come to live with him.  Like many lawyers of that time, he had a little house in one corner of his grounds for his office.  It stood under great spreading trees, and there I was wont to sit through many a summer day wrestling with the authorities.  In the evenings we would have political arguments, for the Confederacy was in a seething state between the Federalists and the Republicans over the new Constitution, now ratified.  Between the Federalists and the Jacobins, I would better say, for the virulence of the French Revolution was soon to be reflected among the parties on our side.  Kentucky, swelled into an unmanageable territory, was come near to rebellion because the government was not strong enough to wrest from Spain the free navigation of the Mississippi.

And yet I yearned to go back, and looked forward eagerly to the time when I should have stored enough in my head to gain admission to the bar.  I was therefore greatly embarrassed, when my examinations came, by an offer from Judge Wentworth to stay in Richmond and help him with his practice.  It was an offer not to be lightly set aside, and yet I had made up my mind.  He flew into a passion because of my desire to return to a wild country of outlaws and vagabonds.

“Why, damme,” he cried, “Kentucky and this pretty State of Franklin which desired to chip off from North Carolina are traitorous places.  Disloyal to Congress!  Intriguing with a Spanish minister and the Spanish governor of Louisiana to secede from their own people and join the King of Spain.  Bah!” he exclaimed, “if our new Federal Constitution is adopted I would hang Jack Sevier of Franklin and your Kentuckian Wilkinson to the highest trees west of the mountains.”

I can see the little gentleman as he spoke, his black broadcloth coat and lace ruffles, his hand clutching the gold head of his cane, his face screwed up with indignation under his white wig.  It was on a Sunday, and he was standing by the lilac bushes on the lawn in front of his square brick house.

“David,” said he, more calmly, “I trust I have taught you something besides the law.  I trust I have taught you that a strong Federal government alone will be the salvation of our country.”

“You cannot blame Kentucky greatly, sir,” said I, feeling that I must stand up for my friends.  “The Federal government has done little enough for its people, and treated them to a deal of neglect.  They won that western country for themselves with no Federal nor Virginia or North Carolina troops to help them.  No man east of the mountains knows what that fight has been.  No man east of the mountains knows the horror of that Indian warfare.  This government gives them no protection now.  Nay, Congress cannot even procure for them an outlet for their commerce.  They must trade or perish.  Spain closes the Mississippi, arrests our merchants, seizes their goods, and often throws them into prison.  No wonder they scorn the Congress as weak and impotent.”