Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1880-03-06
DEATH OF HON. A. NJ. LAY.
In the house, February "a

order
: The Speaker:-The hour of halt past
/. one O'Clock having arrived, the clerk
will read the resolution OF the house
fixing the order of p, oceeding for that
hour to-day.
.. The clerk read as follows:
Resolved, That the special order for
Monday, February %. at halt past one
O'Clock, shall be the presentation oil
suitable resolutions on the death of Hon
A. NJ. Lay, late member OF the forty
sixth congress, and the expression by
. the members OF the esteem in which bis
memory is held.
Mr.. Philips:-Mr. Speaker, even if NO
memorial occasion we're present with its
swelling tide of reflections, would have
been reminded on my return to this
house, alter brlet absence, that death
had been busy here. l miss some we'll
remembered faces that on yesterday
all but were flushed with health and
beaming with the pride of intellect.
They have gone
The way of death.
Broad as Is that way. how it has been
thrsnged in these latter years, with
presidents, senators and representatives.
AS l come to-day to offer this tribute
OF respect upon the new-nade grave of
my lamented predecessor, troop OF
recollectisns, sad and pleasing, pass in
review before me. The innocence OF
childhood, the buoyancy of youth, the
painting ambition of manhesd, the charm
and rapture of true lovo that made Il
| heaven OF his domestic lite, the conflicts,
defeats and triumphs of the forum, and
the hsstings, all pass before my view,
and l see how we'll he lived and how
untimely he died.
| Alfred Morrison Lay was born May
the 2Oth, A. D., 1886, in Lewis county,
Missouri, and died in this city on the Sth
day OF December, A. d., 1879. He came
Of pareatage that belonged to the rug
| ged. bold class OF pioneers. who, with 40
fortune but stout heart and without
patrlmony or heraldry, crossed to the
western bank OF the Mississippi and
drove back the savage and subdued the
wilderness to make way for that splen-
did civilization which to-day points out
Missouri among the constellation ei
states as the fifth in the American union
In 1912 he removed with his parents
to Benton county, Missouri, and there
drank the inspiration OF his political
tenets Irem the great senator whose
name this county bears. He graduated
from Bethany College, Virginia, in 1886.
Selecting the law Tor his profession,
he was admitted to the bar in 1857, and
located at Jefferson City, the capital OF
the state. With such assiduity did he
apply himself to his profession and such
attalnments had he made that in 1860 he
was appointed United States district at
t.,rsa fOrs ftA
souri,.
1t was in the performance Of the du-
ties OF this office thatI first met him pro-
iessionaliy and learned something OF his
rare qualities as lawyer. This Office |
he resigned In 1861. Yielding to what |
he and others in Missouri then believed |
to be duty of obedience to the CAL oil
the governor OF the state, he enlisted iu
the state guards; and in the gathering
storm Of war then settling over the bor-
der line separating the slave holding
irsm the non-slave-holding states, he
was soon swept into the ranks of the
confederate army. With his character
istic patience and fidelity, he is repre-
sented to have served his cause as pri-
vate and officer with admirable courage.
The war ending, he returned to his
home, broken in fortune aud under the
ban OF political prescription. He had,
however, that proud legacy left, his per-
sonal homer and pride, and through the
clouds OF misfortune there shone the
light OF the glad smile OF her whe wait
cd his coming, To bid him look now to
ward the high summit of glory in
the ascending path OF his profession.
Accepting with philosophic resignation
the fate Of war, he bent his energies
anew to the study and practice of the
law and soon found his way to the front
at bar eminent Ior its talent. He may
not have possessed the charm OF popu-
lar oratory or that vehsmence Of temper
that leads into mere defamation, but
his logic was clear and iorcible, and his
analysis was sftsn complete. He knew
the law and he knew men. This made
him formidable before the Judge on the
bench and the jury in the box. Possess
ed Of that innate kindness CT heart and
keen sense of the right which impart to
human nature its fascination and nobil-
ity. he seldom gave effense, and drew
to him troops OF friends. His rank as
lawyer and personal popularity designa-
tod BIN as one most tit to aid his stats
In the reconstruction OF its organic law.
Accordingly he was elected \ member
OF the constitutional convention of 1878,
and the present constitution of the state.
whatever be its merits, is in part the
product OF his labor and thought.
But not these, MIR. Speaker, were the
goal OF his ambition. He plumsd his
feathers and fixed his eye for another
perch. His aim was to sit as popular
in this hall. This he
never disguised. 1t was the temple up
On whose turret his eye was fastened
from childhood. To him it was not til.
vain delusion that haunts the steps of
Vagrant youth. 1t was not a dizzy path,
10 be trodden only by the favorites cf
fortune. Nor was it that ambition call ,
cd "ths last intirmity of noble mnas." I
nor the consciousness OF any sxtraordi
nary destiny In store lJr the child OF
genius. But it was the salient point OF
attainment to a rsse ute, healthy mind
't man selt-pOised and impslled by an ,
lsnsrable purpose
How lie fought and yielded not until
no won his object, is the highest eyi
aence OF his indomitabls nature, and the
pest incentive his lie has lett on record
% every American youth in whose breast +
here burns the fires OF laudable am :
oition. :
Three successive canvasses he made {
or this office. Defeat, that would have
with disappointment or stung to
'ullsn despair the pride OF ordinary man. .
'nly J reused the lion in him and set him !
urlous fer 4 renewal OF the combat
1t was in the pursuit of the honor, OF
seat in this hall that his health rsceiy. !
ais aeath-shock. The friction and tes- .
non OF the struggle were too great ior 4 :
ieilcate. nervous organism like his. =
1t was my fortune to be with hin, At ,
1is appointment in October, 1873. when
le was first stricken with paralysis. Thai t
morning he was unusually buoyant in S
'pirlt. In the midst OF his address glow t
ng with the tervor OF his cause. a para.
ytlc stroke, like electricity, shot through
lls frame, benumbing his lett sid. and
completely prostratlng HIM Impressed
IS he was with the belief that his heur
1ad come. his selt-possession was MARI.
'd and his courage was splendid. Bu, '
nat "hich then sLone out like quicken /
"A oh. ,