Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1896-11-05

elect-or thought / did-have Civ
en- me appointments on their mill
tary stalls, but in those positions /
have not found either fame or
emolument. Occasionally, however,
| have had back seat in pro-
scenium box at the theater, or 9th
er gatherings where the Governor
and his staff had been invited to
review whatever happened to be the
show. Frequently the show was
an artesian bore, but the company
Il refer to the Governor and his
staf-was generally good. That
uniforms with all the gilt trap
pings and the etceteras that fol-
lowed were often seriously expen-
sive is another matter, but one
should not always expect fame and
emolument for doing his plain, pa
triotic duty.
When | was a lad, before the
civil war, / used to take the. prizes
at school for defamation, and this
led solicitous friends to think that
1 would be a great orator. / have
since learned that to make a speech
on ''the political issues of the day"
one must know something else be-
sides memorizing addresses from
Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Pat
rick Henry, ct al. If one continues
to deliver other mems speeches he
is likely to run against deadly
parallel sometime, if he is of suf-
ficient consequence to be paralle!ed.
Besides, in these days, there are
frequently persons in the audiences
who will speak out in meetin'"
and ask questions that Webster,
Clay, Henry and others had not
taken up. l met a man like that up
in Michigan a short time ago while
"instructing the dear people" from
my standpoint, and he would have
driven me crazy or out the stage
door if l had not been forewarned
of HIM and had not secured a few
pertinent points in his private his
tory that / could-and did-throw
at him with silencing effect.
In the early days alluded to l
was once started out to make
speeches in county political cam
paign by some mistaken gentlemen
who were overcoptident of my de.
clamatory powers. They wrote a
speech for me, and l got it by heart
so thoroughly that l could almost
repeat it backward. Once, however,
in an unguarded moment, / con-
sented to "divide time" at coun-
try school-house meeting with a
valuable Squire of that ilk. The
Squire was versed in neigh borhood
politics and scandals, and he used
me up to such an extent that / ran
away and went to sea. l have
never learned exactly how that
election went, more for the reason
that i never cared to know than
any other. But the county is safe.
IL is still on the map, though it
has been considerably cut up, and
several other counties have been ia
ken from it. This shows that the
county could stand great deal.
Later on in life, when 1 had
learned more, and yet / didn't
Know half as much az thought 1
did at the time of the county cam
paign. took ru--~Ling political
speeches in Colorado f0r-M>-
Cleveland when he ran against Mr..
Blaine. The State went for Mr..
Blaine all right by much larger
majority than it had been in the
habit of giving his party, but 1
hope l am not betraying a conf
dence in saying that the Honorable
Charles Thomas, Thomas Patter-
son, Governor Grant, and other
distinguished local orators were
also stumping the State at the
same time. Still, this is not said
in se!f-defense. Mr.. Cleveland,
though elected--elsewhere--refused
to give me an Office, and l am glad
of it now for several reasons, chief
among which are that / might have
become a confirmed Office seeker,
and possibly a confirmed Demo-
crat.
During the last eight years, I'M
til this one, l had a habit of max
ing alleged political stump speeches
in the State of Washington, and
men used to come twelve and fif-
teen miles, over all sorts of roads,
to hear me, principally for the rea-
son, as 1 have since learned, that it
became 'norated about" that had
very little to say on political sub
jects. / had faculty, however,
for telling good and new stories
that could be fitted to anything
with little ingenuity.
| On one occasion 1 told a story in
a speech up in mining camp in
the Cascade mountains that nearly
cost me my life. l told how a man
was once passing another man who
was turning a peanut rooster in a
Kentucky city. The stranger stop
ped and watched the peanut roast
err for some time and then started
away, remarking, somewhat indig-
nantly:
"Blast you! 1 thought you wuz
gwine to play somethin'."
He had mistaken the peanut
rooster for a hand-organ. A son of