 | John Randolph |  |
TENDER TO THE WEAK.
Like many possessed with a terrible mental energy Randolph
was tender as a woman when in the presence of those
whom he knew were powerless before him. Not a little
of his magnetic power dwelt in his eyes and of this he
was aware.
On these points, William H. Elliott, of Charlotte county,
who, with Mr. Randolph's nephew Tudor, attended a classical
school a short distance from Roanoke, relates that the
was among the visitors who called one evening to hear the
boys declaim. When the fact became known there was a
wholesale panic among the pupils and they all begged to
have declamations postponed. But the master of the school
believed that the Randolph Presence would prove a heroic
remedy for stage fright.
The visitors were on one side of the room, the boys occupied
a bench on the other. The narrator of the story was
the youngest of the pupils and perhaps the most timid.
He was also first on the list and the thought of declaiming
before the terrible John Randolph of Roanoke was little
less than annihilation.
"But all suspense must end somehow or other. At length
our dominee looked towards us with a stern expression—
`time for exercises to commence.'
"It was time to move now, live or die. I rose, advanced
a step or two on the floor and made my bow, without venturing
to look directly at him. I saw that Mr. Randolph
returned my bow, though no one else did. I regarded all
the rest of the company as only so many saplings in the
woods.
"It may well be supposed that I commenced in a very
tremulous manner; for I imagined that he was stabbing me
through and through with his perforating dirk-like gaze.
After twisting and wriggling about for some minutes like
a worm in the focus of a sun glass, I ventured to raise my
eyes to him and to my inexpressible comfort and encouragement,
I found that he had un-Randolphed himself, pro tem.
That is to say, by quenching his eyes, looking down on the
himself in the crowd around him.
"All this, I have since thought, was done to lessen, if
possible, the embarrassment of the speakers; for he saw
intuitively that his presence was oppressive. But at that
time, when I saw him look so humble, I fancied I was getting
the better of him. While I had him down, I poured
it upon him; my enthusiasm arose and I fairly deluged him
with a cataract of Fox's eloquence. When I concluded he
seemed to come partially to life; looked up with a pleased
expression, as much as to say, `That does pretty well.' "
In his old age, another Charlotte county man relates a
less brave experience; it was his first sight of Mr. Randolph,
while he was a schoolboy: "He was riding by on
horseback. I had the paddle raised to strike a ball while
playing a game of cat. So remarkable was his appearance
that I failed to strike while gazing at him. I had no idea
who he was, or that he was a distinguished man."
| John Randolph | |