xt73r20rrd0b https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt73r20rrd0b/data/mets.xml  1868  books b92-63-27078882 English Printed at the Kentucky Yeoman Office, : Frankfort, Ky. : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Helm, John Larne, 1802-1867. Kentucky History. Biographical sketch of the Hon. John L. Helm, late governor of Kentucky  : published by direction of the General Assembly of Kentucky. text Biographical sketch of the Hon. John L. Helm, late governor of Kentucky  : published by direction of the General Assembly of Kentucky. 1868 2002 true xt73r20rrd0b section xt73r20rrd0b 



































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BIOGRAPHICAL



SKETCH



                  Or ruH.






HON. JOHN L. HELM,





                   LATE



GOVERNOR OF



KENTUCKY.



PUBLISHED BY DIRECTION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF KENTUCKY.





            FRANKFORT, KY.:
    PRINTED AT THE KENTUCKY YEOMAN OFFICE.
          a L 3L X.XJOB. PUBLO PINMTRE.
                  1868.


 
This page in the original text is blank.


 


IN THE SENATE OF KENTUCKY,



                  MARCH       6, 18i8.




  MR. ALEXANDER moved the following resolution, viz:
  Resolved, That a Committee of two of the Senate be appointed by the
Chair, to act in conjunction with a similar Committee of the House, to
prepare Biographical Sketches of the HON. L. W. POWELL and the Holw.
JOHN L. HELM, and that the Public Printer be directed to print three
thousand eight hundred copies of each Biography for the use of the Sen-
ate, together with the speeches delivered on the passage of the resolu-
tions in regard to their death in the Senate and the House, the same to
be published in pamphlet form, accompanied with lithographic portraits
of the deceased, and that they be mailed to the members of both Houses,
postage paid.
  Which was twice read and adopted. Senators JOSEPH
M. ALEXANDER, of the county of Fleming, and BEN. J.
WEBB, of the City of Louisville, were appointed, in pur-
suance of the resolution, to perform the duty assigned
thereunder.
  On the same day Mr. McKENZIE presented the above
resolution in the House of Representatives, where it was
unanimously adopted, and the following named gentle-
men were appointed to perform the duty indicated by
the resolution, viz: Messrs. J. A. McKENziE, of Christian
county; S. I. M. MAJOR, of Franklin county; and R. M.
SPALDING, of Marion county.


 
This page in the original text is blank.


 


INTRODUCTION.



  IT is a well-established fact, that success has rarely
resulted from the efforts of even able and experienced
writers, when they have attempted to bring before their
readers personations of individual character and habit.
Few have been the really readable biographies that have
appeared in our language, and of these, immeasurably the
best was written and compiled by one whose literary rep-
utation has no other foundation for its support. Writers
of biography are apt to have too little regard for details.
They write in the style of the historian, and appear to
contemn every circumstance in the lives of those whose
characters they would depict which has not a direct con-
nection with certain grand purposes in the pursuit of
which their years were passed.
  The great Lexicographer and Essayist, Dr. SAMUEL
JOHNSON, though he possessed a mind immeasurably supe-
rior to that of his biographer, could not have written a
book of the kind that would have held its place in the
world of letters as has his own Life by JAMES BOSWELL.
As the inferior mental organism of BOSWELL had no ca-
pacity for learned display, so the superior one of Dr.
JOHNSON had none for that which was merely postprandial.
The latter's ponderous intellect would have held in con-
tempt the club-conversations and table-talk which, in the
former's work, are found so charming to the great mass of
readers.
  Just as the aggregate of human miseries is made up,
for the most part, of little cares and annoyances, so true
human happiness has much affinity with little things.
  There is a certain charm about the conversations-the
trivial incidents of every-day life-of men who have filled
high places in the State, or in the world of science, which


 


INTRODUCTION.



