Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1880-10-12
l0UR ALEOK SMITH, We MEAN.


taxable gcncalogy. TO tho members
Of such families il is always source
Of proud qualification to traceup their
ancestry to some Of the notabi'iticS Of
whom history speaks.
The scions of nobility usually pos
sess u prefix to their names; but IN
this country, our people glory in the
consciousness that their great men are
self-madc; and thatis by far, aproudcr
distinction than that obtained by III
heritnncc.
We have families who arc hosts in
themselves. Take the Smith family
for instance:
Who will deny that society in This
country, since the days Of the earliest
settlers has been both blessed and nc
cursed by those very Smiths.
The first ono of the name who came
into notice was John, the fellow who
was saved by Pocahontas. That one
was worry much of u man. Since That
time the Smiths Crcpt into every nook
and corner of tho land. They became
Generals, ColoncIs, Majors, Corpora's,
Priyatcs, Governors, Mcmbcrs ct Cou-
yress, Recorders, wou|d-bc Senators
and some even got to be Postmastcrs.
The latter is tho kind OF u Smith
that we have in Baton Rouge. Eutthe
trouble is, that his name isn't John;
because John is II common name; II
democratic name, in fact. Our Smith
is prcfaccd by the great name OF Alex
an,lcr, though the boys call him
Alcck, for short. Hos u Colonel too;
80 that when people speak Of him,
they say2 Colonel AIcck Smith.
And Colonel Alcck Smith is not one
ofthose men, who go abont making
much ado about nothing. No, not he !
During the halcyon days Of radical
ism he modcstly put man appearance
as q thoroughly reconstructed robcl.
lie mingled with the boys i'll q good
naturod sort of q way. Wasn't proud
either. They were all u band OF
brothers and of course it would have
been foolish to make any distinctions
on account ofracc, color or previous
condition. So that he took them all
by the hand. 1t made no difference
whether it was Burch, BULLDOG Lane,
Judge Davis or our old friend from
away up yondcr in Maine, @ong john
rs some call him occasionally. Col.
Aleck was hale fellow we'll met among
all of them. As Republican to the
manor born lie had claims that tho
boys could not overlook. They made
room for him in tho Recorders Office
and our Smith was happy for awhile
But that business finally wore out
In 1876 the Democrats burstcd through
these snug arrangements and ou1
Smiths occupation was apparently
gone. But he had served his countr.
too faithfully and too well. TIN
broad folds of the Star Spangled Ban
ner had been spread over him. HI
was in luck; when the Pelican aban
doncd him, the great American Eagl'
took our Smith under his protcctin;
wings. And he became our POstmas
ter; q pretty comfortable position too
But our lcck-Smith, we mean, is am
bilious: He wants gloryl as well u
the filthy lucrp. He tried to be Stat
Senator and Postmaster at the on
time. But he wasn't elected. Sine
then, he had subsidized, and IN hisquie
little nook he was letting the wheclc
time tunn him along gently, while SUI
rounded with the "fat of the land"
His silence was ominous. He WA
resting only to jump the higher.
Congressman, if you please, is wha
our Aleck Smith, we mean, wants t
be. How he managed to get over til
river, the other day, and come bac
with the Republican nomination, W
cannot tell. But ho did it.
Now the Smith family is not
unanimous family; by no means. Their
are more Smiths in this part of til
country who are Democrats than the'
are who are Republicans. SO that tn
Democratic Smiths and their Uncle'
their fathers and aunts will all clu
our A1ock-Smith. "