Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-03-25
Henry Clay and Ashland.

made to Henry Clay at Ashland IN lsi'
may not be without interest t. on
readers. A very few years hence til,
men who have seen and heard Clay am
Webster will be c'ns.ed among thu
pstriarchs that, like E ioch, walked witt
those superior inteIlIgrnces whos'
presence was not voucb-nf..h to every
one. As for Web-ter- V4rgil'um rid
tmtun. 1t Was tue merest glimpse, D..
the melest accident, yet the impression
left by it is indelible. P4s-inb
through PuiIadelphia Ell route to N ~
York, in August Or September. 1852 .
halt WAS made by our psrty. which Ill
clud,d lady. ut the GrArd House. fo'
dinner. While We were waiting in the
rec-ption.room until apartments w.r'
assigned US, hotel clerk came in. es
oortiDg, with u ceremony aud reverence
80 unusual in that class of eslf-sutf ;Ien'
gentlemen that my curiosity Was ~
once awakened, y person OF massive
commanding frame, evldeaily IN very
feeble health, and suffering pain st toe
moment. He Sat down heavily, lesni W
on cane or um brella, spoke but word
or two, looked vt otody, AMI almost
immediately withdrew to his room, but
not before I had heard the Clerk Call
him mir. Webster" and suspectlng ri
once that there Gould be but one snctl
noticeable man on this continent of that
name, had studied his feat ures closely.
Tuuse Nth me laug he'd ut the idea that
this WAS Daniel Webster, but the next
mornings newspapers confirmed my III
Simultaneous recognition. He Was ~
dark aud jaundlced IN hue that my com
panions declared he III ust be some Gu
ban nabob on route to Sa atoga to Ue
cured Of the sequc . Ut ,elioS fever.
He WAS bilious and saturnlne in LOOK
to q painful degree, and there WIS all
uuutle rable adness in his great brown
ey Oh, sunk far back III caveruuus Or bits
and overriding with craggy lron-Rray
DrUws-but what yves they werel What
face it Was! | have never seen aaoi h
er that mad" such an Impression upon
me in respect Of suliL, pOrpbyritIc
grandeur, but 1t WAS Income. lvaoly sad
and saddenlng-the face of man
whose successes had not REGARDED hun
with happiness in them--a face op-
pressed aud gloomed over with the
tedium of life.
Clay's look was very different. He
anu Webs er both impressed you with
the fact that in seeiug them you had u
of the phrase Senatorial
isnity" made before your eyes. (rue
phrase has nov passed iutu tue dead
But Clay, wulle stately,
was not leonine Ink. Webster. II IS lace
was undeniably "plaln." 1t would DO
to Call 1t ugly, y.t that
would be the fact. Wubster's face, NJ
rest, WAS one Of grandeur. Clay y, at
rest, WAS not Particularly attractive,
though his tall tor. head gave the iu-
mediate impression of intellect. But
Gays face had u power Of " waking
up" which Webster y did not pos ,ess,
which was in fact lllImitable, ANA, whe n
he man Was il the pas>i 70 and fire oi
ais oratory you o,uld understand ut
,nce, even though You heard not "
Vord OF what he said, why it was that
II, eloquence was irresistible. That is
he precise word for 1t; for. il Patrick
Henry did not excel him, Henry Clay
vas the greatest orator that ever lived.
The h,st time ever SAW Mr.. Clay
was on the street in Lexington. A very
'all aud sedAte.looking person, clad IN
\ suit of rusty black, with q swallow
tail coat, o high blsck stock, supporting
} high standing collar. walked leisure
y along, rybody touching hats 70
him and he taking off his hat to every
one, male or female, large or small,
black or white. s. constant Was this
practice on Mr.. Olay's part that his hat
a tall, black, and not very new beaver
was broken in the rim 80 effectualiy
that it reminded one of the hat OF - Old
Noses" the immemorial Carrier Of the
old Baltimore Patriot.
"That is Henry Clay!" said my COM
panion.
How I looked at him. for, boy as
was, he had been my IDOL from infancy.
How disappointed 1 wasl The face was
not an expressive ono. The mouth
looked like the scoring" of wool
chopper ia log which he is about to
hew. The forehead was tall, but no
more, and the thin, lank. silvered hair
might have belonged to any ordinary
head. Yet noticed at once, and fifty
times afterwards, the peculiar grace Of
his bow and the wonderful hexibleness
of the great statesman's spine. Nobody
sver charged Henry Clay with lacking
. back bone" yet III has courtssies, at
least, his vertebral column was as &C.
commodating as if made of India-ruo
Der. Often it Was Mr.. Clay's custom
to dress in dark holden, gray suit,
with steel buttons, all Of American
Bat his swallo VITAL most
became him.
Ashland, first time I saw it, seemed
to deserve old Daniel Boone's notion
about it, that it ought to belong to the
garden of Eden. The house has been
sadly changed from its original design
md proportions, but Can still remem-
Der the old mansion as it was. The
farm, as l first SAW it, some time in
June, was the prettiest bit OF land in
the world. Tue fields, tifty-acre lots
were slightly rolling, with here and
there ciump of trees left that might
have stood there when indians sill
roaned the dark and bloody ground"
I remember thickst Of young ashss,
out Of which . cane was sent me; o
stile and path across two fields OF fresh
ly.mosn blue grass. and many tine
horses and cA..ls At pasture; q little
brook and = spring, or hole, under
some stately oaks and wide branching