reached, he was compelled to temporarily vacate his seat in the Senate and attend to it. But when not thus engaged by professional business he was always at his post. Not so, however, with Mr. Heady.

He was frequently absent from his seat in the House when the yeas and nays were called. He was not a lawyer, and could not plead duty to his clients for his absence. "Where, gentlemen," proceeded Mr. Hardin, "where would you find him on such occasions? By going to the door of some neighboring grog-shop and listening you could hear the voice of the gentleman warbling, more or less musically, the words:

"The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,

The moss-covered bucket which hangs in the well."

Mr. Heady was defeated, but had the honor of succeeding Mr. Hardin, on the resignation of the latter in 1833.

The result of the August election, 1831, it was believed, assured Mr. Crittenden's election to the United States Senate. But this reasonable expectation on the part of his friends was doomed to disappointment. The attitude of Mr. Clay before the country and his connection with important public questions was such as to produce a general desire that he should be in Congress. In October Mr. Webster thus wrote Mr. Clay on the subject: "You must be aware, dear sir, of the strong desire manifested in many parts of the country that you should come into the Senate. There is certainly a strong feeling of that sort all along the Atlantic coast." "Everything valuable in the government," he added, "is to be fought for, and we need your arm in the fight." Before this letter arrived from Boston, Clay had written to his friend Brooke: "I am strongly urged to go to the Senate, and I am now considering whether I can subdue my repugnance to the service."

Mr. Crittenden, with patriotic self-abnegation, concurred with the views of Mr. Webster, and so waived his aspirations. "Had he pressed his own claims," said Thomas F. Marshall, "had he been selfish, it is certain beyond question or controversy that Mr. Clay could not and would not have pushed his younger friend and second from the place for which he had contended.

"He recognized Mr. Clay," Marshall continues, "as the great head of the opposition. He deemed his presence in the Senate necessary to its organization and success. In his judgment Mr. Clay ought to have been the man. He silenced and satisfied his own devoted friends and gracefully and voluntarily yielded to the national leader a seat which

that leader would never have claimed, and for which he could not, without indecency, have contended with a friend."* November 7th the Legislature convened in extra session for the election of a United States Senator. On the third day of the session it accomplished its purpose by electing Henry Clay, who received seventy-three votes to sixty-four cast for Richard M. Johnson. In this vote Mr. Hardin was recorded for Mr. Clay.

In November, 1820, the Legislature passed an act "to establish a public library at the seat of Government." The secretary of State, under advice of the governor, was authorized to sell or exchange such decisions of the Court of Appeals, acts of assembly, or other books of this Commonwealth as might be deemed expedient, and out of the proceeds purchase such other books, charts, or maps as were thought proper. It seems doubtful as to the motive of this act, whether prompted by a desire to accumulate a library or merely to convert superfluous or useless books on hand into something more desirable. While now a respectable collection, the early growth of the State library was slow. To Mr. Hardin it owed its first substantial impetus. "During the session of the General Assembly of 1832-3," writes George A. Robertson, “I observed some persons handling the reports (of decisions) then in the State House in such manner as to suggest that they were insecure and liable to be taken away, as no one seemed to have any special care or custody of them. I mentioned these facts to Mr. Hardin, who was then a member of the State Senate. Shortly afterward he prepared and procured the passage of an act creating the office of State librarian, and then insisted on my running for it. I yielded to his solicitations and was chosen, and retained the office by annual elections for seventeen successive years."

The act in question was passed January 25, 1833. It minutely defined the duties, rights, and authority of the librarian, but its most important provision was the appropriation of $2,500 to be expended during the period of five years in the purchase of books for the library. These facts are related to show, as they do show, that in an unbookish period and locality Mr. Hardin was a practical friend of learning.

In 1832, Mr. Clay and General Jackson met in a death-grapple for supremacy in American politics-as presidential candidates. The struggle was a heated one throughout the country, but nowhere more animated than in Kentucky. How equally the contending parties were matched was shown by the result of the gubernatorial contest decided in August. Breathitt, the Jackson candidate for governor, Speeches and writings of T. F. Marshall, page 423.

defeated Buckner by twelve hundred majority, while Morehead, the Clay candidate for lieutenant-governor, received a majority of twentyfive hundred votes. Breathitt was the last Democratic governor for a period of twenty years—which fact caused an exultant Whig to speak of his success as the "last gleam of the setting sun."

