The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-04

conduct and personal reiattona. Personal OF
private courage is totally distinct from that
higher and nobler courage which prompts tho
patriot to offer himself d voluntary sacrifice to
his country's good" i
Henry Clay was born April 10, 1777. in
Hanover county, Va, in a neiehborhood COM
monty called Tho Slashes, a term indicating q
region that abounds In low. swampy grounds.
His father. tho Rev. John Clay, also q ma
tive OF Virginia, and his mother, Elizabeth
Hudson. n daughter Of George Hudson Of
Hanover county, had eight children, three
daughters and i've sons, Of whom Henry was
tho seventh, bearing the name of tho second son,
who had died. The daughters died in carly
womnnhood. George, the eldest child. lived to
manhood and died in Virginia. John. the sixth.
moved to New Orleans and died on the Mlssis-
sippi. Tho Rev. Porter Clay. the youngest of
tho family. was living at Jacksonville, ILL.,, In
1874, when Mr.. Cotton was collecting the ma
teriais for this, the most complete biography Of
Clay which has seen tho light. The paternal an
cestors of Henry Clay were English, and offshoots
OF tho family are said still to be found In tho
mother country. The branch from which Henry
Clay descended removed to Americn some time
after the establishment Of the colony Of Virginia,
and settled on the south stdo OF James River.
The descendants of the original Virginia stock
arc 30 numerous and widely dispersed that their
common origin is scarcely recognized among
themselves; many of them. however. still reside
in Virginia and Kentucky. The Hudson family,
on the maternal sidc Of Clay's ancestors, also
came from England about the beginning Of the
eighteenth century md settled in Hanover
county, Va. According to tradition tho Rov.
John Clay, the father of Henry. was a man of
great vigor Of character, ofexemplary virtue and
manners. and Of n nice sense of the docorums
and proprictics. OF the social rotations. There Is
also evidence that the mother OF Henry Clay
was n most estimable woman and that. although
she married again. she continued to interest
herself in Henry's fortunes to tho end Of her
life. The father died in 1881. bcqueathing to
his widow little else except seven children.
Obliged by her straitened circumstances to
make the most Of her children's ability to help
her, Mrs. Clay, nevertheless, managed to send
Henry to school for three years, where he was
taught to read, to write, and to cipher. The
nickname. Tho Mill Boy of the Slashes," which
was to kindle SO much sentiment in the bosom
OF tho American people, was derived from
Henry's faithful performance OF flial and
fraternal duty. As soon as no was big enough,
he was seen. whenever the meal barrel was low,
going to and fro on the road between his
mothers house and n mill on tho Pamunkey
River. mounted on a bag that was thrown across
q pony which was guided by q rope bride. In
1871, when he was fourteen. Henry was taken
into a store at Richmond, Va. for the usual
functions of boys behind tho counter. 1t docs
not appear that his education at this time had
extended further than his three years Of ele-
mentary schooling above referred to. His shop
training at Richmond was n brief apprentice
ship, and cannot be deemed to have exercised
any noticeable influence upon his future life.
n~ranf M n cfanpfnn utnrn 20 m r1nrk-
ship In the office of the High Court of
Chancery of Virginia, where he attract
ed the attention OF Chancellor Wythe.
who occasionally employed him in the
capacity OF an amanuensis. From amanuensis
he gradually became q pupil. and eventually
the companion of the venerable Judge, without
interrupting his duties as clerk in the office of
the Court of Chancery. Through tho influence
Of Chancellor Wythe. ho became a student at
law under Attorney General Brooke. and in his
twenty-flrst year. having obtained his license to
practice from the courts, he followed his
mother to Kentucky. whittier phe and his step
father. Capt. Watkins. had removed. 1t was
natural that a son of warm. hlial affections
should follow his mother. In the funeral ser
mon preached at tho Capitol the Rev. DR.. But
Ter recounts that, while sitting by Clay's bed
side the night before he died. he heard him say,
apparently in the wanderings OF his mind
back to other days, and probably unconscious
Of his actual condition: My mother. mother,
mother" The biopranber crnresses tho onin.
ion which no one ia Iikc,v n oontrodic, that
had Henry Cl.v remeinea in virginia ana
grown nm n citizen NJ bis native State he would
donh,cd lv have risen IN control the nol,cv ~
tho Ola Dominion and have e.erted al much
inouenco nrohnblv nm that q, IN. nat,or ma h.
exercised in his actual career. That influence
might even have been greater. 1t Is certainly
nrobabIe m this bvnotbesis that viroin,o ,yorId
have had n different history and that with
Horny CLAW NJ her helm shs mioht have r.,.;rad
her ni,ce n, leadership In tho Tomiv y, Stoto.
The trananlanting n, yiro;nia,s son N tbo Tor
woat no R.ntucLv ,y,s tho, r.no-dod 80
character N the west and IN bio ,don,od &C.
NOT because he came from yirgI,ia mr. oued an
virtpo m her so;l and atmo.nb.r. brt ho.or..
bo wac n,trro,v nousossod ~, 80 ondouu.a,s
.rcb as man ony,vbor. would ro.orn;,o 90
bonor EontrcLv m douh, w.s aas,innS go.
her ceoeronbicaI n~os,,ion ana ,ror ,ha oharao.