is appreciable by everybody.  But these, as connected
with great numbers of eminent men, have all been lost
for want of a chronicler. Hence it is, that biographers
are so often obliged to assume in style the dead level of
compact history, which is altogether unsuited to such
writings; and hence, too, their works are little read and
less appreciated.
  In justice to one of the most useful-as he was certain-
ly one of the most esteemed-men of our day, we have
sought diligently to remedy, in the present instance, this
usual defect of all modern biography, but with results,
we cannot but acknowledge, by no means commensurate
with our wishes.
  Governor HELM'S was a mind of no common order; and
dying, as he did, in the zenith of his fame, it is not to be
wondered at that his fellow-citizens should desire to pre-
serve the record of his life. We, who have been commis-
sioned to perform this duty, may well fear that the result
of our labors will be found very imperfect by those who
had the honor of the late Governor's intimate acquaint-
ance. They will believe us, however, when we state that
we have given to our work such attention as was in our
power and such ability as we could command.
  It is due to the members of Governor HELM'S family to
state that they have furnished us with almost the entire.
details of his private life contained in the following pages.
We are indebted, likewise, to the Hion. CHARLES WINTER-
SMITIH, of Elizabethtown, for much valuable information
that has either been embodied in the text of our work or
in the copious notes which will be found appended.
                          JOS. M. ALEXANDER,
                          BEN. J. WEBB,
                                   Senate Committee.
                          J. A. McKENZIE,
                          S. I. M. MAJOR,
                          R. M. SPALDING,
                                   House Committee.



6


 


JOHN L. HELM.



  "VITA ENIM MORTUORUM IN MEMORIAM VIVORUM UST POSITA."-CiCero.
  The above sentiment of the great exponent of ancient
Roman law is peculiarly applicable among a people whose
liberties and liberal institutions are the fruits of the blood
and labors of a truly virtuous ancestry: "The life of the
dead is placed in the memory of the living." In other
words, a virtuous people will always seek to perpetuate
the memory of its virtuous dead. It is only by doing this
that progress is at all possible, whether in social elevation
or government, in science or morals. Example is the best
of teachers. For the ninety years of our existence as a
nation, we are indebted for the liberties we have enjoyed,
more than to any other cause, to the fact that we have
kept constantly before our eyes the examples of virtue, of
patriotism, of courage and endurance, left to us by WASH-
INGTON and the Fathers of the Republic.
  The biographies of the eminent men who have illus-
trated the periods in which they lived, make up a large
portion of the history of the world. They are the land-
marks of past centuries. The positions in which the in-
dividuals they commemorate were placed, whether in the
confidences reposed in them, the persecutions to which
they were subjected, the uprisings against their misrule,
or the patient submissions to their prowess, are facts from
which we may infer much of the character of the people
among whom their lives were cast. But their memories
stand as living and grouped monuments, whose shafts
point to their cotemporaries and after generations the
way to fame and eminence, and incite to emulation when
good, or to avoidance when bad.
  It is meet and appropriate that each State and Govern-
ment should, in some form, preserve the records of such


 


8                  JOHN L. HELM.

as have " done the State some service," or have advanced
the general interests of their race. The neglect, in this
particular, which has heretofore characterized the State
of Kentucky, certainly does her no credit, but is a stain
on her otherwise bright escutcheon. Her record is one of
which her people need not be ashamed, but of which, in
many things, they may entertain a just sense of pride.
This record may be greatly attributable to what was form-
erly called Kentucky stump speaking, which was nothing
else than a free interchange of opinions among the people.
In its widest acceptation, the distinction between large
employers and dependent employes has never obtained
in Kentucky; but every man has considered himself a free-
man, and the equal of any other, legally, socially, and
politically, whether he lived in a cabin or a stately man-
sion-whether he cultivated a few acres or was the lord
over a vast domain-whether he labored in the workshop,
was engaged in commerce, or was eminent in professional
life. Amongst us, however, public opinion has ever been
led by men of mark, and the actions and characteristics
of such, their modes of thought and life, claim such illus-
trations of them as will convey a proper idea of what
they were and are, and the means by which they attained
their eminent positions over others who had before ranked
as their equals. The only nobility they claimed, or could
claim, was private worth or merit, and the only distinc-
tion that has been paid them was a just homage to their
virtues.
  In seeking to keep alive in the hearts of the people the
benefits conferred upon their State and the country by
two of their eminent departed citizens, the General As-
sembly has acted wisely and well. Thousands of our
youth, the future hope of the Republic, who are to become
in due time the custodians of the priceless liberties which
we trust to bequeath them, as we ourselves inherited them
from our fathers, will read the records of their lives, and


