Life in Washington : and life here and there

Front matter

I

3///

LIFE IN WASHINGTON.

Preface

This book is neither more or less than it pretends to be ; a collection of miscellaneous and wayward sketches, which have already had some publicity in the leading journals of Charleston, S. C. I have endeavored to avail myself of various corrections and alterations suggested by known and unknown friends in the hope of rendering my book as worthy as possible of your indulgence. If it relieves a passing hour of solitude or discomfort ; shortens a dreary evening, or makes a rainy day more endurable, I am repaid. I speak not of the greater happiness of knowing that my inmost thoughts find their echo in your hearts, awakening pleasant emotions and generous aspirations.

Washington City, ) November, 1858. j

CONTENTS,

PAGE

Appearance of the City at the Opening of Congress 13

Scene in the Senate and House on the First day of the Session 16

Miss Pyne in Opera 19^

Snow-storm 22

Death of Mrs. Daniels — Speech of Stevens, of Georgia 24

Entertainment at Mrs. 27

Senate-Chamber — General Houston — Mr. Crittenden and Mr.

Pugh '. 30

Entertainment at Secretary McClelland's 34

House Speech of Colonel Keitt 40

President's Levee 43

Snow-Storm — Mr. Corcoran's Gallery — Milton at the Organ —

Painting by Mr. Washington — Greek Slave 47

Death of Mr. Brooks 51

Sketch of the Children 54

Senate-Chamber — Judge Butler 58

Party at Secretary Guthrie's 61

Senate-Chamber — Judge Douglas 65

Willard's Hotel— Rainy Day 68

Senate-Chamber — General Cass — Mr. Toombs, and Judge

Iverson 71

Elegant Entertainment at Governor Aiken's 73

Scene in the House — A Winter in Washington 83

Dinner Parties — Change of Administration 85

Riggs &Co.'8Bank 89

(ix)

X CONTENTS.

PAGE

Entertainment at Mrs. Watterston's 92

Fourth of March — Inaugural of Mr, Buchanan 96

Trip to New York 102

On the Delaware — Arrival at New York 105

New York Hotel — Visit to Ball and Black's Jewelry Establishment 108

Party at an Up-Town Fashionable's Ill

Dinner Party 114

Visit to a New York Country-Seat 117

Evening at a New York Conversazione 121

Our Birth-Place — Walk on the Brandywine 127

Visit to Father's Grave — Early Recollections 131

IJeflections on New York — Contrast with Washington 136

Washington in May — Music in the President's Grounds 138

Close of the Season 142

Death of Judge Butler 144

Art Association — Italian Bandit 147

The Intelligencer Dog 150

.Summer Boarding 153

Summer Heat and Dust 158

Journey to the White Sulphur Springs IGl

Change of Proprietors 166

Dress Ball at Wliite Sulphur 169

Scene in the Parlor after Breakfast — Mr. Colwell 173

Rainy Day at the White Sulphur 177

Flirtation in the Parlor.. 180

Guests' Daguerreotype — Fancy Ball 184

Dress Ball- Miss K.— Lieut. Maury 188

Bail-Room — Married Ladies 190

Scene in the Parlor — Mr. Pickens 194

Count Sartiges — Judge Wayne 198

Love Scene in the Parlor 201

Visit to the Red Sweet 204

Scene at the Red Sweet 207

Editor of the "Richmond South" 211

End of the Season 214

CONTENTS. XI

PAGE

Washington Editors — Mr. Gales 217

Union Office— Mr. Harris 221

South Carolina Editors — Mr. Khett — Editor of tlic News —

Yorkville Enquirer 225

The Capitol and its Rotunda 228

Department of the Interior — Secretary Thompson 233

Congressional Library 238

Opening of the Session — Mr. Benton — The Central America..241

Smithsonian Institute Lectures — John B. Gough 245

Entertainment at Gov. Brown's 249

Child's Fancy Party 255

Entertainment at Governoi' Floyd's 260

Senate-Chamber — Mr. Davis 264

Entertainment at Secretary Thompson's 268

President's Levee 271

Miss Saunders's Ball 276

Senate-Chamber 281

Entertainment at Sir William Gore Ouseley's 285

Senate-Chamber 289

Scene in the House — Mr. Miles's Speech — Mr. Orr 292

Party at the National Hotel 297

Turkish Admiral at the President's Levee 301

President's Levee — A. V. Brown, Postmaster-General 305

Scene in the House — Reunion at the Postmaster-General's... 310

Senate-Chamber — Pension Bill 313

Party at Lord Napier's — Funeral of Miss Dahlgreen 316

Scene in the House 320

Brilliant Entertainment at Lord Napier's on Victoria's Birthday 322

Bridal Party at Judge Black's, on the Occasion of his Daughter's Marriage 329

Scene in the Senate-Chamber — The Kansas Vote 332

Children's May-Ball 336

Evening Party to Mr. Everett at Lord Napier's 341

Social Parties — Scene in the House on the Test Vote on the Kansas Question 845

J

Xll CONTENTS.

