Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1890-08-06

day for words, looked forward to the time
whenbefore his friends, neighbors aud fellow
citizens On the glorious Fourth. he would
unoose the noble bird and send her soaring
over all Texas. He wrote a long document;
his speech. Read it over. Re-wrote it,
Read it over. Corrected it. and then re-
wrote it. And finally thinking it was all
right went out into thick woods about
two miles from any habitation and then
imagined high old white stump his audi
epce and then he read and re-reac thai
speech. ALI alone, several weeks before
the great day, this young orator was talk
ing to wood and stone, drilling that strong
bass voice of his to help impress upon
that neighborhood that this was a great,
grand, glorious country. Every day
fer three long weeks this speaking was re.
peated or rather this reading, for instead Of
committing the same to memory, our hero
read it all the time. At last the day ar
rived. The whole country roundabout
came in to celebrate the grand cd Fourth.
The crowd assembled. The young and the
cid. The rich and the poor. The high
and the low. Fathers, mothers, husbands
and wives gathered around. Brothers,
sisters, friends, lovers and sweethearts met
and greeted. The stars and stripes fioated
overhead The rat-alat of the kettle.
drum. The shrill whistle of the fife and
the rud-du6-dud, dud, dud OF the bass
drum, were drawing together the small
boysand everybody thought the Fourth had
come. The choir, led by the village school.
master sang "My Country Ills of Thee, y
and sweet young lady dressed in white
with sash of red and ribbons of blue read
"The Declaration of Independence" p
Then the choir sang "The Star Spangled
Banner" and when some old stager who
had "somewhatn Aow of language
stepped forward, with, sLadies and gentle
men, let me introduce to you
THE ORATOR OF THE DAY,
esquire" VIM. II. Martin, who will now
address YOU" What followed can be more
plainly told in the Majors own words, OF
at least his ideas. 81 was trembling from
head to foot as got up out of my chair on
the platform. My eyes seemed to be
blurred. My throat was stopped up.
went to move my chair in order to gain a
few minutes time. The chair as l put a
little too much weight upon it, Slipped and
1 came near falling. This drew the atten'
tion of the audience from the speaker in
Producing me, and no one, not even myself,
heard the introduction and the laughter
and noise created, had further tendency
to embarssss me. The worst, however,
was to come, and I stood up before four or
five hundred people, my knees knocking
together. My tongue was dry. My
sswaller" would not work. My eyes rolled
around and finally I said, "Ladies and
Gentlemen" which was all had intended
to say outside of
TEE WRITTEN SPEECH
which I had prepared, and while the
words s1adies and gentlemen were dying
away, my right hand moved in the di-
rection of my coat pocket. Oh horrors! My
speech was gone. l 'soused' my hand into
nv empty pocket and scratched around in
the same like "busted" man after the
last dime in his breeches' pocket. No
speech was there. My knees began to
shake faster and knock together. My hair
stood on end. My ''swaller'' in my throat
failed entirely. thought faster than l
ever thought before or since. But l dared
not think out loud. l heard or imagined l
heard some one say, "Hurry up Martin" !"
I knew something must be done. l
rammed my left hand down my other coat
pocket. No speech was there. found my
pocket handkerchief there. pulled it out
wiped my fevered brow. Swayed my body
three or four times backwards and towards.
Clutched wildly the air around me, when
nv hand struck the edge of the dry goods
box on the platform, the pain of which
brought me half to my senses, when l
yelled rather than spoke, gentlemen and
ladies'" (placing the ladies last, because
they were the last persons l WISHED to have
witnessed my disgrace) and thinking
thoughts at once, l determined
to 90 ahead, speech or no speech. My next
few remarks were, ESQ my friends tell me)
rather mixed, and were something like
this -
"George Washington is the mother ofhis
country. Eighteen hundred years ago he
was born. He ran for President four times
and was beaten by Henry Clay. He
fought, bed and died for his country in
1912" These remarks brought the blood
back to my face; Strengthened out my
hair; braced up my shaking knees, and my
friends tell me I made a ''rip-roaring,"
rail. splitting Fourth July speech, and
after saving the air and talking Clay and
Calhoun for an hour and half l took my
seat amid great applause by the assembled
audience. l was satisfied with myself,
sure that bucket full of water could have
been wrung out of my clothes, and con-
vinced that written speeches were no good.
I was determined never to write another
speech, and have kept my word to this
day. This happened in 1850, and from
that day our hero prospered. He made
Texas good citizen and good Senator
from 1858 to 1S57-two terms. Sustained
himself as an attorney and made many
friends.
IN 1861,
he raised company Of infantry, aud when
his company joined or was made part OF
the 4th Texas Infantry, he told tho boys if
they would make him Major he would "Al-
ways stick by them" which he did during
the whole four years, though he could have
been promoted to Brigadier General, yet be
would not 90 back on his word for an office.
His regiment was assigned to General
Lees Army of Northern Virginia, which
he followed until April 9th, 1865. Major
Martin "Stuek by his boys" in more ways
than one. He not only led them in the
field and said 'sCome on boys" but should
any of them by dsobedience or misappre
hension Of orders get into trouble he al
ways defended them, and seldom failed to
get them out of the trouble Many stories
are told of his exploits in this line-one,
however, will suffice here.
ONE OF HIS REGIMENT
was arraigned before the Civil Court al
Richmond for theft, while his brigade was
stationed near that city, and Major Martin
gave notice that he would defend the
prisoner. After hearing the evidence.
which was plain and convincing and which
he was certain would convict his client,
and, as he expressed it, "Unless something
was done my client and one of my best
soldiers name would bs Dennis" He
stated to the Court that he would like tc
consult few minutes with his client, with
the view of throwing himself upon the
mercy of the jury. The Court granted the
request. In the course of 10 or 10 minutes
the Major remarked that he would let tbs
law take it's course. Sat down by his
client and listened to the rehearing of the
damnable evidence before the jnry by the
sworn prosecutor of the law. After the
States Attorney had finished his opening
speech, the Major moved small table il