The Saint Paul globe., 1897-11-21

childhood. says the Chicago Times
Herald The attractiVeness of scenes
she knew before she accepted the duties
Of wifehood is so alluring that the
general is beginning to fear she has
wcaried of him. She is now seventeen,
and under the laws of the state she can
do as she pleases. There is no legal
process by which the statesman, sold
Ter. diplomat, orator and duelist can get
back the young heart that he took unto
himself until the said heart gets good
and ready to return to the mansion.
1t is feared among his neighbors that
Mrs. Clay has refused longer to be
PLAYER in the pathetic romance of De-
cember and May at the Whitehall man
sion.
1t is one of the strange things in the
life of this man that the least worthy
things that he has done have always
be en- the ones longest remembered and
most widely discussed. There are COM
paratively few people who know that
he engineered all the diplomacy where
by the United States secured Alaska
for a song or that he suffered more
than any other living man for the cause
of the negro in the South. His fame
rests more generally on the fact that
he never feared anything that walked
on two feet or that his actions have
invariably been dictated by his own
convictions. He has killed several men
who Quarreled with him. He tried to
kill several others who got away. He
fell In love with a Russian woman
whom he had no right to look upon,
and brought her home for his first wife
to meet. His family was driven from
him by his insisterce that the Russian
section of his heirs should be recogniz-
ed. He lived in a sort of forgiven
reputation for a long number Of years
after the close Of these sensational in
ciGents. He then got the eye of the
gossipng world again by the announce
ment of his intentions to marry a girl
whose least unfitness for companion
ship was the fact that she was young
enough to have been the daughter Of a
son of his son.
Gen. Clay has had a remarkable ex-
perience with his young wife. She
was an orphan and went to his estate
first as an assistant to an old Scotch
woman, who tended the sheep muck,
like they do in the old country. Ore
day the aged master Of the place saw
the girl in the fields and he told her
he wanted her to be his wife. She was
scared almost to death, and ran to her
brothers house with the story. The
brother went at once to the general,
demanding an explanation. He made
no explanation beyond the fact that he
meant what he had said. His sincerity
and the poverty of the girls family
secured quick consent for the alliance
The generals sons objected most Vigor-
ously, and son is said TO have given
currency to an offer that it would be
worth $500 cash to any man who would
safely but completely cause Dora Rich
ardSOn to disappear from the scene
The general scented fight in a minute
The very same day he drove to town to
buy ammunition and weapons for a
guard for his love. Dora and her
brother went to his house. and for
some time the famous old place was
protected from the inside by four men
with rifles, hired on the generals in
structionS to get only chaps who were
not afraid to shoot. A preacher car
ried a flag of truce. One morning
three DeCemberS ago, the companion
of Henry Clay, Webster, Lincoln, Ham
lin, Wendell Phillips and Hawthorne
"a hero in the Mexican war and a
faVorite in the czar's court, a Yale
graduate in the class of 1882 and a man
of art, letters and literature-was we'd
ded to a tot taken from his pasture
field, who could not read. 1t was 40
wonder the country grieVed. 1t is but
little wonder that he is now grieving,
possibly deserted by the girl for whom
his fondness made an irreparable
breach between him and his kin.
Mrs. Clay at once was installed in
the great mansion-one of the most inn
posing and most historical in Ken
lucky. She became mistress of the
halls and rooms so big that it We're
possible to drive load of hay up the
front steps and turn around in the
VeStibue without brushing the rare
paintings and statuary which had been
coming down in the race of Clays for
nearly 200 years. The general watched
his wife with a fatherly interest. Hop
ing to make her a worthy companion,
he employed goVernesS and teachers,
and the work of education was under =
taken. She devoted herself to study
for a year or so. Then the teachers
resigned in the face of utter inability
to show any progress. The Clay home
stead continued to be one of great hos
pitality It's roof sheltered many men
of note, but Mrs. Clay had but a small
part in 1t all. The general found it
necessary in the course of time to part
with the services of Mrs. Clay's
brother as a man on the farm, and he
went back to live on place ten miles
away Mrs Clay soon showed signs
of Ionesomeness and ten days ago went