. The Century book of famous Americans : the story of a young people's pilgrimage to historic homes . ? Simply because he was nt elected, Jack, said Uncle Tom. Well, it was a shame, Jack declared. He was better than half thefellows who were elected. A man who is so ardent and so splendid a party chief as was HenryClay, said Uncle Tom, also makes many enemies. The crowds cheeredfor the mill-boy of the Slashes and Harry of the West, as they loved tocall their magnetic leader, but he always just failed of nomination or twenty years the prize of the Presidency dangled before the eyes
. The Century book of famous Americans : the story of a young people's pilgrimage to historic homes . ? Simply because he was nt elected, Jack, said Uncle Tom. Well, it was a shame, Jack declared. He was better than half thefellows who were elected. A man who is so ardent and so splendid a party chief as was HenryClay, said Uncle Tom, also makes many enemies. The crowds cheeredfor the mill-boy of the Slashes and Harry of the West, as they loved tocall their magnetic leader, but he always just failed of nomination or twenty years the prize of the Presidency dangled before the eyes ofHenry Clay only to be snatched away by less able men, and always to ac-complish the very desire which Clay had most at heart--harmony andunion. When you read American political history, you will understand whyso popular a leader never became anything but a fallen idol. I dont see it, exclaimed Jack, hotly. Jack seemed already to havebecome a Clay partizan by inspiration, Uncle Tom declared. He did ntfall. The people who went back on him fell, said Jack. 148 THE CENTURY BOOK OF FAMOUS AMERICANS. THE PARK AT ASHLAND. Good for you, Jack ! cried Uncle Tom, who always did admire enthu-siasm. I like to see earnestness, even when I am not thoroughly in ac-cord with it. Your remark, too, though your own, singularly enough isexactly what Henry Clays admirers said. I wonder if I can recall a spiritedbit of verse by an ardent Clay man—\Yilliam Wilberforce Lord. I got itby heart once because then I believed it. Mr. Stedman considers it as fineas Whittiers lines on Webster. Let s see how it sounds to-day. It waswritten after Clays overthrow, and was called On the Defeat of a GreatMan. And Uncle Tom, leaning back against the comfortable cushions of thecompartment, recalled Lords spirited lines: • Fallen ! How fallen ? States and empires fall; Oer towers and rock-built walls,And perished nations, floods and tempests callWith hollow sound along the sea of time; The great man never falls;
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