Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-09-20
YALLANDIGHAM.
Characteristics Of the Noted Leader In His Early
Manhood.

Vallandigham's habits were better
than those Of preachers sons In the
average. He had pride of character,
pride Of appearance, and was more am
bilious than his rules would seem to
indicate. One OF his schoolmates de-
scribes him as slender, hawk-nosed
and eagle-eyed, and very handsome.
His morals were so pure in youth and
his life so exemplary that people won
dered he was not member of the
church. At college, labor and thought
were his amusements, and his only re-
laxation was to take long walks, think
ing intensely. A good many southern
students came to the college provided
with spending money and with spreeing
habits. He would not go with them
because he had not the money to return
their hospitality. Strange that this
man should become the principal de-
fender Of the south in The north! Some
people thought that when he was young
he was eccentric. self-willed, too proud,
too reckless of opposition; but others
said that his passions were honorable
and warm. He was greatly devoted to
his mother, was very careful about his
expenditures, was exacting in his love
and his hate. His elements of charac-
ter arose from the constituents of his
nervous system; he was rather jeal-
Gus man and touchy.
"Val," as he was called, started to
study politics at the age of Is, and at
20 was Ied-hot. Then he made his
first political speech before he was a
af n IN in al
cutta, in Columbiana county. He
spoke whole hour and attracted great
attention, so much 80 that he was
carried off on the shoulders of the
crowd. He soon began to debate on
the stump with the Wings, and being
taken to task for his youth he replied
sharply and hotly, and they dropped
their personalities. His bearing on the
stump was always courageous, self
reliant and fine. In the village of New
Lisbon Wing citizen attacked him
with stick, but was knocked down
with his own stick by the young man.
Although small mob was raised by
this act. it served Vallandigham for all
the rest of his life, as he was never
again attacked. 1t is said that his
first client was Quaker who had been
cheated in horse trade, and who en-
ployed Vallandigham before he was a
member of the bar. The case camo on
ut Salem in carpenter shop. Val
landigham denounced the horsetrader
with such a fury that he got up and
threatened to whip him then and there,
but was deiied in kind.
At the age of % he was admitted to
the supreme and other courts of the
state at Columbus, and went into
business with his elder brother at New
Lisbon, who afterward left the bar to
become preacher. The fine speaking
of Vallandigham, coupled with his fine
appearance, his large mouth filled with
regular white teeth, and the energy
and concentration he gave to every
speech and act, soon made their inn
preston. He kept studying the law
hard, though he did not like It as much
as politics, and looked forward to q
day when he could go to the senate and
stop practice. Among the rules he
wrote in 1S43 were these: "Always
prefer my country, and the whole
country, before any and all considera-
tions of party. To calm and harmon
ize the conflicting interest and Sec
tional jealousies of the north and south.
Always support religion. morality and
education"
At 25 he was sent to the state legisla-
ture as Democrat. 1t was not forty
years ago. He made another set of
rules to guide him in the legislature, and
indeed appears to have been young
man of the hard, regular, cast-iron pat
tern, who advanced on everything as if
it was very important. He lacked
many Of the elements of nature, and
constructed himself into an artificial
man, and seemed constantly afraid that
he would drop from that height or be
misinterpreted. Hence his pride in the
course of years threw him into positions
he probably never designed to occupy,
and there were signs towards the end
of his life that he would have taken a
different path if he had known better.
His temperament was too much his
guide. His first. speech was in defence
of the common schools and the state
institutions. --"G0th" IN Cincinnati
Enquirer