PAGE

Scene in the House on the Day of Adjournment 351

Close of the Season 354

Sojourn at the Virginia Springs — Sen. Bates — Col. Hayne —

Prof. Bledsoe— Prof. Pratt 357

Dress Ball— Miss H.— Mrs. Hinston 361 /

Public Men — Scene in the Gallery 366 /

Scene on the Lawn — English Lord Incog 370

Appearance of the Avenue — Harper & Mitchell's — Gait's 374

Death of Sir Gore Ouseley's Son 378

Closing Sketch 382

LIFE IN WASHINGTON,

LIFE HERE AND THERE.

I

APPEARANCE OF THE CITY AT THE OPENING OF CONGRESS. Washington, November, 1856.

Congress opens on Monday next, and our city gives notice of its near approach by the usual premonitory symptoms. The streets and the people have an air of fete and expectancy. Shop windows display more than their customary attractions. New wares and elaborate habiliments for belle and beau are artfully and invitingly set forth to view. Hotels have their reinforcements of waiters and runners — some lounging round the brick-faced Babylon, and some thrown out like scouts in advance of a position, while long lines of posted play-bills show that all the amusements of the "season" have commenced.

The gregarious instinct which annually assembles in this "Mecca" for winter pilgrims its migratory crowd, is impelling thitherward a streaming population. Baggage-wagons roll over the tormented stones, exhibiting a complication of patent-leather boxes, of such curious novelties of construction, as though the trunkmaker had been working a problem. Washington is already thronged with claimants, expectants, reporters, and — would you believe it ? — (I know you won't, for the fact seems too great an enormity,) office-seekers.

Yes, dear distant reader, our city is already thronged with men having no other business here than to solicit remuneration for their votes at the last election. Some come to ask anything ; some to ask everything ; some to ask nothing — but only to make it known that something would be extremely acceptable. One declares that he cares not a fig for reward himself, but his friends will not let him rest until he prefers his claims ; another thinks it his duty to offer his services where he feels he might be of use to the public ; a third abhors the idea of office, but he has a sincere regard for Mr. Buchanan, and would accept any little post with three thousand a year, just to oblige him !

And to hear them talk, you would conclude they have the whole weight of the last campaign on their shoulders. There are some two or three who have been the prime cause of Mr. Fremont's defeat — they have documents to prove it.

Alas ! for the distinguished Pennsylvanian !

Though of such moral magnitude that he is unable to eat a sandwich without being pennj-a-lined into a paragraph ; yet Sinbad, with the old man of the sea on his despairing back, is the symbol of his condition.

Our city on Thanksgiving evening presented a gay and spirit-stirring scene. The dwellings in the principal streets were illuminated in honor of our recent victory. In most of these friends had been invited for the occasion; and the brilliantly lighted rooms presented a beautiful appearance. In many of them the balustrades were lined with spectators, those of the lower rooms with guests, in rich dress, and in the upper department with the domestics, — exhibiting a spectacle which could not easily be equaled.

The evening closed with a fine display of fireworks. Stars were flung flaming from exploded rockets. Fiery serpents darted into the air with the grace of winged arrows, and then floated down through the dewy atmosphere in clusters of starry showers.

The English Opera Troupe appear on Tuesday evening. Our musical world are anticipating a good deal of silvery warbling from Miss Pyne's exquisite throat.

The latest on dit of the day here is, that Gen. Cass has been tendered a seat in the Cabinet, and has accepted it.

II. Scene In The Senate And House On The First Day Of The

SESSION.

■Washington, December, 1856.

December set in yesterday, bright and sunny as this most deceptions month occasionally does, as if to add unnecessary bitterness to the biting blasts of its successor.