Mr. Hardin, as observed elsewhere, was a candidate for elector on the Clay ticket and as such canvassed the State thoroughly and vigorously. Such persons as yet survive who heard his speeches in that campaign-mere boys then-speak of them as marvelous in power and charming beyond description. Notwithstanding the equivocal result in August, in November Clay carried the State by over seven thousand majority. The unswerving fidelity of his own State, however, did not avail to avert his defeat-complete and overwhelming. His despondency over the result could not have been greater if a foreign enemy had overturned the government and subjugated its people. In the estimation of his friends Mr. Clay was as superior to General Jackson as Hyperion to a satyr. That the satyr should have vanquished Hyperion was the climax of calamity. A leading newspaper of the day, so far from dealing in hyperbole, very correctly expressed the feeling of the Whig party in its allusion to the assembling of the presidential electors at Frankfort in January, 1833:

"It was solemn and impressive--to us it had a melancholy solemnityit was the only voice west of the tall and pillared Alleghenies that said 'my country'—it was the only voice from the broad and fertile valley of the Mississippi that said where liberty dwells, there shall be my country.' When the votes had been recorded—each man rising and voting in a distinct and impressive voice-the carrier selected, and the certificate signed, the College was dissolved by the chairman, Benjamin Hardin, Esq., in a dignified and eloquent address, in which he expressed his gratification that Kentucky was still independent of power and patronage, and that her natal star beamed as brightly on her, at this momentous period, as when the singleminded, hardy pioneers first pitched their habitations in the western wilderness. He said if the fair fabric of the Union must fall, he was rejoiced that Kentucky was free from the foul stain of contributing to that fall, and that amid the universal ruin Kentucky would hover on its brink, like a star upon the horizon, the last to sink; and as she went down, the broad pennon which her brave sons had so often and so gallantly defended would be seen waving aloft, bearing the inscription: The cause of our country - Liberty

forever!""

CHAPTER XV.

HOUSEHOLD GODS.

ARDSTOWN ranked very high, in a social way, from its earliest Its people were refined, intelligent, wealthy, and hospitable. Its excellent schools attracted many persons from abroadstudents seeking the advantages afforded by its learned faculties, and parents who sought a temporary

residence near their children. Southern planters found refuge there, in summer, from the tropical heat and the diseases that scourged the sugar and cotton States. Fifty years ago, it could well claim to be considered a social center. The belles of Nelson reigned not less imperiously in Frankfort and Washington than in Bardstown, and some of them, by their wit and beauty, graced courts abroad. The town had not only refined and wealthy society, and citizens noted for talent throughout the country, but it boasted of distinguished visitors.

A Frenchman, a stranger, came to Bardstown, some sixty

years ago, and remained for several months, lavishly expending money on his personal wants, but maintaining the profoundest mystery as to whence he came or who he was. He finally disappeared, leaving the mystery of his identity unsolved. A strong suspicion existed that he was a prince in cog. It is related of this mysterious foreigner that, one day, he procured a horse of his host and rode out of town. It was not long before the horse was seen returning at top speed. The prince (if such he was) had abdicated the reins, but sat firmly poised

in the saddle grasping the "horn." He was cool and serene, but hatless, and it did not escape observation that the top of his head grazed the lintel as his coursing steed, full tilt, entered the stable door.

The foregoing is related as it was told; but, prince or no prince, there were many royal fellows about Bardstown who drank wines and liquors as well as wagered money on games in princely fashion. When Mr. Clay came there in 1829, it is said that after making one of his grand speeches he, with a company of boon companions, wore out the night around the gaming-table-—a circumstance in keeping with the pronounced tastes of the great statesman. About that period there existed a peculiar custom at Bardstown, long since passed away and now well-nigh forgotten. Once or twice a month, or possibly more frequently, the chief hotel gave an entertainment known as a "buck supper," so called because venison was a chief item of the spread. None but gentlemen were admitted on these occasions, who were charged a fixed price per head for their fare. The entertainment embraced eating, drinking, and gaming. Well nigh everybody attended, from the dignified and wealthy lawyer, with superfluous funds, to the hard-working mechanic who subsisted on his income from daily labor. With the rest of his fellow-townsmen Mr. Hardin attended "buck suppers."

On one of these occasions there was present a young man named Hart, recently arrived in the town, and somewhat a stranger. He is described as a taciturn, modest, gentlemanly person who dressed well and was slow in getting acquainted. He sat for some time alone, silently observing the company. Not far away sat Judge Rowan at a table with others engaged in a game of cards. Luck was against the judge, causing him to become nervous and irritated. Finally turning to the unconscious Hart, of whose name he was ignorant, in his most lordly and mellifluous tone, "Mr. Jenkins," said he, "it greatly embarrasses me to have any one behind me looking into my hand, and you will greatly oblige me by moving your chair." The surprised stranger, without a word, moved his seat, but for years afterward bore his "buck supper" name of "Jenkins."

The town was sought by princes, as has been seen, but was not neglected by prophets. Some years prior to the coming of the Frenchman before alluded to, Lorenzo Dow, the famous and eccentric preacher, in wandering over the world, fell into Kentucky. He complains in his "Diary" of having been obstructed in his mission by Methodist