The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1898-06-18
HANOVER COURT HOUSE, VIRGINIA.

sion was one day invited by the off,
GERS to partake of an extra dinner"
which they had gotten up. Charmed
with this act Of courtesy, the old lady
accepted, arrayed in her best, resolved
that the gallant Frenchmen should not
Guido her in politeness. The affair pro-
crossed very smoothly until, 10! the
chef d~'oeuvre of the dinner was
brought on and she was asked to take
a piece Of American pullet, better
known as the turkey buzzard!" Her
horror can scarcely be pictured; her
good resolutions vanished. Barely
able to falter an excuse, she hastily left
the table, much to the amazement Of
the officers. The American pullet"
had been prepared for cooking by being
buried for some time underground, and,
we are told on reliable authority, it
met with much approval from the rest
of the company, who could never un-
derstand the reason for madam's abrupt
departure.
The small, u~npretending house at
Red Hill is in striking contrast to the
Importance of it's owner. Instead of
the imposing mansion we had expected
to see, we found a wooden building,
one story and a half high, in a state
Of remarkably good preservation. Ad-
joining this is a roomier structure con-
nected with the other by an apartment,
half hall, half sitting room, which was
added at a later date by Patrick Hen
RVS son, who inherited the place. The
original building contained only a half
dozen rooms and in this Patrick Henry
and his large family Che was twice
married and had eleven children) lived
and there the old patriot died. This
was the spot which attracted all our
interest and which draws numbers of
tourists every year to that remote re-
gion. An air of almost sever simpli-
city pervades the place. The tall man
tells and brass locks alone show it's
colonial character. These locks, with
large handles like knockers, are of es-
pecial interest, as they represent a fee
paid to Henry for services in a cele-
brated trial, in the shape of an order
on a hardware merchant. Around the
uOuSO L ola pOA-Cd6Cd
walks and many fine trees. Our guide
showed us Henry's favorite spot, under
an old oak. Here, in pleasant weather,
he would spend long mornings and
evenings, his chair tilted back, a can
of spring water by his side, from which
he took frequent draughts, while his
children, of whom he made great COM
panions, played around him. He was
very fond of music, and often the sweet
notes of his flute or violin broke the
stiffness of the quiet valley and
awoke the echoes in the distance.
1t is difficult to realize that this same
man was the impassioned orator in st.
Johns church, who Numbered forth his
immortal words: "Give me liberty or
give me death" Patrick Henry was a
born orator. He gained the reputation
of being the greatest of all the revolu-
tionary orators, and they were many.
He had little culture and limited edu-
cation; his charm of manne and won
derful eloquence were natures gifts.
Almost the only book he studied was
human nature. He knew men thor
oughly, and from that knowledge came
the wonderful powers Of persuasion.
No one realized this more fully than
himself, as the following incident
shows:
Meeting in a book store one of his
friends-a man more noted tor learn