Everything seemed to greet old Winter joyfully. The public grounds wore a summer smile ; even the stones seemed to demonstrate their joy, receiving the wheels with a cold, hard, yet hilarious sound of welcome. The radiant faces of those practical geographers called hack-drivers, testified their welcome as they rattled along.

We doubt whether Napoleon felt half so triumphant on his road to Paris, at the close of his Italian campaign. We were one of the throng who were, on this day, attracted to the Capitol to witness the opening of the session. There was no change in the exterior of the dreary passage we traversed on our way to the Senate-chamber. We ascended the same chilly stone steps ; passed along the same mouse-trap gallery, with its covering of half obliterated oil-cloth, and were admitted by the same polite door-keeper.

Within the Chamber not an object had been altered. The same Speaker's chair and crimson hanging ; the same face of Washington overlooking all ;

the same bright Turkish carpet, well-stuffed arm-chairs, and rose-wood desks, the last gleaming with a little more polish ; the self-same reporters, with fresh sheets of wire-wove before them, and pens pointed to second the movements of the Thirty-third Congress ; the same J9€^^Yg pages, only a little increased lengthways. The desks exhibited the same process of mind-mongery ; the same loads of papers, petitions, circulars, uncut copies of magazines, and out-of-the-way letters, — one asking for autographs ; another from a fond mother, recommending some miracle of a son for a place under government ; and a third urging the speedy settlement of the French claims, — penalties which public men have to pay for distinction.

We were struck with the different aspect of the desks; on some the papers were arranged with much precision, while others looked careless and desultory, as if in a state of siege. On one the papers were so multifarious as to afford no ground for concluding with any confidence the owner's political creed; while on another a copy of the Tribune^ that lay among other straggling journals, lets you fully into its owner's politics — the exactest possible type of his creed.

When we entered, the newly-arrived Senators were exchanging salutations — dislocating each other's wrists in token of amity. The honorable Senator

from even went to the frantic extremity of giv-

2* ing his whole hand, instead of the customary three jBngers. Apropos of this distinguished gentleman and his companion from Massachusetts, who officiate together as the minute-hand and hour-hand of the same dial — they both seem a little lowered from their pedestal by the defeat of Mr. Fremont. The face of the former is more rigidly grave, while his companion — the bold, the successful, the triumphant, who "draws out Leviathan with an hook, and bores the jaw of Behemoth with a thorn," — looked thoroughly cast down.

At 12 o'clock, the Senate was called to order by Senator Bright in the chair. After some delay, a committee was constituted to wait upon the President. This, with the reception of a message from the House, closed the business of the day, and at one o'clock the Senate adjourned.

Passing over to the House, we found every nook and corner of the galleries alive with bright eyes, intent upon the scene below — a debate between two members ; one healing poor Kansas' wounds with balsams and unguents, while the other was trying the probe and astringents, under the impression that momentary torture sometimes produces lasting cures.

The presentation of Mr. Whitfield, delegate from Kansas, had brought down the anathemas of the Republicans, and when we entered, an honorable member from — — was sitting in critical judgment upon the South — extinguishing her public men by a homethrust, and carving her delegates into mince-meat.

The gas-lamps are lighted; a brown fog is gathering over the streets, and blending itself with falling shades of night ; while loud over all the din of wheels is heard the vociferous cry, "President's Message," "President's Message."

III. Miss PYNE IN OPERA

Washington, December, 1856.

The bills yesterday announced "La Somnambula," by the English Opera Troupe. The morning opened with a drizzling rain, and it was only toward noon that the sun made a supercilious attempt to shine on the sloppy streets, as though it considered them scarcely worthy of the effort. Opera-goers had scrutinized every cloud as an omen, and had exaggerated every streak of blue perceptible in the sky into certain evidences of clearing up, till at last the weather did clear up, and by seven o'clock the large theatre was filled with a select and appreciative audience.

The overture commenced ; parties nodded to each other and smiled; ladies adjusted their opera cloaks and crumpled the play-bills ; box doors opened and shut with slams, and dandies looked round with their "lorgnettes." The beginning of the first scene was accompanied by perpetual exclamations of "First party," "Second row," "Take a bill, sir." Of course, it escaped unheard. The audience was hushed into silence, however, when, with a skip and a bound, Miss Pyne, as Amina, appeared before the foot-lights, a torrent of song pouring from her snowy throat. How shall we give our readers an idea of all the versatility embodied in her opening song. Trills of the most fairy-like delicacy, more ethereal than you would suppose it possible for human voice to produce, she flung out in sparks of music with a triumphant glee. A lark seemed cutting through the sky, pouring forth his joy in such a gush of song that the rapid notes seemed to trip each other up in eagerness of utterance. Mr. Harrison, as Elpino, was like one inspired. In the song " Still so gently o'er me stealing," his magnificent voice brought down the house in thunders of applause.

