although these were the first words he uttered—then making a parenthesis, so as to qualify what he was going to say—"I don't deny that the steamboat is destined to produce valuable results, but after all, I much question (and here he bit his upper lip, and paused an instant) if we are not better without it. I declare, I think it strikes deeper at the supremacy of the states than most persons are willing to allow. This annihilation of space, sir, is not to be desired. Our protection against the evils of consolidation consists in the very obstacles to our intercourse. Splatterthwaite Dubbs of Dinwiddie [or some such name; Frank is famous for quoting the opinions of his contemporaries. This Splatterthwaite, I take it, was some old college chum who had got into the legislature and, I dare say, made pungent speeches] made a good remark—that the home material of Virginia was never so good as when her roads were at their worst." And so Frank went on with quite a harangue, to which none of the company replied one word for fear we might get into a dispute. Everybody seems to understand the advantage of silence when Meriwether is inclined to be expatiatory.
This strain of philosophizing has a pretty marked influence in the neighborhood, for I perceive that Frank's opinions are very much quoted. There is a set of under-talkers about these large country establishments who are very glad to pick up the crumbs of wisdom which fall from a rich man's table; secondhand philosophers, who trade upon other people's stock. Some of these have a natural bias to this venting of upper opinions, by reason of certain dependences in the way of trade and favor; others have it from affinity of blood, which works like a charm over a whole county. Frank stands related, by some tie of marriage or mixture of kin, to an infinite train of connections, spread over the state; and it is curious to learn what a decided hue this gives to the opinions of the district.
