The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-11-05
r. KNOTT
By SGpOyard.

the tOlI-DTONNed daughter OF the nom
est, hari working, taX-paying farmer,
or mechanic, OF Indiana or Kentucky.
in her hcrnesoun gown, innocent Of
crinoline or train. must
"Sk elDit on through dub and uire.
DespisIng wind, and rain, and fire"
Whether that fancy surpasses the
indignant pathos Of the apostrophe TO
France in the Duluth speech is a mat
ter Of opinion always, but there can
/ scarce be two impressions that, for
rollicking humor, the following pas
sage in the PENNSYLVANIA avenue
speech finds no parellel in the Duluth
speech:
But, Mr.. Chairman, I have heard
one reason very frequently urged for
the passage of this bill, which candor
compels me to admit, almost convincas
me, that we ought not only to appro-
pirate this sum of $3.50. 000. but any
other amount that might be necessary
TO repaye Pennsylvania venue at the
very earliest possible period of time.
and thar is that it is much used by
the horde of Office-holders that throng
the thoroughfares of this city in num-
bers almost equal to the hosts which
We're hurled with Lucifer from the
battlements Of heaven. For, sir, il
there is a being on this earth for
whose comfort and convenience [ en-
terrain the prOfOundest SOlicitude; II
there is ore whose smallest want stirs
my sympathetic soul to it's serenest
depths, it is your offce-holder, your
public functionary. When | see one
of that noble army of martyrs bid
adieu to home and all the sweets of
private life fer which he is SO eminent
ly fitted by nature, to immediate him
self on the affairs of his country's ser
vice for four long years, Romer's
touching picture of the last sad scene
between the nobl Hector and his
weeping family rises before my COM
passionate Imagination. When ] see
him plunge recklessly into an office
Of the duties of which he is profound
ly and ~defianty ignorant, I am re-
minded of the self-sacrificing heroisnl
of Curtius. when he leaped into the
yaWning gulf that opened in the Ro-
man forum. When l behold him sadly
contemplating his majestic features in
one of those gorgeous and costly mir
rors, which are furnished him at pub
lie expense, my heart goes out to him
in sympathy. When I see him seated.
sorrow fGlly, at a miserable repaSt of
sea turtle and champagne, my very
bowels yearn for him. And when I
see him perform, perhaps, the only
duty for which he is fully competent
signing the receipt for his monthly
pay am so overwhelmed with pity
for his miserable condition that | wish
| were in his place.
Pat DOMAIN was a brilliant man, who
had served CALAMITY in the C~onfeder-
ate army. After the wal there was a
publication in New York called the
Metropolitan Record. 1t would have
been suppressed any time between
1851 and 1865 for treason. Pat Donan
was it's favoite contributor over the
name "R. E. Bell"-for rebel-and he
~counseled trying it owe again: but no
one of his writings in that publication
was of the slightest akin to the Du-
luth speech, n if Pat DOMAIN wrote
the Duluth speech he also wrote the
Pennsylvania avenue speech. Mr..
Curtis is wrong in saying that Knott
never made denial of DOMAINS claim to
the authorship of the Duluth speech.
Not a great while before he died
Donan was in Kentucky, and the qUes-
ton Of the authorship arose. and Knott
delivered himself Of some language for
publication that showed that he could
be as EN- as he ever was hurnOr-
Gus. After that nobody ever pretend
ed to put in any claim for DOMAIN. so
far as I know, until Mr.. Dexter Mar
shall and Mr.. W. E. Curtis dug it up.
The Duluth speech was the child Of
accident One morning, the winter of
1871, Knot vas sitting alone and not
very cheerful in a committee room of
the House of Representatives. He
had been beaten for the nomination
for Congress the summer before, be-
cause he had not mastered the prOvi-
dent and thrifty art of h~andshaking,
and because his successful competitor
was as tall as Gen. Scott and had a
voice like standardization by a dinin-
utive fraction of a vote. He was out
of Congress two terms-Forty-second
and Forty-thtrd. Sitting in his room
chewing the cud Of fancy, he was APP
preached by a Mulberry Sellers with
a map of the bayfield, and ST. Croix
Railroad. The fellow opened on
Knott with an exuberance of talk and
prediction of the future oDulence of
Duluth that the kentuckian soon got
interested and saw the opportunity for
an ocean of harmless satire. He kept
the map. and it played q big part in
making the speech a success. When
Knott is most humorous he is most
solemn, and as he held that map up
and pointed out places Of industrial,
financial. and commercial strategy on.
it, his very demeanor was provocative
of laughter. No wonder when the
hammer fell one enthusiastic mem
Der exclaimed: ooh d-n It, stop the
clock!"
have always regarded the follow
ing as the finest thing in the Duluth
speech:
Sir, the great conflict now raging in
the Old World has presented a phe-
nomenon in military science unprece-
denied in the annals of a
phenomenon that has reversed all the
traditions of the past, as it has disap-
pOliIleu all the expectations or the
present. A Areat and warlike people,
renowned alike for their skill and
Valor, have been swept away before
the triumphant advance of an inferior
foe like autumn stubble before a hur-
rlcane Of fire. For aught I know.
the next flash of electric fire that
shimmers along the ocean cable MAY
tell us that Paris. With every fiber
~quivering with the agony of impotent
despair, writhes beneath the conquer
ing heel of her loathed INVADER. Ere
another moon shall wax and Wane.
the brightest star in the galaxy Of
nations may fall from the zenith of
her glory never to rise again. Ere the
modest violets of early spring shall
ope their beauteous eyes, the genius
of civilization may chant the waiting
requiem Of the proudest nationality
the world has ever seen. as she scat
tiers her withered and tear-moistened
leaves DER the bloody tomb of but
chered France
And to my mind. the most exquisite
hu1nor Of the Duluth speech is the
closing paragraph. He had given
some reasons for voting against the