In political circles the absorbing topic of discussion is the removal of some score of Know-Nothings, who have for the last year filled subordinate positions in the House.

The vacancies have been filled by Black Republicans.

The "House" is still in the confusion of Babel. The Southern members look as if they were cut in granite, while the Republicans are sending squibs and crackers at them. They are deaf and dumb to all the efforts of the former to bring up Mr. Whit-

LIFE HERB AND THERE. 21

field, and will continue so until the arrival of some dozen absentees will give them a majority for his support. Their presence will, we hope, prove a cruse of oil for the surface of those stormy waves.

There has lately appeared here a weekly journal, (literary,) tall, slender, with a huge head by way of prospectus, and the smallest limbs in the way of advertisements, that any poor newspaper ever stood upon. And yet this attenuated journal has a plethoric title. It is called the "Weekly Bee." How long it will drag on its existence we know not.

Since the last session of Congress but few changes have taken place in the "Senate" and "House." A few ephemeral reputations have sprung up like Jonah's gourd; a few disappeared from the face of the earth, leaving only colossal skeletons behind.

The political aspect of things here will greatly embarrass social intercourse this winter. It is already beginning to manifest itself with the families of newly arrived members. It is impossible not to recur to the lines of Coleridge, so hackneyed by perpetual citation : —

"They stand aloof, the scars remaining Like cliffs which have been rent asunder ; And neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder, Shall wholly do away, I ween, The wrecks of that which once hath been."

IV. Snow-storm

Washington, December, 1856.

Evening is rapidly closing in — a bitter, cold, ungenial evening ; a biting northeast wind roars hoarsely in the chimneys, and moans through the leafless branches of the trees; while light flakes of snow are whirling and dancing in the atmosphere, making the surrounding objects appear doubly dark and dingy ; the pavements are covered with an icy sleet ; the gas-lamps burn dimly ; and the few pedestrians who are abroad hurry onward with their mouths buried under comforters, or amid the folds of their overcoats.

It has been intensely cold all the week, and the icy sleet seems to reflect the bitter air up through the soles of your feet to your very heart. On the long terrace-ranges of the Capitol, where, on still summer nights, one can hear one's feet echo, and scent hawthorn at every step, the wind now quakes with a shiver, and whistles round the jutting corners of the huge building with sobs and wailings. The boisterous, bustling, blowing, chilling winter, — ugh ! it makes us shiver to think of it. But yet it brings its own peculiar pleasures. The patron saint of little people, whose name is associated with toy-shops and sugar-plums, is lavishly distributing his annual gifts in all right-thinking nurseries. Lisping Peter Parleyites and sweet baby-pets are on the tip-toe of expectation, the blood tingling in their veins, away down to the tips of their nice fat little fingers. Oh, those rare bright days, the days of our childhood ! There were full a score of nurseries, in which no hour of day or night would have found us other than a welcome guest. We had friends within those nursery walls, who were not hospitable in words alone, suffering each other's presence with well-concealed " ennxd^' but friends in something more than in the name. In vain, among the cold conventionalities of life, shall we look for the warm and heartfelt welcome, the unrestrained familiarity of intercourse, which was part and parcel of our childish life.

Though it is the season of the year when Christmas cheer and Christmas charity should brighten all around, yet impending Christmas bills — those long, narrow papers which the French call a '"'• memoir e^'^ as being the things of all others people are most likely to forget — make the holidays a trying time for people's temper. It is an epoch, when the gap which defies the best endeavors of people of small and precarious incomes to make both ends meet, is apt to neutralize the promise of peace and good-will toward men, which ought to sanctify the primeval festival of the Christmas year.

The streets do not present their usual gay and animated appearance ; indeed, the slippery sidewalks render personal locomotion a rather critical exercise. Corpulent gentlemen may be seen walking with wonderful placidity, making no one movement of body that is not absolutely necessary to the task of progress, and holding themselves up, so to speak, within their habiliments, as if they and it, though unavoidable companions on the same journey, were by no means intimate or willing associates. If a little snow-bird hops down upon the icy footwalks before them, they pause until it hops off again, so resolute are they to enter into conflict with no living creature. To dispute the path in any other manner is out of the question.

