folder 24: Autobiography of Charles A. Hentz, Part I

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47

of the tailor -- a nice, excellent young man-; I think he is now a prominent & wealthy citizen of Birmingham, Ala.

A Lyceum was gotten up amongst the intelligent & literary citizens of Florence; father & mother were members-; especially father who often made addresses &c; and discussions were made on chosen topics-; meetings were held every one or two weeks-; the debates & addresses were very interesting.

A juvenille temperance society was organised-; father Matthew was then the great apostle of temperance-; and was quoted in every speech made. We had pretty badges, printed on white ribbon-; & we had meetings in the court house -- On one occasion, to my infinite dismay, I was appointed one of the orators for one of the meetings. I shall never forget my feelings, as I sat in the elevated, old fashioned judges seat, with my young fellow orators, who were not so timid as I-; I got every one of them to get up & speak before me, putting off the dread moment as long as possible-; and when at last, when I could put it off no longer, & had to make my speech. I had to make several efforts before I could go forward-; the sea of upturned faces appalled me so, that at every effort I would drop back; at last I did get on my feet, & managed to read my speech, which occupied not a full page of foolscap, in a voice so quavering & low that I believe the only word caught by the audience was the name of Father Matthew. I felt that I was never intended for a public speaker, and envied, oh, so profoundly, the brass of my fellow speakers.

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Appendix No. III -- Letter and other material of Dr. Chas. R. Bedford pasted between pages 30 and 31.

Amongst the members of the Lyceum in Florence was Dr. Chas. R. Bedford-; an intelligent man, engaged in the active practice of his profession -- he was a bachelor, living with two old maiden sisters-; he suddenly exhibited symptoms of insanity, and became a raving maniac-; was sent off to an Asylum; and after quite an absence, returned, and I believe, continued sane permanently -- The first evidence of anything wrong about him occurred this way -- one of his sisters sent to his office for a dozen bottle corks; and when she spoke to him about it when he came to dinner, he told her that he was the 12th cork-; and when she laughed at his extravagance -- he became violent, & soon convinced them what was his real condition -- He had been attending several patients in the family of a Mr. Safforans -- an influential citizen-; and Mr. Safforans -- (the head of the family -- Malvina Safforans, the oldest daughter, who was a pupil in our school, and a negro servant in the family, all died -- After the development of the doctor's insanity, it was believed generally, that this alarming mortality was due to the condition of his mind -- He wrote a letter to mother, during the height of his insanity, which I insert here -- an interesting document -- a very rare specimen.

Nov. 1840

Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz -- I desire, I entreat may I Beg you to write me (torn)

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Declaration of Peace, & send it to me by Mrs Sarah & James Jackson -- I wish to read it to Congress & Martin Van Buran I will write a Declaration of War & read it to the world -- To the people I will read the Declaration of 76' -- that is, my Declaration -- In short, Mrs. Hentz, I have done my duty to all, -- public & private life -- whatever I now do, will be the gratuitous offerings of spontaneous benevolence -- & you know much of such does not generally dwell in the human heart -- The world and all it contains are my property -- To do just as I please -- It is my Duty to do something with them -- I have given the old shoe-maker of Tennessee (N. St.) the men & the government -- the best half still remains behind, this is my all -- And now most solemnly, in the fear of God & men & women -- with expectation of death & the hope of a translation to my home in skies, caring nothing for any earthly things, yield them all to you & Mr. Hentz -- The last piece of property I can call my own -- My time & what I make by my own labour, I dispose of in future, as I please -- & in future, if ever any human being desires my services, they shall pay cash in hand for them or I will not go -- I desired the people to do their Duty to me their supreme Earthly Master, King, tyrant, Dictator, Supreme Legislator -- They have refused, & now I will let them alone -- Since they will have it so, Lindsly & myself will let them alone -- As usual, a few & only a few, will get to heaven the great & the high & the proud will go down to the abodes of never ending woe -- The people of the United States Mrs. Hentz can never govern themselves -- Their pride & vanity are leading them to the Devil -- yet such are his delusions

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& suggestions that they do not know it -- They stupidly refuse my Dictation, believing that they are wisest -- Nothing but mournful & degrading slavery will convince them of their folly & ignorance -- of their Rulers and governors -- whose only aim is self on party honour, dictation & individual wealth -- such is indeed poor, comtemptible human nature -- I wanted first to humble them, & then give them Europe that she might be humbled, & remain so as a punishment for her unrelenting heartless persecution of the Jews -- All my magnificent plans for the Peace, honour, happiness, both temporel & eternal are given up by me because they do not obey me -- They (the people of America) think they are of great consequence in my estimation -- In truth, Mrs. Hentz, they are mine, but I care nothing more about them than I care for Peter or Jack -- not so much as I do for my poor, old broken down horse -- They are absolutely too wicked & disobedient for my notice or respect, therefore I yield them up as hopless -- To the Devil his property -- I wished to take them from him -- but I exert myself no more --

C. R. Bedford.

[This appears on margin of letter.] Letter written to Mother by Dr. Chas. R. Bedford one of the first physicians in Florence -- he had gone crazy -- was a violent maniac for some time -- but afterwards, I learned, recovered -- This letter, as may be seen, was written when he was a maniac.

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Appendix No. IV -- Poem pasted between pages 32 and 33.

[drawing of two small birds]

The Poor Blue Jays

We had two such pretty Blue jays Who sang so sweetly so many days But now they sing no more It is such a pity that it grievees me sore 2 One of them died on a summers night And in the morning it had no sight It cried so much during the night That I couldn't sleep untill daylight 3 The other lived a long while And sometimes it screamed like a screeching file But most always it sang so sweetly When its cage was cleaned so neatly 4 A pair of Blue jays built their nest And mid the locust leaves found rest. When the stars are shining bright They are fast asleep at night 5 And the reason why they built it there Was because they heard our Blue jay pair Singing so sweetly every day When they were at work or play 6 But now our pretty Blue jays dead Lying in its last cold bed But it never'll sing again If it could it would make me fain 7 But now the Poor Blue jay is dead and gone And it never more will sing that song Which I used to love to hear Now he's got nothing else to fear

Charles Arnould Hentz

[This appears on the margin of the page.] I put in here some verses of my composition, when I was about 10 years of age. We had a nice large cage, in which we kept two blue Jays for a long time.

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