Omaha daily bee., 1891-10-04
A SOUTHERN ABOLITIONIST.
0assius M. 0lay's Beautiful Home in the
Blue Grass State.
#
ONE OF THE NATIONS LEADING THINKERS.
Interesting Personal "Reminiscences
OF n Former Minister to Russia
Hale aud Hearty at
Eighty-Iw o.
ONE OF THE NATIONS LEADING THINKERS.

sasth w ''
Hale aud Hearty at
Eighty-1wo.
RICHMOND, KY. Sept. 30.-TSpecial Core
spondencc Of TnB BEE. within six mile:
of this town, in the richest of the famed blue
grass region Of Kentucky, lives one Of the
most interesting characters in American his
tory. General Cassius NJ. Clay, the first
abolitionist of the Shareholders of the south
a prominent candidate for vice president al
the time that Hamlin was nominated, oui
minister to Russia during the administrator
OF abraham Lincoln, and for the past fifty
years one of the leading thinkers OF the coun'
try, he is today, at ~, almost as strong intel
l~ectually and physically as he was when he
made his first abolition speech as a student in
Yale college nearly sixty years ago. His
four score years have not diminished his
courage, and his arm is as ready 10 strike in
his own defense today as it has been in the
many deadly encounters of his past, wherein
in self-defense, he has used tine pistol and the
knife in support of his doctrines and has
fought to the death. There is no Drawer man
in the United States than Cassius M. Clay,
and l doubt whether there is a gentler or
hlOIO CulJuIDu OnB. L udNS SpSHb ocNcIal
days with him on his estate, known as White
Hall, and have had hours of chatty %conversa-
ton with him about the great men he has
known. and as to some of the most stirring
incidents of his %eventful life.
Genera Clay at White Hall.
Cassius NJ. Clay was perhaps the richest
young man In the south. His father had vast
tracts of land, anc he left him 2,20O acres of
the very best Kentucky blue grass. White
hall is one Of the finest mansions of the
south. General Clay was born upon the spot
on which he now lives, and his fathers house
cost $4,000, and General Clay has added such
improvements to it as to make it cost $50, 600
more. 1t is a great red brick of three stories,
of nearly an hundred feet front, and almost
the same depth. 1t stands on q knoll, and a
rich rolling country of forest and lawn slopes
out on every side of it. A wide hall is
entered through a big front door, and as you
go in you see in nicnes on either side of you
busts of Henry Clay and Horace Greeley.
The bust of Greeley was taken when he was
a young man and it was made by Joel Hart,
the famous Kentucky sculptor, for MIR. Clay.
Henry Clay's bust is also by Hart, and both
Of them are originals of great value. The
hall is so largo that you could turn a wagon
load of hay about In it without touching the
walls. 1t is furnished with sofas and chairs,
none Of which are less than an hundred
years old, and upon its walls hang works of
art by famous European painters. Gort-
schakoff and the empress of Russia look
down upon you from the left as you enter,
and on the right you see a magnificent paint
ing by the Landseer of Russia Of the Gar
Alexander H., riding in a sleigh. To the
x,-la sL.- t-1y --- M
ceilings, like that of the hall, are at least
twenty feet high, and they are luxurlously
furnished and have many beautiful paintings.
To the left of the hall is the generals library,
consisting Of two large rooms, and back OF
this is the dining room. The second floor
is of the same generous dimensions,
and nv bedroom had ceilings fifteen feet
high. and il was, 1 Judge, twenty-five feet
square. Shortly after Twas shown to my
room a plate of the most luscious grapes was
sent up and General Clay has, perhaps, the
finest fruit in Kentucky. He is famed for
his ~watermelons, and on the inside Of the
hall rear the door, | noted at least a score of
great melons, some of which were four feet
long and about eighteen inches in diameter.
l found them as sweet as they looked, and
General Clay discussed tho fruit as We ate
them together. 1.-THE best melons, ""said he.
one day as we were getting away with one
L ubodb Wiz oibS ~ " 10 " baohSty hSNSl
get into the market. They have thin and
brittle rlnds and they are sure to break in
shipping. You note that this melon has
white seeds, and still it IS as ripe as 1t can
be. | find that the seeds OF melons change
with cultivation and the seeds of this stock
were black when | began to cultivate them u
few years ago, but they have changed from
year to year until they are now as white as
snow.'f During our meals-we ate as a rule
alone, for the general keeps bachelors hall
he discussed gastronomy and the laws of
health, and told me he attributed his longev-
ity TO temperance in eating, and that he al
ways got up from the table hungry. He
preferred vegetables to meats, and though
the table was loaded down with good things,
he took but little. He proudly said
that everything on his table with
the exception of the pepper, the salt
and the coffee had been raised by him on his
farm, and that he felt happy in being inde-
pendent. At one time during my stay he
talked of farming and said that he found
the raising of Southdown sheep and export
cattle the most profitable, and | am told that
he has the finest sheep in the United States.
Within the past few years General Clay has
divided up a large port of his Kentucky
lanus and has given them to his sons. He
still holds, however, $50 acres ABOUT his
home, and the working of this is his business
ana amusement.
Lincoln and Seward.
Ono evening during my stay | asked Mr..
Clay who was the greatest man he had ever
known. He replied 81 believe that Abra-
ham Lincoln was the greatest man this coun-
try has ever produced. AS a diplomat he
was greater than all his diplomats. As u
general he was superior to any general in the
army, and as a statesman he far outranKed
his cabinet. He was clogged in his admins
tration by his cabinet, and he had some bad
elements about HIM. Take Seward for in
stance. He was not in sympathy with LIN
coin. he was o mar Of no principle and was
always working for himself and stealing
from the presidency, l knew Seward very
well before the convention of 1860, and /
called on him at Washington. lie was then
very anxious to be president and he showed
me a paper he had written in which he an
nouuced that he was for the union, slave or
free. That killed him with me, aud l then
decided would have nothing TO do with his
candidacy. He know that l won't against
him and he became my enemy, and we were
enemies till the day of his death. He was
secretary of state while l was in Russia, and
he heaped many petty insults upon mo. l
first met Lincoln before no was elected to
congress. IL was during a lecture that
1 gave at Springfield, aud Lincoln was
sitting whiting in the back part