Part 32 (2/2)

Christian County was the early houished in the field, at the bar, and in the State and National councils

Hopkinsville, the county-seat, had been the home of Stites, the learned Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals; of Jackson, who fell while gallantly leading his command at the battle of Perryville; of Morehead, an early and distinguished Governor of the Coal acumen would have secured him distinction at any bar; of McKenzie, whose wit and eloquence ress, of the famed ”Pennyrile”

district; of Bristow, the acco the administration of President Grant; of the Henry brothers, three of whom, from different States, were at a later day Representatives in Congress, and one the Whig candidate against Andrew Johnson for Governor of Tennessee

Hon Gustavus A Henry, well known as the ”Eagle Orator of Tennessee,”

was the Whig candidate for Governor of the State in opposition to Andrew Johnson, at a later day President of the United States

The latter was at the ti ifted antagonist At the close of a series of joint debates Johnson said: ”This speech terle Orator' upon every stump in the State, and come out of the contest with no flesh of mine in his claws--no blood of mine upon his beak”

To which Henry instantly replied: ”The eagle--the proud bird of freedom--never wars upon a corpse!”

A few , in the saer Q Mills of Texas, Governor John M

Palmer of Illinois, and Jefferson Davis of the Southern Confederacy

Less than a score of miles to the southward, upon the banks of the cumberland in Tennessee, stood historic Fort Donelson; while a few hours' journey to the northward stands the monument whichthe earliest ard trail froe Mountains, for a great distance along the banks of the rorandfathers, ”Scotch-Irish Presbyterians,” Ja, with their immediate families and others of their kindred, had in the early days of the century, after a long and perilous journey, finally reached the fa already mentioned Near by, their tents were pitched, and in time permanent homes established in the then wilderness of southwestern Kentucky

The first public building constructed was of logs, with puncheon floor, and set apart to the double purpose of school-house and church for the use of all denominations Its site was near the spot where the speaker's stand was now erected for the barbecue which I have , the early settlers had more than once listened spell-bound to the eloquence of Peter Cartwright, Henry B Basco, and Alexander Campbell

In this old church the time-honored custom was for some one of its officers to line out the hy, in which the congregation joined A my earliest recollections is that ofi this important duty after the hymn had been read in full by the minister I distinctly recall the solemn tones in which, upon communion occasions, he lined out, in :

”'T was on that dark, that doleful night, When powers of earth and hell arose”

Mr Sawyer, too, the old-ti-school teacher, has honored place in -school class of which ere all ularly assembled The school was in four divisions, Bass, Tenor, Counter, and Treble; each member was provided with a copy of the ”Missouri Har inhis office, as with tuning-fork in hand he stood proudly in the ressed smiled or deeply frowned upon each of the divisions as occasion seeain to hear his cheery coe one hundred!”

Looking back through the long vista of years, it isas his, at hoht appropriately have been inscribed:

”Sleep undisturbed within this sacred shrine, Till angels wake thee with notes like thine”

To this old field school came in the early time the ”scholars” for many miles around It was in very truth the only Aleneration, of almost the entire southern portion of the county My father in his boyhood attended this school, as did his kins; the last named of as, at a much later period, the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Blooton, Illinois, and his elder brother was the Mayor of that city

At that early day, and later when I attended the same school, there were no salaries provided for the teachers, The schoolmaster visited the families within reasonable distance of the schoolhouse with his subscription paper, and the school was duly opened when a sufficient number of pupils had subscribed

The ways of the old field school and thenow to the past Once experienced, however, they have an abiding place in the memory The master, upon his accustomed perch near the spacious fire-place, with his ever-present symbol of authority, the rod--which even Solomon would have considered fully up to the orthodox standard--in alar the right foot upon the floor and bowing low as they entered the school-rooirls upon like occasions equally faithful in the practice of a bewitching little ”curtsey” which only added to their char thereby easily heard a mile or tay; the timid approach to the dreaded master with the humble request that he would ”mend a pen,” ”parse a verb,”

or ”do a suiven for the dinner froames, marbles, town-ball, and ”bull pen,” to the heart's content! At the sound of the ominous command, ”Books!” each scholar proround at once giving way to the serious business of ”saying lessons” In those good old days, the slightest act of omission or commission upon the part of the pupil was confronted with a terrible condition instead of a harmless theory In very truth the uncoly ad his duty to your parents,” as the petty school-rooree lessened by the co assurance that the victiest day he lived!”

Then, to crown all, ca, and the entire neighborhood, sweethearts and all, in attendance, and the boys for the first tiilant preparations having been made for the discussion of such momentous questions as: ”Which deserves the ton for defending it?” or ”Which brings the greatest happiness to ia Scenes” is an a account of a debate in a backwoods ”Acadehtest boys, after anxious preparation, succeeded in forless, but which appeared upon hurried reading to touch the very bed-rock of huovernment The ”conspirators”

mentioned were the respective leaders in the debate which closed the public exercises of the annual ”Exhibition” of the Academy The leaders had made careful preparation for the contest, and appeared fully to understand the question, and each in turn highly coument of his rival Much a speakers, when called in order, who candidly admitted that they didn't understand the question, and patiently submitted to the fine imposed by the rules of the Society That a boy of but mediocre talents should have failed to participate in the debate, will not be considered remarkable when the question is stated: ”Whether, in public elections, the vote of faction should prevail by internal suggestions, _or the bias of jurisprudence?”_