaciated as he looks, has
muscles are always in operation, and
he iogs backward and forward in hi.
wheeled-chair, or taps the floor ner-
yously with one foot continually. Gen.
orally he wears his soft, black felt hal
and his many infrmities seem to ex-
cuse this apparent breach of Congress
sional etiquitte. and in fact most every.
thing he does is referred to the eccen-
tricities Of man broken down in health
and rapidly-approaching dissolution
Yet this man, weak as he looks, and
worn az he IS. manifests a miraculous
vitality. He is seldom absent from his
post, is always'on the alert, watchful,
in contrast with certain coxcombs in
both branches who deem it derogatory
to their dignity to pay any attention &c
the proceedings, and who affect pro-
found indifference to all that goes on
around them. Stephens, on the con-
trary, listens as attentively TO the bill to
paw John Smith, of SmithviIle, $10.75,
as 10 a measure regulating the currency
of the country. He appears TO think
that he was sent TO Congress to know
what is going on, even If he does moi
participate, and il is painful to watch
the rapt attention the little. shriveled
up old man paws to the proceedings.
Ia conversation he Is grave and Sc
we're. He looks upon every question
presented to him as his natural enemy
and prepares himself for its demolition.
Courteous to all men, he regards their
opinions as excrescences and he the
surgeon appointed of God to remove
them. The quickest way TO break up
hIs judgment on a measure is TO agree
with him, for his instinct is one of re-
sistence and resentment. He will not
agree with anybody, nor will he allow
any one to agree with him, and when
ever he finds that one OF his hobbies is
popular he will discover technicalities
in the arguments supporting his theory
which show that those arguments be-
long on diametrically opposite side ol
the question. II is only when he comes
down to Ben Hillthat he relaxes. Talk
ing OF Hill is his only recreation
Mounting Hill, he goes of on sort OF
horse back ride, kicking the mud and
dust in all directions. Not that he
doesn't like him, or that he fails to ap-
preciate Hills ability, but Hill, as a
prophet, he looks upon with hilarious
contempt.
cautiously repeated to him HIPS
statement that there would be no heal
ing of the breach between the president
and Roscoe Conkling.
"Humph! Hill says so, does he p
Well, don't know whether there will
be or not, but If Ben Hill says there
won't am inclined to think there will
be. Thirty days. twenty days, yes, ten
days before the war closed, he said the
South was in more prosperous cohdi-
ton, and better able to carry on the
war, than il had been since il started
There's forecast for youl Why, every
one knew we were whipped then. Gov.
Brown, of Georgia, and Hill used to
quarrel a good deal. / think Brown
summed him up very well. MIR. Hill
is right smart mar, said he, but be
amt got any judgement Now, that's
Hill all over, I wouldn't give dime
for his judgement. Thus far this fight
reminds me of the two fellows down in
Western Georgia One Of them was
known to be utterly without nerve,
while The other was understood to be
game The game man challenged the
other. who accepted and coOlly went to
work TO make the preparations. His
friends wondered at his coolness, and
when be went to the ground he was
more composed than ever. The ground
was marked out and the men placed,
when the game man demanded parley.
Finally the affair was patched up, and
as they were all leaving the ground,
some one asked the challenged party
how he could be so cool under such try
ing circumstances. Hush, my dear
fellow, said be don'tsay anything about
IT, Il had the deadwood on him, all
the while. II he did't gin in, would,
and reckon that's the wsyIt is in thi:
fight.