Boyish Looks, Poison Tongue

Senator John Randolph of Virginia (1773–1883) may have been the most boyish-looking politician in U.S. history. Randolph was 26 when first elected, but was so baby-faced, the Clerk of the House asked if he was old enough to take the job.

“Ask my constituents,” was the acid reply.

Despite his cherubic appearance, Randolph was a mean one who loved nothing more than zinging an opponent with a good line. Speaking of his two colleagues, Robert Wright and John Rae, the senator said, “A Wright always wrong and a Rae without light.”

John Quincy Adams on Randolph (via Ovid): “His face is ashen, gaunt his whole body, His breath is green with gall; His tongue drips poison.”

Even so, I shake my head centuries later in reluctant admiration at this criticism Randolph aimed at an opponent: “[He is] a man of splendid abilities, but utterly corrupt. He shines and stinks like rotten mackerel by moonlight.”

A leading proponent of slavery, Randolph called anyone who disagreed with him on the matter a “dough-face.” So if the following story about him is true, it was nice payback.

When dining in New York one evening, Randolph ordered a black servant to leave the room. (He couldn't abide to be near blacks.) The servant bowed, but remained where he was.

The senator continued to harangue him to leave, until at last the man answered, “Excuse me, sir, but I must stay. The management holds me responsible for the silverware.”

The painting of Randolph above is by famed portraitist Gilbert Stuart. The silverware sketches are by Bartolomeo Scappi via the Library of Congress. My sources are here.

Sunrise, Sunset

Guerrilla stickers stick again. These Obama sunrise logos are appearing on street signs in Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina. (Created by ad agency BooneOakley, the decals are apparently free at GObamaNC.com.)

Does this qualify as mischief, pernicious or otherwise? Dunno! Here's another question: Are there any sticker campaigns going on from the opposing party?

Henry Brown: Escape Artist

Henry “Box” Brown (b. 1816) achieved fame in 1849 for packing himself into a large shipping crate and having himself mailed from Virginia (where he was a slave) to Philadelphia (where he emerged a free man).
The above 1850 lithograph is a somewhat fanciful depiction of Brown's unpacking; that's Frederick Douglass to the left. (No, I don't know why the man on the right is holding a picnic basket.) Suddenly famous, Henry "Box" Brown became a spokesperson for the abolitionist movement, and as the Library of Congress notes, "The box itself became an abolitionist metaphor for the inhumanity and spiritual suffocation of slavery."

Fearful of professional slave hunters, Brown traveled to England and put on exhibitions and and magic shows where he was mailed from one performance to the next. (The act would begin with him being unpacked from a crate.) This theme was so popular, Brown added an act where he escaped from a suspended canvas bag wrapped with a padlocked chain. (Decades later, a Hungarian immigrant to the U.S. whose stage-name was Houdini took escapism to new heights.)

My sources are here.