Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-03-31
OLD TIME POLITICS.
4 Chapter About tho .Clay-john-
Hinor-BottS Days In HanoYer.
VIVA voop FREEHOLD VOTERS.
A Typical Politician Of Hanover
who Rejoiced In His birthplace
Henry A. Wise and the Know.
Nothing Campaign.
CWritten for the DIspatch.)

The genial Rev. DR.. Sutor now Of Alex.
he was caught by local wag. who said
to him: MIR. S. when jines the church,
I'm gain to jine yours. because 1t don't
J Onsern itself about neither politics nor
religion" AS a general thing. l do not
| concern myself about politics, except TO
vote for the regular nominees OF the
| party, which In the South ought TO have
/ one prominent basis-viz.: "Self-preserva-
ton Is the first law of nature" AS Ma
cauley used TO say. the judIcious reader"
can form a judgment as to what party
mean.
| My father was an old-line, Henry-Clay.
John Minor Bolts Wing. and think the
most OF his neighbors voted the same
way. But as l grew up in the same
/ party. and have continued Whig to the
present day. ] may honestly say that
when a boy we, as mother predicted.
generally were defeated. The voting place
was Cold Harbor and as my father gene
! rally took me there On election-days, as
he did 10 the courthouse on the grand
day Of the general muster" ] still have
a vivid recollection of ginger-cakes, sim
and the drunken brawls that sprang up
Ike dragons teeth. from something
stronger. among the men.
THREE STIMULANTS.
My father was man of giant strength.
smiabie WORD, pleasant demeanor. and
feryent piety. When an old boyhood friend
OF his, the late Nathaniel Talley. OF Dan
| vile, found / was his son, he said with
! a tear in his eye and tremOr OF the
voice: well, sir. If you are half as good
| a man az your father was YOU will do"
| There were only three things that
ever excited him. These were card-play
Ing, religion, and politics. He found some
OF his own negroes one night playing cards
| by moonlight In the kitchen yard, and
told them If ne ever found a pack OF
cards on that place again he would whip
the whole farm. / suppose / must have
inherited that same horror Of the game.
Professor Charles H. Winston. that cul-
tivated scholar and noble Christian pro-
fessor OF Richmond College, was my
room mate at Hampton Sidney for several
years. During one session. when wa board
ed In n private house. at the old court
house, now called Worsham, we had two
| other room mates. Charles and | would
each sit and study at an end OF the table.
| white these "Iewd fellows a. the Daser
sort" played "bluff' across the table.
one night 1 was surprised 10 hear Charles
say, as if unc0nsciously, "Oh, why didn't
you play that other card?' This resulted
In numerous and noisy invitations to take
a hand, and this in a scuille, which gene
rally ended In his throwing one pack
after another into the fire. I need not
say that these two students graduated
before the end Of the session. not on
literary course, but on "Hoyle," and went
home.
Religion was the deepest and profound
est subject that could stir up all
the depths Of my fathers nature. When
Mr.. Osborn. our pastor, went to the Holy
Land. he left with each OF his elders Il
book. like Morning By Morning." by
Spurgeon; and thus. the pastor and each
OF these read the same words and prayed
for each other every day when separated
far and wide 1t was while he was pray
ing. too. that Or. William f. Gaines
made a profession Of religion.
But politics always excited him, a few
days before, and especially on the day
OF election. He would send out his wa
gon for voters and arrive early at Cold
| HarbOr to work with the non-committals.
| and still get defeated nearly every time.
The viva vOce voting. advocated by Judge
! Robert Hughes. prevailed In those
| days. but IL was based on landed estate.
Nobody could vote unless he owned n
|
house in Richmond would vote on that
az citizen of Richmond go to Henrico
| Courthouse and vote again on q few acres
Of land owned IN that county, and then
| come on out to Cold HarbOr and vote
| again, on a few acres he owned in Han
over | would be disfranchised If such
were the law now, but | would gladly
| give up my vote II we could get back to
| those good old days. when a man. though
dressed like the Georgia Major. If he
owned five acres of land. too poor 10
| sprout black-eyei peas, stood up. and
called the name Of the man he voted for,
and received the gentlemanly bow and
thanks of the candidate.
think It was Taleyrand who said.
"Revolutions never go backward. The
best way is to join them. and then control
them" 1t is as easy to join them as 1t
| was for Mr.. Clay to catch that billy
| goat by the horns. But how 10 control
them or how TO get away from them Is
| about as hard as 1t was for Air. Clay 10
| get loose from that goat.
A POLITICIAN OF THAT DAY.
I will not call his name. but at my re-
quest friend has given this version OF
| some Of his political adventures. He
lived at Clay Spring. Politics and Bolts
| so took possession - him that he left
| his family to take care OF themselves
| and went about with Bolts from place &c
place when the latter was canvassine
for Congress. The people assembled on
a court-green to hear Bolts would see
this busy person arranging the congress
mans papers. water etc. on the
table Of the platform and making
himself generally useful and oiiicious
| When Mr. Bolts hal closed his speech
he would imagine that people by this
| time had become intensely anxious 10
know who he was; and. taking the stand
would crafty their curiosity In the ioi-
lowing words
"Fellow-Citizens.-Ia am IA gentleman b.
birth. a scholar by education, lawye
| bv profession. rejoice 10 say lv
at the birthplace OF the illustrious Clay
| and in the immediate vicinity OF the i'm
| mortal Bolts"
A WIG BARBECUE.
u must have been when the "illustriou
| CLAY" was defeated for the presidency
had gone TO Richmond with "Goode'
r one OF my fathers negro men, who droy
cart loaded with watermelons ri
! | could beat any one crying watermelon
: ever heard. especially after he ha'
| sold enough to buy him enough whiske!
| 10 get about half drunk. THIS had peel
accomplished and we were going dow
: Main street towards Rockets. when on
wheel of the cart dropped into hole
= md broke down. As / had gotten prett.
? tired of the fun and the 'keenness
| his wit was exhausted | left him. an
, walked back 10 Towards Grove. Their
we're the log cabin and hard CIDER
7 that same old COON" and all sorts
r music: barbecued meats, singing OF cam
. paign songs. and some Of the grandes
r speaking | ever heard. But, for all tha'
the Industrious Clay" for whom m
. father had an unbounded admiration, wa
defeated, and after that he lost muc
" his zeal for politics. and, like Napoleon
liter Waterloo retired TO st. Helena.
GOVERNOR HENRY y. WISE.
The first vote / ever cast was at Prime
| Edward Courthouse. while / was college
student 1t was in the "Know-Nothing
| fampaign, the most appropriate name 10
4 political party / ever knew, as agnosti
| fism is in the religious realm. L wa
Initiated by "Bucher Dick Watkins i
The room Of a Democratic seminary stu
lent. secured in some way TOR the occa
lion. For ways that are dark" etc
5 | heard the magnificent speech OF MI
wise. and admired il as one Of the grand
10. dieyiaya of irupa sgiOneI elOQuence