The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1878-02-07
Alexander III. stephens.

, the House, and just between the frs
row Of desks and the clerk, is little
withered up, nervous old man. Mounte,
upon a complicated pedestal built o
wheels, platforms, and back, he bob
his head or mods 1t in accord or discorC
with the gentleman speaking. Rarely
is his voice heard. Whoever passe
stops TO shake hands with him anC
speak few words to him. Not that thel
all have anything special to say, but tn,
, green members think it looks well from
the galleries TO be seen in conversation
with the Hon. Alexander II. Stephens
Of Georgia. The old man is pidfully
thin. His face is livid aud cadaverous
His head is sunken between his shoul
ders. His chest is depressed, and hi
arms and lower limbs are fearfully anC
wonderfully thin. But weak and ema
ciated as he looks, his muscles are al
ways in operation, and he jogs back.
ward and forward in his wheeled-chair
or taps the floor nervously with one
foot continually. Generally he wear,
his soft, black felt hat and his many in.
tirmities seem to excuse this apparent
breach of Congressional etiquette, and
in fact most everything he does is re.
ferred to the eccentricities of a man
broken down in health and rapidly-ap.
preaching dissolution. Yet this man.
weak as he looks, and worn as he Is,
manifests miraculous vitality. He il
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 to the proceedings,
and who affect profound indifference
to all that goes on around them.
Stephens, on the contrary, listens as at.
tentively to the bill to pay John Smith,
of Smithvilie, $40 70, as to 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 not participate, and it is
painful to watch the rapt attention the
little, shriyeled up old man pays to the
proceedings.
In conversation he is grave and
severe. He looks upon every question
| presented TO him as his natural enemy
and prepares himself for its demolition.
.Courteuous 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 measure is to agree
with him, for his instinct is one of re-
slstance 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 be will discover technicalities
in the arguments supporting his theory
which show that those arguments be-
long Oh Numerically opposite side of
the question. 1t is only when he comes
down to Ben Hill that he relaxes. Talk
ing Of Hill is his only recreation.
Mounting Hill, he goes off 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 Hill's ability, but Hill, as a
prophet, he looks upon with hilarious
contempt.
/ cautiously repeated to him Hills
statement that there would be no heal
ing of the breach between the president
aud Roscoe Conkling.
"Humph! Hill says so, does he?
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 con-
dition, and better able to carry on the
war, than it had been since 1t started.
There's forecast for you! 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. 'Mr. Hill
is right smart man, said he, but he
amt got any judgement Now, that's
Hill all over. / 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 he 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 he, don't say anything
about it, Il had the deadwood on him,
all the while. If he hadn't gin In,
would and reckon that's the way it is
in this fight"
The Nutmeg.
The nutmeg is propagated from fresh
seeds (nutmegs), and these vary greatly |