Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-08-13
A VOICE FROM THE GRAVE.


Ingubrious cogitations on the beauties OF
temperance, one would naturally suppose
that thew could not understand the enormity
of a Joke or permit the rigidity Of their
frowniug features to relax into smile. Bot
il seems under the hard crust which forms
an appalling exterior, there Is a pure foun-
tain Of bubbling fun. In order TO give zest
aud flavor to the canvass, the boilers have
gone into the resurrection business, and they
have succeeded in galvaniEipg into life the
defunct remains of politician who has
been as dead for the past ten years as Hec-
tor, whose body was fed to the hungry dogs
that howIed through the streets OF ancient
Troy. In 1869, Henry Cooper, of Tennessee,
climbed his way into the United States Sen
ate as rnysteriously as the snail reaches the
top of the pyramids of Egypt. Such giants
a. Andrew johnson and Emerson
Etheridge were candidates before the
Legislature for the Senate. The con-
lest was long and fearful. Edwin Cooper
was member of the Legislature from Bed
ford county. He had been Johnson's private
secretary, and whenever the President took
snuff Cooper sneezed, and he thought it
monstrous outrage for any man to oppose the
election of his patron saint to the Senate. He
spent day and night in coaxing and bullying
the Legislature into the support Of his ideal
statesman and political divinity. He swore
by everything sacred and profane that the
rocks which laved their towering crests in
the clouds at Chattanooga would fly from
their base ere the fast and immovable E1win
Cooper could be induced TO desert a friend
for whom he cherished an affection re-
morseless as the grip of death. But alas for
the mutaDility of human friendships, Andrew
johnson was made to feel the sting of trsaehery
and ingratitude, for at the supreme mo-
ment his confidential friend and factotum
deserted him, and his vote elected his brother,
Henry Cooper, to the United States Senate,
whose career showed that he was the pro-
duct Of one OF those strange accidents by
which small men ascend 10 high places. The
people of Tennessee we're told that the new
senator was the very man for whom the
country had long been watching and waiting,
and that as soon as he took his seat he would
make things hum, and in giffy he would
lead benighted nation out of the bowling
wilderness in which it had been SO long
cropping. When the new star made its ap-
pearance in the Senate the people listened
to the whisperings on every breeze for words
of wisdom. They expected to hear the voice
of Tennessee's prodigy murmuring words
soft as the gently-touched harp, ard which
would Gil the bosom of the nation with re-
sponsive thrill until every heart would be
--s%s4fei with patriotic anthems. But great
ness is always modest, and it was not sur
prising that at the first session Cooper should
be silent and wait for The fuffuess of time to
ignite the smoldering fires that were burning
within. There were but few Democrats in
the Senate to wrestle with the usurpations OF
a corrupt dynasty, and they longed for the
probationary period, self-imposed by Cooper,
to expire that they could be reinforced by
the Tennessee colossus. 1t did expire,
aod Bayard and Thurman turned to
Henry Cooper with as much confidence |
as the worshipers of the sun look to the |
morning twilight. Bot this was another in |
stance of great expectations sadly disap- |
pointed. The mildewing atmosphere of |
Washington had caused the greatness |
of Tennessee's big sunfower to wilt AS
rapidly and as fragrantly as q |
dead alligator beneath the vertical |
rays Of a summers sun. 1t was expected tina |
the telegraph wires would creak under the bur-
dens OF the glowing descriptions of the great |
speeches of Tennessee's statesman, and in
vain did Edwin Cooper put his hand around |
hisear and listen for the oratory Of his brother.
D,,f h. -fs EaI "a e. L. lyU..t /
till great crisis arrives and then you will |
see Henry shine" But the new senator,
who inspired great expectations. maintained
a silence which was silver if not golden. He |
seemed to have the lockjaw and could not,
or would not, open the orifce in his head,
which ne seemed to think was made for the
sole purpose of hiding his victuals. Many
crises arose in which Cooper might have ap-
peared as Ajax defying the lightning, or as
Hercules Staying the Nemean lion. But
there he sat in his seat, moody, glurD,
pairing his nails, with public expectation
ever at tiploe altitude. AS a senator
his autograph is his autobiography, for
his career signalized only by the
regularity with which he drew his
pay. For six years the man who defeated
Andrew johnson for senator sat in his seat, a
leader who would not lead. He brought
contempt upon himself and ridicule upon
the State for electiug a man to the Senate
who was about az useful in that body as a
block OF wood or an old shoe. When his
time expired his name was never mentioned
as his own successor. There were no accom-
modatiDg friends 10 seize him by the coat-tail
and nail it fast to seat in the Senate of the
United States, and Cooper did the next best
thing, and that was 10 retire TO the privacies
Of life from which he was, unfortunately,
extracted. During his whole career he never
made ripple upon the political stream, and
his career was unmarked by any social,
political or material upheaval. He brought
home with MIN nothing an aversion
10 Washington, as ne seem ed TO think that
The trees that grew around the capitol of
the nation were like the upas of Java, and
distilled poison that dwarfed the intellect
Of all who clustered under their shade,
md as he held his nose and turned
his face toward home he threw curses
It the ornate pile which grandly rose on the
lill above him. The dome sadly looked |
Down upon the retreating statesman and ,
leaved sigh of regret that the smiles of
rennessee's gifted son would never agsin
rradiate the crimson corridors below, and ,
hat his heavenly glances would "no mo- be
avished upon the arching vaults and ieweled ,
lights of the Senate chamber. For seven
years the exact whereabouts of the ex-sena-
or has been as great mystery as the North
Pole. 1t was known that the people of Ten
nessee had carefully soldered him up in a ,
double iron sarcophagus, and it was sup
posed "no sound could awake him to glory !
gain" GURUS, crowned with laureis, spurned /;
he offers of the victor king of Epirus, and
home put his hand again to the !.
blow and cultivated his four acres on the {
Vatican hills, and it may be that Ex- !
senator Cooper after spurning q reelection
ecreted himself on some accommo- !
latiug Sabine farm, where amid lowing
Ierds, bsbbling geese and bleatiug sheep, he
las prepared himself for new emergence I,
nto politics. During their peregrinatiOns h
q search of speakers to advocate their hope /.
ess cause the boilers stumbled upon Cooper a
n his enforced retiracy, and seizing him by
be locks they have dragged him into the .
ontest. The nation. which has 80 long =
Missed and mourned the matchless Cooper, :
an now dry its weeping eyes. There is =
-adition on the west coast of England that,
t long intervals, there comes out OF the sea G
ghostly whisper, "The hour has come" d
hereuEon an equally eerie sigh from the 9
nd responds, HBut not the man." But the b
pliers are Satisfied that the hour has come N
nd that they have discovered the man. and
Matching Henry Cooper from the tent in
Inch they found him musing, present him :,
the people OF Tennessee as hero; refined II
nd etherealized by his seclusion. the m al, 10 N
ave the State from the woes and miseries st
hitch Bate and the wicked Dsmocr.t. are @