The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-09-11

twenty-five years of age he had so
far triumphed owe the spirit of
| evil, that-we find him master of him
self, a great victory for a young man.
By measuring himself with other
young men of admitted ability, he
had acquired a just estimate of his
own power, and it would appear
from what followed that that esti-
mate was high. But he was free
from egotismin conversation, a fault
usually conspicuous in "self-
made" men, and his tact prevented
any appearance of undue self asser-
ton in his manner.
The popularity of young Vance
and his natural bent soon took him
into politics, and he became a can
didate of the Wing party for a seat
in the House of Commons of the
State Legislature, in the summer of
1854, when he was twenty-fOur years
of age. His opponent, a man of
double his age and of high standing
in the county, expected easily to dis
lance his youthful competitor. At
their first discussion, in the court
house at Asheville, the senior, who
led off, fOrgetful of the history of
Goliath and David, made sport of
the beardless youth, who wanted his
seat in the legislature. When Vance
rose to reply he assumed an air of
comic diffidence, and said, in a hest
tating manner: Fellow citizens,
I admit I am young but it is not
my fault. My parents did not con-
suit me as to the time when I should
be born. All I al do is to promise
you to try to do better next time"
The crowd wa captured by this IN
expected reply, and raised a yell that
deferred his opponents from abiding
to his youthfulness again.
Vance was elected and proved a
a punctual and faithful member of
the legislature.
He returned home with increased
popularity among his constituents,
and elsewhere in the State, and in
1856 he vas the Wing American can
didate for the Senate in the Bun
cOmbe Senatorial district. The Dem
ocratic majority in the district was
considerable, but that was only a.
stimulus to Vance's zeal and activ-
ity and though defeated on cleo
ton day (the only time in his life
when a candidate before the people)
his opponent went in with a dimin-
ished majority and the laurels of
the contest were fairly divided be-
tween them.
His motto seems to have been,
Excelsior" In 1853 Thomas L.
Clingman, long the member of Con
gress from the mountain district,
having been appointed by Governor
Bragg to a vacancy in the United
States Senate, resigned his seat, and
W. W. Avery of Burke, to whom he
had transferred his mantle, and
David Coleman, both Democrats were
candidates for the succession. Young
Vance leaped into the arena. Cole
man retired, and threw his influence
in favor Of Avery. Clingman's ma
jority had been about 1000. In one
way or another, by election day,
Vance had, to use the language of
his ardent followers, ''set the noun
tainn on fire." and he COMPOUNDED
the Democratic leaders by carrying
the district by 1900 majority.
In 1850 he was again elected to
Congress, his opponent being Colonel
David Coleman, to whom he re-
turned the complimentfor his defeat
for the State Senate four years
before.
In common with the other Union
men of the State, while contending
that the election of Lincoln in 1860
was no cause for secession, Vance
had committed himself to oppose the
coercion of a seeded State, if any
OF them should exercise what he con-
considered the revolutionary right
VI secession. The people were with