 


JOHN L. HELM.



be thereby stimulated to walk in their footsteps and be-
come, as they were, men worthy to be intrusted with
powers over the rights and the interests of a free people.
Some may be disposed to doubt if it would not have been
better to await the development of a more assured public
sentiment in regard to the value of their services to the
State and the country before publishing their lives. We
do not think so. Ours is a progressive people-progress-
ive especially in material ideas and their solution-and,
like all such, we are too much given to thoughts of self
to bear in mind and transmit to our children, in the form
of oral traditions, the life-records of those among our co-
temporaries who have deserved well of their country. A
good and a great man dies, and after the first outburst of
our genuine lamentation and somewhat showy grief, our
thoughts are diverted into other channels, and, after a few
short years, unless it be prevented by the very means that
have been adopted with reference to the lamented dead
whose biographies we have been commissioned to write,
he is no more remembered by even those amongst whom
he lived and labored, than the man that fills the smallest
point in the history of the nation. If our children should
happen to hear his name mentioned, it will only be in
connection with the office he once filled, and the whole
example of his life is lost. The services that an individual
may have rendered to his country, or to society, are pro-
portionally valuable as they are remembered or lost sight
of after his career is closed; and as it is only by the aid of
the press that it is possible for us, under the circumstances
in which we are placed, to extend beyond our own brief
spans of existence the memory of such services, so do we
confer a real benefit upon our children when we seek to
preserve for them the examples of virtue, patriotism, cour-
age, and the like, which have been set before us by the
good and the great of our own day and generation.
  The family from which the late Governor HELM de-
scended was one among the most respected and influen-



9


 


JOHN L. HELM.



tial of those that originally settled the Old Dominion
Colony. His grandfather, THOMAS IIEI.M, was born in
Prince William county, Virginia, where he continued to
reside up to the year 1780. In February of the year
named, he joined a colony of emigrants, consisting of
his own family and those of WILLIAM POPE, HENRY FLOYD,
and BENJAMIN POPE, who had determined to seek their
fortunes in the yet unexplored wilderness of Kentucky.
The emigrants reached the Falls of the Ohio, now Louis-
ville, in March, 1780, in the vicinity of which the POPE
families finally settled, and where their numerous de-
scendants are still to be found, highly respected citizens
of the community of which they form a part. Mr. FLOYD,
with his family, first settled near Bardstown, in Nelson
county; but a few years later he removed to the lower
part of the State, into the district now known as Union
county. Mr. HELM remained at the Falls for about one
year, his family suffering greatly, during the summer and
fall after his arrival, from the bilious diseases so common
to the first settlers of the place. Having lost four of his
children by death, he determined to seek for a home in a
more healthy locality. Mounting his horse, he set his
face inland, with the determination not to return until
he had selected a permanent abiding place for his family.
On the third day of his search, he reached the foot of the
hill in the vicinity of the present village of Elizabethtown,
which commands the site upon which he afterwards lived
and died, as well as that of the cemetery where he now
rests, surrounded by his descendants to the fifth genera-
tion.

 A singular circumstance is related in connection with the selection made
by Mr. HELM of his future place of residence. Before leaving Virginia, but
while deliberating on the subject of a removal, he had dreamed of just such
a spot as that upon which his eye rested when he ascended the hill spoken
of in the text. The very spring at which he had slaked his thirst, rushing
out of its rocky bed, strong, clear, and sparkling, was as the visionary foun-



10


 


JOHN L. HELM.