The opening levee of the season is announced for New- Year's Day at the Executive mansion.

DEATH OF MRS. DANIELS— SPEECH OF STEVENS, OF GEORGIA. Washington, January, 1857.

The last twenty-four hours have shaken, from their mourning pinions, heavy sorrow on one of our homes. Mrs. Daniels, lady of Judge Daniels, of the Supreme Court, was, last evening, so shockingly burned, by her clothes accidentally taking fire, as to produce death in a few hours.

Death, whenever it comes, is sudden, a shock always stunning, always overwhelming. But death in perfect health — full of life, without any previous sickness to sharpen the cheek or waste the frame ; the awful hand of Omnipotence laid upon all the currents of life, saying "Peace, be still!" and in a moment, as it were, the beautiful organization, with all its physical and mental perfection, becomes a mere image of clay, — this is a vision of death in all its horrors.

A few short hours have severed the ties of years, hidden under the cold, damp earth features which beamed in health and joy from every accustomed haunt ; the young mother is removed directly from the domestic circle to the narrow grave, missed from her usual seat — missed, but to be remembered only as gone forever. No intervening period of dependence on the part of the suffering, of unremitting attention and increased affection from friends, has taken place to partially prepare them for the last dread change, the final separation. Who may speak the agonies of such a death ?

********

It had been rumored throughout this city — told in the drawing-rooms of the hotels, in the private parlors, and in the public saloons — that " Stevens, of Georgia," was to speak on Tuesday of the present week, on the all-absorbing topic of slavery. At an early hour the galleries were filled to overflowing with the families of our distinguished statesmen, members of the foreign legations, and dashing belles, with a sprinkling here and there of our best residents.

As we passed through the lobbies we were struck with the deep and reverential silence that pervaded the House. That vast crowd of listening faces were turned toward a shrunken and attenuated figure, the shoulders contracted and drawn in, the face dead and of the color of ashes. There was something grand in the mere spectacle of this shadowy figure, binding up the very breath of the House in a hush so silent.

When we entered, the speaker was pouring out a continuous volume of thought and language — arguing, defining, illustrating. He had little variety of gesture, and what he used seemed perfectly unstudied. He was evidently so thoroughly absorbed in his subject as to be quite unconscious that he had hands and arms to manage. As he proceeded, he occasionally raised one hand, and then suddenly struck it down with extraordinary force.

Before concluding, his whole manner changed. His tones grew solemn as he reviewed his political life. He spoke of the measures he had aided to pass — of his part in the Compromise of 1850. Then, in a strain of matchless eloquence, he proclaimed his fidelity to the union of these States.

He soared above the commonplaoes of public speaking ; he rose above the mere politician, and declared his faithfulness to the principles on which our Union is framed ; his faithfulness to the institutions which distribute the validity, while they secure the unity of the whole.

As he proceeded, his unearthly face seemed to brighten into fuller and ghostlier meaning ; his attenuated form seemed to dilate; his voice seemed exalted to a trumpet-tone. The Speaker's hammer descended in the midst of this impassionated burst, leaving an impression upon the tingling ears of his auditors which many will carry to their graves.

This speech is considered a master-piece, pure, lofty, dignified, leaving an impression on the public mind of the patriotic motives of the speaker.

VI. Entertainment At Mrs

The drawing-rooms of Mrs. (excuse the

name) were, last evening, resplendent. The clear, sharp light of the gas flooded the rooms from the cut-glass globes of the elaborate chandeliers; the hangings of crimson damask were drawn closely across the windows ; French toys and vases of hot-house flowers littered the tables. In the dressing-room hall a dozen high-bred domestics moved about as noiselessly as though thej had been shod with felt.

In the supper-room, a cloud of light irradiated a a table that reminded one of the pictured gorgeousness of "Belshazzar's Feast."

The company was an ingenious amalgamation, the perfection of '^ reunions.'' Among the various

concomitants was Mr. , who, when deigning to

handle the pen, considers literature much the obliged

party; and also the "member" from , who

makes us laugh at caricatures of our individual selves.

