The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-03-01
TOM CORWIN, OF OHIO.
Durbin Wards RecOllectiOns of the Wagon
BOy-A Philosopher. and Almost Poet.
Correspondents Cincinnati Times-sta1

| Clnclnnau L always near Jne brakeman call OUT
''Corwin and Waynesville! Corwin and Waynes-
ville!" and l remember that the little station
| the Miami railroad is the only recognition on the
map of Ohio of Tom Corwins greatness Not
even postoffice has been called for him, and
why the railroad station is so called | know
not.
Durbin Ward was the train with me the
other night. The call-out of the trainman re
minded me that Durbin had been a law student
and partner with Corwin, and I remarked the
lack of homage in not naming an Ohio postofice
for such distinguished statesman.
He was the greatest man / ever knew said
the General raising up in his seat, with enthusi
asm kindlng in his voice. HE was a philoso-
pher. Yes, and almost prophet He was far
seeing, with grand scope of intellect All, my
young friend, we have no such great men as Cor
win now.
HE often told me of his early struggles He
was the son of old Judge Corwin a Baptist
deacon and well-to-do farmer, who lived
Lebanon The old man was quite prominent
and was once associate judge of the old Circuit
Court, which, in those days, was composed of
three judges, two OF whom were not lawyers.
The old Judge had an elder son, Matthias. 1t
was customary then for the eldest son to be the
scholar, so Mat was sent to college, and came
home educated. Tom was then "a boy, destined,
as he supposed, to be a farmer. However, his
kneecap was broken once while on trip to the
Northwest region, and he was laid up in bed for
| seven months. In fact he was lame from that
injury all his life. Well, it was this accident
that made him scholar. He had read every
thing in the house while sick, and one day he
had his brothers. Latin books brought to him.
He commenced to study Latin by himself, and
commenced by translating paragraph with the
aid of a dictionary and grammar He deter
mined that if he could master this first para
graph he could continue the study. If not, he
would abandon it forever He succeeded, and
from that time on became close student and
finally entered law
81 have heard he had strong will and great de-
termnatonl"
Every much; and 1 laugh as 1 remember
story he once told of himself, which illustrates
his disposition. When an urchin of ten his
father put him at work lingering the logs in a
deadening' While thus employed young Tom
found out that the wild turkeys had regular
trail through the deadening to a stream of water.
They went to drink at a certain time, headed by
a big gobbler who always went ahead to see that
the way was clear. He did this by mounting
log looking about, and then giving an albright
gobble, the retinue would continue Young
COrwin resolved to catch the old fellow. de lay
down behind the log and caught the king turkey
by the feet as he jumped up to survey the situa-
ton. He was almost too much for the boy of
ten, and dragged him through the briers and
brush until both were exhausted. Then, torn
and bleeding, the boy dragged his prize to the
house. He feared his fathers wrath on ac-
count of his torn Clothes but the old man
laughed. He admired the boys pluck, and
hardly believed that the boy had caught the COB
bier. almost as big as himself When little
older, Corwin was quite pugnacious. His father
kept a still-hOuse, and sold his product in Gin
cinnati. Tom was generally sent with the wagon,
and many time he heightened the journey by
stopping to fight with some boy along the road,
| M a riV q hpcaTOn
and senator he referred to these events of his
life with delight.
There are dozens of stories about him which
| suppose are wrongly credited. He often told
one, that perhaps you have heard. When he
first ran for Congress, in 1880, he had big, wild
district. He was young, Wing, and was run
ming against a big majority. He canvassed his
district on horseback and one night stopped
with man that he knew was against him. Cor
win had no hope of converting his host, but
talked pleasantly all the evening. He retired in
the same room with the man and his wife-com-
mon enough in those primitive days of log-cab
ms and big ire-places.
'"The next morning he surprised when the
old man said 'Corwin, I'm going to vote for
you Glad to know it, Corwin also wanted to
know the cause of the sudden conversion. He
found out. The old man remarked Wal now,
I'll tell you. I'm plain man and my wife is a
plain Now, when the other candidate
was here a week ago the ole woman watched
him go to bed, and sir, I'll be did if he didn't
put it on. Yes sir, wOmans night gown.
Now, don't believe in such ixins for man.
and [ said to my wife that any man who a
wOman's gown was not fit to 90 to Congress.
N ow, watched you last night and saw that
you jumped into bed with your common shirt
on, and, sir, I've made up my mind to vote for
you Corwin caught up the humor in the old
fellows honest speech. He FURNISHED up the
story and told it all over the district in every
speech he made. He so ridiculed his opponent,
describing how he got into and out Of his shirts,
| that although strong Democratic district, Cor
win was elected "
''He was a great orator even then, was he
notl'
He always was. You know his Mexican war
speech was one of the finest efforts ever heard.
And how prophetic it was, too, as read it by
the light of later events. But the grandest
speech that Corwin ever made was never pub.
lished. and but 300 people heard it, 1t was de-
ivered in the courthouse at Lebanon about the
time Corwin was so condemned for his attitude
on the Mexican war. He had been burned in
efigy all over the country and he came home
sore and sad.
Il can remember what speech he made to
his own neighbors that day in explanation of his
course 1t the most eloquent speech of his
whole life. l can remember one figure he used.
He related the old Persian superstition that
good angel sat ever On the shoulder of every
man. that this good angel recorded the good acts
of his charge with joy-the evil acts with pain
and blackness. But if the man repented ere the
sun went down, the angel dropped tear which
blotted out forever the i'll deeds of the day.
''And so COrwin said he hoped the recording
angel of this country would drop tear upon the
outrages of the Mexican war and blot them out
forever. The last words of this metaphor Cor
win did not utter aloud. His voice grew faint
with emotion. and he gushed out in a peculiar
whisper the last words. His hearers needed not
to hear them There WINS not dry eye in the
whole assembly. Each man wept, conquered by
the eloquence and pathos. Yes. he was the
greatest orator of Ohio. l know of no such man
nowadays.
His oratory was wonderful. Every lneament
of his face seemed to convey thought. | re
member once when he was a critic at the old
Mechanics Institute literary exercises in Leb-
anon, he made remark that | have always
thought applied to himself 1t was: The true.
great orator talks all over. He even speaks from
the back of his neck