  THOMAS HELM was just the kind of man to make his
way in a new country. Daring, active, and possessing
habits and tastes that were well suited to the life of a
pioneer, he was soon the occupant of a strongly-built
Fort, which he had erected for the protection of his family
against the then frequent predatory excursions of roving
bands of Indians. This Fort was situated in the small
valley which intersects the hills traversing the farm now
known as the " Helm Place." Mrs. HELM, nee Miss JENNY
POPE, a near relative of the gentlemen of that name that
had accompanied her husband to Kentucky, was a re-
markable contrast to the head of the family. While her
husband's ordinary weight was considerably over two
hundred pounds, her own was little over eighty. Small
as she was in stature, her courage was equal to the situ-
ation in which she found herself placed, as was abun-
dantly proved on several occasions when hostile rifles,
in the hands of Indian marauders, were directed against
the stronghold which contained her household gods.
  JENNY POPE HELM is still remembered by several of her
surviving grand-children and others of the older members
of the settlement, as she appeared during the last years
of her life, an infant in size beside the almost gigantic
proportions of her husband-quick of movement, erect
as in her youth, always busy and always good-tempered.

tain that had appeared to him in his dream. The coincidence startled him
greatly; and, though anything but a superstitious man, he accepted the
omen as a happy one, and concluded to search no further.
On a certain occasion, one of her sons, in company with a party from an
adjoining settlement, had been dispatched to the Bullitt Licks, near Shep-
herdsville, for a supply of salt. The party was attacked by Indians, and
her son killed. The body was recovered by one of his companions, who
bound it on his horse and brought it to the Fort. The mother was on the
watch for her returning boy; and seeing the horseman approaching with his
strange-looking burden slung across the shoulders of his beast, she hastened
to the gate in order to open it for his entrance. Who can paint the horror
of the moment, when just as the heavy gate swung back upon its hinges,
the mangled remains of her son, the bands breaking which had held them
in their place, fell from the horse prone at her feet.



I I


 


JOHN L. HELM.



Almost to the end of her days she was able to undergo
fatigue that would now send to her sofa or to her bed
many a woman of our own times of half her years.
When she was eighty years old she thought nothing of
springing from the ground to her horse's back without
assistance. Though both had come of comparatively
wealthy families, neither did THOMAS HELM nor his wife
ever regret the hardships they encountered in the back-
woods. Gradually the Indians were driven from the
State, and a comfortable log house was built beside the
old Fort, which served them for a residence for the re-
mainder of their days, and where, surrounded by dutiful
sons and daughters, they lived contented and happy, and
died mourned by the entire community.
  Gov. HELM'S maternal grand-parents were JOHN LARUE
and MARY BROOKS, who had emigrated from the Valley of
the Shenandoah, Virginia, in the year 1784.t Mrs. LARUE

  W hen a boy of ten years, the late Governor HELM was a great favorite
with his grand-parents. He often spoke of his grandmother's brisk ways,
as she pattered about the house in her high-heeled shoes and short skirts.
His grandfather HELM was the oracle of the whole neighborhood on all
matters connected with the revolutionary era and the Indian troubles in
Kentucky. It was at the knees of his venerable progenitor that Governor
JHELM drank in the history of his country, and learned to appreciate the
sacrifices made by the patriot-band that achieved our liberties.
  tJOHN LARVE settled on a knoll in the vicinity of a creek then unnamed,
near the present town of Hodgenville.  We mention this circumstance in
order to notice a tradition that has come down to the present inhabitants of
the vicinage, in relation to the name by which the creek is now known. A
company of pioneers had agreed to meet on the knoll near LANUE'S house on
a certain day, tor the purpose of giving a name and designation to the
stream. One of the pioneers, named LYNN, failed to make his appearance.
The last one that arrived, looking around, exclaimed, "Here we are on the
knoll, but no LYNN.' Knowing LYNN'S character for punctuality, the re-
mark seemed to rivet the attention of all present and to create disquiet in
their minds, lest their absent friend had been waylaid and killed, and they,
too. and their families, might be the unwarned victims of a lurking and merci-
less foe. They instantly agreed to call the stream Nolynn; and it still rolls
its beautiful and limped waters, by that cognomen, on by the Dismal Rock to
Green River, into which stream it empties at the foot of the Indian Hill, one
of the grandest curiosities in Kentucky.
In connection with the name of JOHN LARUE we append an extract from



