The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1879-07-31
OLD-TIME "REMINISCENCES.
political Campaigning in Tennessee-Stmnp-
Speaking and Kindred Aceomplishments.
BY W. w.

One of the potent institutions or in
auences in the South, which wrought
marvels in Welding communities to-
gether, as it were, by throwing the par
ticles, the individuals constituting
them, into close contact, although in a
sparsely-settled country, comparatively.
was that agency called stump-speaking
"a peculiar creation of early times
and so designated, of course, because
originally it may very well be presumed
to have arisen from political discourses
pronounced from the top of a real
stump in some clearing, for want of q
better rostrum. And, in connection
with this agency or institution, think
of stamping" the length and breadth
of State like Tennessee, some 600
miles long and 200 miles wide, and fill
ing appointments in a Gubernatorial
canvass occupying two or three sum-
mer months in that latitude, by constant
and fatiguing travel in buggy or on
horseback, and this, too, while the
speaker was fought at every public
gathering for two or three hours daily
by political antagonist as determined
and ambitious, if not as able as himself.
The result of it was, however, that
thepeople of the various counties made it
point to turn out and receive in kind
of grand procession or as an escort their
favorite champion, some of them tray
cling oftentimes twenty or thirty miles
TO meet him; and they not only stood
up to him in their own county when
there, but, if possible and it almost
always was possible, because of the
great amount of leisure enjoyed many
going to appointments in the neighbor-
ing counties, in this way getting &C.
-quainted personally with every one
worth knowing for thirty or forty miles
round about.
With their sympathies and preiudices
thus stimulated, and their political edu-
cation made the most of, no matter
what other department of needed ele-
mentary instruction suffered, it was
but natural when great issues were
made up for them by designing politi-
clans, that they should respond with all
the warmth and energy of their nature;
and, If unfortunately directed wrong, it
P~as only all the more deplorable, be-
'cause-as already intimated- taking
no halfway ground, their fierce parti-
zanship, their heat and impetuosity
must needs carry them all the further
astray.
The result of all this was, that it
made OF the people of the South almost
"a mere community of politicians; made
politics a. dominant matter to the
neglect of vast deal besides more
essential to their real advancement.
And the consequences were really dis
astrous at times to the most promising
anteuects there. Science, literature,
art, the trades and professions; indeed,
Ousln ess interests of every kind were
neglected, to pay tribute to this-in
thousands OF cases mushroom distinc-
tlon, which drew to it and monopolized
che ablest men of the South. In this
connection | shall never forget an even
ing spent IN company with one such,
especially man of national reputation,
and the posse scr of one of those splen-
did 1ntellects seldom youchsafed to any.
but which had yet been complete sac
rlfice to this Moloch. The strong and
bitter regrets expressed by himself at
OszB meteor-like but barren career that
was then rapidly drawing to close
for he died in the very prime of early
manhood hardly two years afterwards
were enough to make any young aspir-
ants for political honors shudder, could
s5hey have been heard as I heard them /;
enough to brighten back from such a
course even the most sanguine and
hopeful devotee of ambiticn that ever
essayed public distinction on that basis.
Referring to his own sad experience, he
asked:
How was it possible for him who had
had applauding thousands hanging
upon almost his every word and gesture
for years show was it possible, when