We could not but be struck with the swan-like grace and dazzling fairness of the lovely hostess, who glided from guest to guest, breathing to each some acceptable phrase or comment. This lady has one of those happy dispositions which cannot be persuaded that anything wrong or gloomy exists in the world ; she sees everything on its bright side. Her husband is chained to the galley of politics, and, being blessed with a somewhat irritable disposition, he is always getting into some difficulty. Any other man would have been worried into his coffin ten years ago ; but his wife smooths down his ruffled feathers with so gentle and so unostentatious a hand that he scarcely recognizes his misfortunes.

About eleven o'clock silence was enjoined, for Miss , a lady whose voice would suffice to insure her immortality, had been prevailed upon to sing one of those exquisite melodies which form a distinguishing feature of Burns's poetry. It was a performance which spoke far more fervently to the feelings of the company than the most labored professional exhibition. All stood entranced while she breathed that simple strain of Scotia's bard, which she had adapted to a melody of her own, and sang with a voice as sweet as a shepherd's pipe.

Before adjourning to the supper-room a gentleman appeared who seemed to produce quite a sensation. Belles claimed his acquaintance with nods and becks and wreathed smiles. There were so many anxious hopes that he would not sujBfer from the dampness of the evening, so many regrets that the weather should have proved so unpropitious, and so many entreaties that he would occupy one particular chair, where he would be protected from the draft on the opening of the door. Why, it was perfectly delightful to contemplate the interest which he seemed to create in the breasts of his attentive and anxious friends. And the invitations heaped upon him ; if he profits by the lavish offers, he might dine for five hundred days to come at the expense of the public in general, and travel on borrowed wheels to the ''Cataract of Upper Egypt," without the expenditure of a single seed of corn.

The innocent object of these overwhelming attentions seemed quite amazed. Not Shakspeare's Crookback, after his successful suit to the Lady Anne, could be more smitten with astonishment at the discovery of his own unsuspected attractions. And yet he was wise enough to take things as he found them, without instituting an inquiry as to motives. He was all courtesy, all bland and smiling gratitude.

Our obtuse intellect at last fathomed the secret of this adulation. This gentleman, dear public, has very recently fallen heir to a fortune. He would have been edified, could he learn by spirit-rapping, the inquiries and discussions, as to the amount of the newly-acquired wealth, which followed his exit. Oh, the power — the mightiest power in our country — the power of money !

VII

SENATE-CHAMBER— GENERAL HOUSTON— MR. CRITTENDEN AND MR. PUGH.

Mr. , the Canning of the Republican party,

spoke two hours this morning, and defended with great zeal the liberal principles of his candidate, whom he evidently regards as the Napoleon of freedom — the egg that is to bind together the jarring ingredients of the American pudding. The speech of this gentleman was a grotesque compound, including here a panegyric on Mr. Fremont, and there a fling

at Mr. Buchanan ; here a threat of what they would do in 1860, and there a ferocious attack upon South Carolina.

During the delivery of this medley we were struck with the attitude and employment of the different Senators ; some sat listening in silent wonder, as they would to the ranting of a Sir Giles Overreach ; others might be seen shifting their figures into all sorts of restless attitudes, looking at their watches or reading by snatches the newspapers ; some settled themselves in their arm-chairs with letters from home, and appeared to take no sort of interest in any outward event. Sitting on the step near the Speaker's chair, was a sweet-faced little page, busily engaged in gambling with himself, by tossing up a penny. Another open-eyed little fellow, with a soft shadow of reverie in his mild face, sat patiently looking at the speaker, striving apparently to comprehend the substance of what he was saying.

The Senator from Mississippi seemed to be assiduously employed in shaping a fragment of wood into some desired form, the floor adjacent being covered with a chaos of whittlings.

The Senator from South Carolina was lounging in his chair with closed eyes, and certain drowsy and somniferous symptoms led us to suppose the monotonous tone had lulled him into a doze ; but an allusion to his State by the speaker entirely destroyed the truth of our supposition, for, in spite of the indications of drowsiness, the closed eyes suddenly stared out from under the lock of silvery hair with unusual wakefulness and sagacity of expression, saying, as plainly as eyes could speak, they were not asleep, and had not been asleep, and never intended to go to sleep, when Carolina was in danger of being traduced.

As the attack on his State continued, the honorable Senator became restless and excited, twitched, fidgeted, arose, shook himself, and, in a sharp, ringing tone, asked to be heard in reply. With ready fluency he placed the matter in its proper light, proved his State clear of the charge, and, with an air of dignified contempt, left the Chamber.