12


 


JOHN L. HELM.



was not only a highly cultivated woman, but she was con-
sidered the beauty of the settlements. It were impossible
to doubt this, since she was thrice married, and survived
all her husbands. They settled in what is now Larue
county, adjoining that of Hardin. Mrs. LARUE, finding
that the entire settlement contained not a single physi-
cian, obtained the consent of her husband to apply herself
to the study of medicine. With such text-books as were
within her reach, she set to work, and soon became so
noted for skill in the curative art that her services were
in requisition far beyond the line within which she had
designed to practice. Often, as the risk of danger from
the prowling savages, she was known to ride for miles
through the forests to reach the bedside of the sick, who
had learned to depend upon her skill with as great faith
as if she had carried a regular diploma pinned to her bon-
net. Her first husband rather encouraged her charitable
work; but her second husband, a Mr. ENLOW, fearing the
danger to which she was constantly exposed in her too

a letter addressed to one of the Committee, from an old and highly influential
citizen of Hardin county:
  "HILN'S maternal grandfather came from the Shenandoah Valley, near
Battletown-now called Berryville-at the foot of the Blue Ridge mountains.
I have visited the spot, and it was then as lovely a portion of God's earth as
eyes ever beheld. Since that day, alasl it has been swept of its beauties by
fire and the desolating tread of a brutalized soldiery. There is a fact con-
nected with the wanton destruction of property in this part of Virginia
which I cannot forbear mentioning. The Valley of the Shenandoah had
been the home of the LARUKS ever since the settlement oa the country, and
many members of the family continue to reside there to this day. The late
Mr. LINCOLN'S father lived close by those of them that had emigrated to
Kentucky and settled on Nolynn. He was poor, and, at the time of Mr. LIN-
COLN's birth, his family was aldiost subsisted by the charity of the LARXU
familv. When the order was given to render desolate the Shenandoah Val-
ley, it was an ukase against the near relatives of those who had given Mr.
LINCOLN bread in his impoverished infancy. The LARUE family, though none
of its members ever attained any marked eminence, was made up of indus-
trious, quiet, unobtrusive people, who were not only excellent citizens, but
also pious Christians."



13


 


JOHN L. HELM.



lengthened journeys, and dreading the effects of the often
inclement weather upon her health, absolutely forbade
her any longer to practice her art. Her daughter, RE-
BECCA LARUE, the eldest of thirteen children, was a babe
in arms when her parents came to Kentucky, having been
born in Frederick county, Virginia. She afterwards be-
came the wife of GEORGE HELM and the mother of the
late Governor JOHN L. HELM. It was in compliment to
her, too, that the present county of Larue owes the name
by which it is known.t

