Mexico weekly ledger., 1895-02-28
Noted for His Good Humor and Re.
partee, Yet When Occasion Re-
quires He Does Not Hesitate
to Speak His Mind.

naturalness coupled with the advan-
tages of intellectual training. Wher
Mr.. Clark speaks the House and gal
leries quickly fill up. His quaint hui
NOR, biting satire and aggressive orig
iginality keep every one in a roar.
Genial in manner he is merciless in
repartee, when occasion seems to de-
mand it. A remark he made to an
impertinent member who is distin-
guished chiefly for his gad-fly quality,
fingers to haunt the member. He told
him that he had "more mouth and less
brains than any man who ever sat in
the American Congress-" An hour
later he was seer in the House restau-
rant watching a ragged little news
boy, he had picked up, eating, at his
expense, a dinner of costly viands.
Mr.. Clark is very proud of his south
ern origin, and one of the most nota-
BILE speeches he has delivered in Con-
gress had for its subject "Obscure
Heroes" He was fi~libustering against
a 'job," and he took occasion to recite
the deeds of a number of the border
warriors during the late unpleasant
ness. 1t abounds in striking passages
and graphic descriptions, and has had
a wide circulation in the press of the
country. In it he recalled the old re-
frain that ran through Kentucky in
those stirring days:
John Morgan's heel is on thy shoe,
Kentucky, o Kentucky!
His hand is on thy stable door,
Kentucky, o Kentucky!
You'll never e your good, graymare
any more,
He'll ride her till her back is r
And drop her at some strangers door,
Kentucky, o Kentucky!
During the same speech he told the
following good story on "sockless''
Jerry Simpson:
81 went out to Kansas with Nh.
Hudson, who sits over there on the
other side of the House, to practice
law. He and / we're in law school to-
gether. Instead of going where we
intended, l went to Wichita (Which
has been built where two Arkansas
rivers come together), the year after
the grasshoppers had eaten the State
up. That year the blossoms dropped
from the trees; and everybody thought
it meant a coming incursion Of the
grasshoppers. left the State to keep
clear of the grasshoppers. A fellow
at the Kentucky University paid me
1875 to write a speech for him; and
that is the way I got out of the State.
Now, there is one funny circum-
stance about this matter. I have a
good deal of sympathy, / will say by
way of preliminary, with Mr. Simpson
on the other side of the house. Last
summer 1 was going home on the train,
and when I got tired of having nobody
to talk to / went into the smoker and
entered into conversation with a man
1 found there. / asked him where he
was from. He said: 81 am from Hut
Crimson, Kans." Then l asked him
about the salt wells there, and matters
of that kind. Said he: "You seem to
know a good deal about Kansas" I
replied: eyes; ] went out there to
practice law, and 1 left because the
grasshoppers drove me out of theState;
and 1 don't believe there has been a
grasshopper in the State SINCE" He
looked very serious for a minute or
two, and then said: "No, there has not
been any grasshoppers there since but
we have got something out there that
is a id sight worse than grasshop-
pers." "Good Heavens!" said /,
''what is it?" "Why,' said he, ait is
Jerry Simpson"
We must not omit to say that after
this anecdote Mr.. Clark paid n gener-
Gus tribute to Mr.. Simpsons ability.
1t would be easy to make many coll
umns out of the good things Mr.. Clark
has said, but we will content ourselves
at this time with his reply to a Pro-
tectionist Democrat, who stated he
would rather be right in hell than
wrong in heaven:
The gentleman from Pennsylvania
Mr.. Beltzhoover) borrowed from Pa
gan Bob Ingersoll a statement that he
rather be right in Hell, from
which | infer he meant the Republican
camp, than wrong in Heaven, which
by the same token is the Democratic
That utterance was not original with
Ingersoll. He stole it bodily from the
devil. 1t is a quotation-much dis
in the quoting-from the cele-
orated speech put into Satan's mouth
BY glorious John Milton in paradise
LOST after "Old Hornie" had been
hurled from the battlements ofHeaven
into the burning lake, when he said:
Better to reign in He'll than serve in Heaven.
want to read you another extract
that speech.
In taking leave of the Democratic
side (according to the gentIeman's met
sphor), he said:
Farewell! happy fields, where soy forever
dwslls.
And be thus apostrophised bis sui
pDuTOus apOslEs !
Hail. horrors
That is the Republican side, il the
from Pennsylvania is cor
Hail. horrors. Hail, Internal world
And thou. protaandsss Hell. receivc Thy new
posseAsor'
II the gentleman from Pennsylvania
wants to ~impersonate Old Nick, that is
ais privilege. He a go to the pro-