The scene in the large court-room was less animated than that out-doors; a half-dozen tallow dips, hung on the wall in sconces and stuck on the judge’s long desk, feebly illuminated the mixed crowd of black and white who sat in, and on the backs of, the benches, and cast only a fitful light upon the orator, who paced back and forth and pounded the rail.  It was to have been a joint discussion between the two presidential electors running in that district, but, the Republican being absent, his place was taken by a young man of the town.  The Democratic orator took advantage of the absence of his opponent to describe the discussion of the night before, and to give a portrait of his adversary.  He was represented as a cross between a baboon and a jackass, who would be a natural curiosity for Barnum.  “I intend,” said the orator, “to put him in a cage and exhibit him about the deestrict.”  This political hit called forth great applause.  All his arguments were of this pointed character, and they appeared to be unanswerable.  The orator appeared to prove that there wasn’t a respectable man in the opposite party who wasn’t an office-holder, nor a white man of any kind in it who was not an office-holder.  If there were any issues or principles in the canvass, he paid his audience the compliment of knowing all about them, for he never alluded to any.  In another state of society, such a speech of personalities might have led to subsequent shootings, but no doubt his adversary would pay him in the same coin when next they met, and the exhibition seemed to be regarded down here as satisfactory and enlightened political canvassing for votes.  The speaker who replied, opened his address with a noble tribute to woman (as the first speaker had ended his), directed to a dozen of that sex who sat in the gloom of a corner.  The young man was moderate in his sarcasm, and attempted to speak of national issues, but the crowd had small relish for that sort of thing.  At eleven o’clock, when we got away from the unsavory room (more than half the candles had gone out), the orator was making slow headway against the refished blackguardism of the evening.  The german was still “on” at the hotel when we ascended to our chamber, satisfied that Asheville was a lively town.

The sojourner at Asheville can amuse himself very well by walking or driving to the many picturesque points of view about the town; livery stables abound, and the roads are good.  The Beau-catcher Hill is always attractive; and Connolly’s, a private place a couple of miles from town, is ideally situated, being on a slight elevation in the valley, commanding the entire circuit of mountains, for it has the air of repose which is so seldom experienced in the location of a dwelling in America whence an extensive prospect is given.  Or if the visitor is disinclined to exertion, he may lounge in the rooms of the hospitable Asheville Club; or he may sit on the sidewalk in front of the hotels, and talk with the colonels and judges