  A short time after she had ceased, in obedience to her husband's com-
mands, to respond to the calls of her numerous patients, a woman living
several miles away, and who was thought to be in great danger of death,
sent her an urgent request to come to her assistance. The woman was very
poor and helpless; and for this reason, she begged of her husband to be
permitted to go. He told her no; he had made up his mind that she must
give up all thought of resuming an avocation so unsuited to her sex. It
was but a short time before the messenger returned, bringing with him still
more urgent appeals from the suffering woman not to permit her to die
unaided. With tears in her eyes, Mrs. ENLOW fell on her knees before her
husband, and prayed that she might be permitted, for that one time, to go to
the assistance of her stricken friend. This happened in the fore part of
the night. Her husband, melted by her entreaties, agreed that, should the
woman survive till morning, she might then go to her. Through the long
hours of the night Mrs. ENLOW closed not her eyes, but patiently awaited
for the dawn. With the earliest gleam of returning day, her watchful ear
distinguished the distant galloping of a horse. It was the returning mes-
seuger, and her heart bounded with joy when she thought of the possibility
that she might yet reach her patient in time to save the poor woman's life,
and to prevent her little ones from becoming orphans. She sprang from her
bed, and in answer to her husband's deprecatory words and looks, exclaim-
ed: "You promised that I might go, and you must stand by your word."
Bounding on her horse, she soon reached the bed-side of the suffering
woman, to whom she administered in such wise as to give her immediate
relief, and contribute to her ultimate recovery.
  t This happened in this wise: When the new county was formed, the late
Governor was a member of the Legislature, and out of compliment to him,
it was proposed to call it HELM county. There were a few negative votes
given against the resolution that was offered to this effect. These dissenting
voices touched the pride of the Representative from Hardin, and rising to
his feet, he declared he would not accept a compliment that was not unani-
mously rendered. He suggested, at the same time, that the new county
should be called after the maiden name of his mother. He thought this



14


 


JOHN L. HELM.



15



   GEORGE HELM, the father of the late Governor JOHN L.
 HELM, was born in Prince William         county, Virginia, in
 the year 1774, and was, consequently, six years of age
 when his father removed to Kentucky. Having taken an
 active part in redeeming from the wilderness the fruitful
 farm upon which his father lived and died, he remained an
 agriculturist all his life, superintending and directing, up
 to the year 1820, all the farming operations on the place.
 In 1801 hV was united in marriage with REBECCA LARUE,
 who bore to him nine children-four boys and five girls,
 only four of whom still survive. No man was more
 respected than he in Hardin county, and none had
 warmer personal friends. At one time or other he filled
 almost every office, civil and legislative, in the gift of his
 fellow-citizens.
   In 1821 GEORGE HELM, becoming embarrassed in his
business operations, undertook a journey to Texas, with
the expectation of entering into business in that then

particularly appropriate, as the family of the LARUES, whose progenitors
had been its first settlers, were numerous in the county. A resolution to
this effect was afterwards unanimously carried.
  ELIZA HELM, the late Governor's eldest sister, at the age of seventeen,
married her counsin, WARREN LARUE, Esq., and has ever since lived in
Elizabethtown, where she is beloved and honored by every one. Wherever
sickness and poverty have their abode, there oftenest may be seen "Mamma
Eliza," as she is called by high and low, brisk, helpful, and overflowing
with pity toward all that are sick and suffering. Wm. D. HELM is a highly
respected physician residing in Bowling Green, Kentucky. THOs. P. HELM
died young. LUCRETIA HELM married STEPHEN YEAm", Esq., and her sec-
ond son, GEORGE H. YEAMAN, is now Minister from the United States to
Denmark. She has also a son who is a highly respected Baptist Minister in
New York City. LouisA HELM married Mr. ISAIAH MILLER, a well-to-do
farmer of Hardin county. She died many years ago. MARY JANiE HELM
married the Hon. PATRICK TOMPKINS, of Vicksburg, Miss., who was at one
time a member of Congress. Both herself and her husband are long since
dead. SQUIRE L. HELM and MALVINA HELM, who were quite young when
their father died, were reared up and educated by the late Governor with
his own children. The latter died in her girlhood, and the former is now a
much esteemed Christian Minister, connected with the Baptist Church in
Kentucky, and now acting in the capacity of "State Evangelist."


