The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1900-09-22

n
a tip-top stump speech. Yet such is
the truth of history. heard him
with my own ears in Henry Isham's
sugar grove, at Mackville, Kentucky
In July. 1863: and il anybody doubts
that Mr.. Justice Harlan is witty, hu
morous, sarcastic-that he Is the very
prince of story tellers, though a sue'l
binder no longer-let him snuggle III
to the Judge in the smoker of a sleep.
er or some other convenient place, and
he will discover that the Judge Won d
have been great humorist If he had
not come of a race of great lawyers
and been predestined for a high career
as jurist.
That same year learned my first
lesson about spellbinders, and 1t was
this: Spellbinders do not always spell.
bind. Two men, Hughes and McIn.
tyre, We're candidates, for county or
probate judge-a lucrative and there.
fore desirable office in Kentucky.
Hughes was one of the most flamboy.
ant rhetoricians ever heard-a tall,
broad-shouldered, splendid Kentuck-
ian-and he completely captured my
boyish heart. Dan Hughes was my
first political idol. He laid upon the
multitude wizards spell. The crowd
always yelled itself hoarse when Dan
was up. I 'would have cheerfully bet
my head on his election If could have
found a taker-which, luckily, I could
not. 3'..e3 g..
His opponent, Mcintyre, was a de.
cidedly slow coach as speaker. He
stammered, hemmed and .hawed, and
was generally silenced by the cat-calls
OF the enthusiastic Hughesites; but to
my utter amazement and disgust,
when the returns came in, Mcintyre
led the poll by a handsome majority.
The tortoise had distanced the hare.
l was crestfallen and in the dumps,
went to my father, a staunch advo.
cate of Dan Hughes, to see if he could
explain the catastrophe on any IA.
tional grounds. He did, right off the
reel.
MIR. Hughes" said he, sis a fine
stump speaker, and depended on that
alone to win votes. Mr.. Mcintyre is
a very poor stumper, but he is an or
ganizer, and whilst Hughes delighted
the people with his oratory, Mcintyre
was organizing his forces"
That was the first 1 ever heard of
political organizers. Carnot was "the
organizer Of victory" So was NIcIn-
tyre, in a small way, upon small
field.
Mirabile dictu! After thirty. seven
years, do not remember a word ut.
tered by my oratorical idol. Dan
Hughes, in that campaign. so memor
able to me, but I do recall this state
ment from the dumb and despised Nc.
Intyre:
Ladies', l solicit your support. It
is said that the man is the head of the
family. If SO, the woman is the neck:
and if the neck goes right the head
must so right'-which now appears to
me to have a goodly quantum of sense
in it. At any rate Mcintyre managed
to get the office-the chief desider-
atum.
1t so happened that I saw but ole
Of the principal spellbinders of the last
but he was {, prince among
his fellows, host within himself, the
man I ever saw or ever
expect to see, General John Cabf
breckenridge. of Kentucky. Long he
fore | had the pleasure of gazing upon
his martial form asked my father
what manner of man he was. He an
swered: "He is tall, handsome. square
built. He has head two stories and
q half high" And so it was He IT,
very truth had.
'''The front of J0ve himself:
An eye like Mars, to threaten and
command:
A station like the herald Mercury
on a heaven kissing hill
A combination and a form indeed
Where every god did seem to set his
seal,
To give the world assurance of
man."
1899 7 81, otI
ut Lexington. when he re-
turned from his European exile. Wi Ii
ear heard him return
thanks to his neighbours and friend
for the cordiality of their receipt IL
One sentence which fell from his lips
l shall never forget while mem>rY
holds it's sway. In describing himsel
he said:
POLITICALLY. l am an extinct a.
no." and surely n sentence more
graphic or more realistic never fell
from human lips.
1t required great brain to coin
such a Victor Hugo-ish sentenee rs
that, and 1t required courage. aud ,city
and a correct comprehension Of the re
lation of things one to another to ut
ter it. After heholding him in the
flesh and hearing him for the spateo
five minutes had no difficulty III lie
why my father and Other
Of that generation came
so near worshipping John G. Breckin
ridge. He was spel:binl!er. INDEED