 


JOHN L. HELM.



wild dependency of the Mexican Government. There
he died in 182'2.
  JOHN LARUE HELM, late Governor of Kentucky, was
born on the 4th day of July, 1802, at the old HELM home-
stead, near the summit of Muldrough's Mountain, one
and a quarter miles north of the village of Elizabeth-
town. Amid the bold, wild scenery of the mountain's
northern face, and in the beautiful prairie which courses
its southern slope, rich with its waving grasses, wild
strawberries, and hazel shrubs, he spent his childhood
and youth. The country at the time was sparsely peo-
pled. The valley in which his paternal ancestry resided
was distant eleven miles from the residence of his mater-
nal grand-parents, and between the two localities was
one vast prairie, with but a single house, situated on a
small stream, to relieve the monotony of the panorama.
The country, only a few years before, extended from the
Rolling Fork of Salt River on the north to Green River
on the south, and then embraced a territory which is
now divided into three counties and parts of others, and
which then contained scarcely as many hundred inhabi-
tants as it now does thousands. The war-whoop of the
red man had then scarcely ceased its echoes through the
forests, and herds of wild animals and flocks of wild
birds wandered and flew over woodland and prairie
fearlessly and almost undisturbed.
  Such were the scenes and times in which the subject of
our memoir was born and reared, only changed as time
progressed by the continued flow of immigration and the
labor of the strong arms which were opening the country
to cultivation. He lived with his father and grandfather
up to the age of sixteen, and, for about eight years of
the time, attended various schools in the neighborhood.
He had for his master during the latter years of his
school life the afterwards celebrated Democratic politi-



18


 


JOHN L. HELM.



cian and editor, DUFF GREEN, under whose instructions
he made rapid advances in; his studies.          Another one of
his masters was a certain DOMINE RATHBONE, whose mem-
ory is still preserved in the annals of Nolynn Valley.
He was a ripe scholar, but singularly odd in appearance
and manner. Like Goldsmith's Village Schoolmaster, he
impressed every one with the idea that what he did not
know was not worth learning.
            "Amazed, the gazing rustics ranged around,
            And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew,
            That one small head could carry all he knew.
            But past is all his fame; the very spot
            Where many a time he triumphed, is forgot.';
  With a mind that was naturally bright, and with habits
of industry that were remarkable in one of his years, the
boy's advancement in knowledge was swift and easy.

   An anecdote illustrative of the Governor's character thus early in life is
related in connection with his school davs under Mr. GREEN. On a certain
occasion, when about thirteen vears of age, he refused obedience to a com-
mand of the waster which he deemed tyrannical and unjust. For this his
teacher determined to punish him. At the time referred to, discipline in the
school-room was preserved only by one method-the use of the rod. The
boy was decidedly averse to this method in his case, because he thought
the punishment was both degrading and undeserved. After having received
a single blow, he bounded to the door with the hope of escaping from the
room. As is usual on such occasions, however, the teacher had his toadies
among the larger boys, and these prevented his exit. Finding he had no
power of resistance, he submitted to what he esteemed a degradation. With
lips firmly set and eyes boldly bent on the face of his tormentor, he received
without flinching or murmuring, many strokes of the rod, until the marks
of blood appeared in blotches through his garments. His sisters and others
of the school-girls beginning to cry, the teacher was forced to desist without
having conquered his obstinate pupil. Years after be had reached manhood,
HELM remembered and resented in his heart the insult, as he called it, whieh
he had been forced to submit to. But he was himself gray-haired when he
next met DurF GREEN, who was then an old man. When the latter recog_
nized his former pupil, who had then become a man of distinction in his
native State, the tears rushed to his eyes, and grasping his hands with a
warmth of affection that was indicative of the pride he took in his fcrmer
pupil's advancement in life, all resentment vanished from HELM'S mind, and
the two remained fast friends up to the late Governor's death. DUFF GRAVEN
long since retired from the turmoil of partisan politics, and new resides in
Baltimore, Maryland, beloved and respected by all who know him.
       2



17


 


JOHN L. HELM.



The fact that he had been born on the anniversary day of
his country's independence appears to have influenced
his entire  life.  Imperceptibly to    himself, he was led
thereby to study the history of his country, and make
himself familiar with the lives of all those eminent
men who had taken part in the events which preceded
and immediately followed the formation of the Govern-
ment. Certain it is, before he had attained the age of
sixteen, he had accumulated a s