that she could not sleep in her anxiety for him. As she extended two tracts on gam bling to him with one hand, she laid the other on his shoulder, earnestly begging, "Will you read them? " He did read them by early morning light, and took home the lesson so kindly given, and never after en gaged in gambling. Fortunate, indeed, was this, for it was a vice to which he would have been peculiarly liable from his adven turous, excitable, and incautious tempera ment. S. S. Prentiss never forgot the earnestness with which Wise once drew him back from entrance into a gambling resort, asking if he had provided for all the loved ones of his family before he gave what he had to the Cerberi of gambling hells. The consummate folly of duelling he did not escape, but, on the contrary, he was conspicuously identified with it. Neither his principles nor his reason, which kept him from two foes, — gambling and intem perance, — turned him against the mon strous union of suicide and murder involved in duelling. Nor did his pride revolt at the implied confession of inability to use the same kind of weapon as that of the offense, since, if the antagonist deserved any notice, what other is needed than the sharp retort? Wise volunteered as principal in two duels, and, in the third instance, sent a challenge which the good sense of his friend Prentiss failed to deliver, and the difficulty was other wise adjusted. When Mr. Wise made his first plea in court, some one said : " There is a born lawyer for you! He will see every point, and know what to say, and how to say it. Now the criminals can have a good time, for Henry A. Wise will be able to clear them before any jury!" But these hopes of legal success were overshadowed by the interest he took in Gen eral Jackson's career. His eloquent speeches at twenty years of age resulted in his election as a delegate to the Baltimore conven tion for Jackson's renomination. In 1833
Wise became a member of Congress; and during the campaign between him and Richard Coke, the opposing candidate, he delivered " twenty-seven camp speeches and one hundred and fifty cross-road skir mishes." The Twenty-third Congress vas exceptionally brilliant, having such men as Webster and Clay, Calhoun, J. Q. Adams ("the old man eloquent"), Pierce, Choate, and many others of note. Wise was at that time twenty-seven years of age, and his first speech was in favor of a national bank, in opposition to General Jackson, but which he regarded as a safeguard to a sure and uniform currency for the country. At this time anti-slavery petitions largely occupied the attention of Congress, and Mr. Wise led the ranks of animated discussion on one side. His frank, eager, electrical nature put him in touch with all his com patriots in Congress. As in youth, so in manhood, it was his fate to win love or hate, never indifference. J. Q. Adams and H. A. Wise were most frequent antagonists on the anti-slavery petitions, both persistent and ready for battle. After the death of Mr. Adams, Wise said he had been one of his best political teachers, and he often had reason to recall his wisdom and sagacity. This candor was characteristic of Wise; mingling curiously with his fiery, fierce temper, it was strangely attractive. His brilliant eyes, and ardent speech in a high but singularly sonorous voice, made it im possible to withdraw attention from him. In 1838 a duel occurred between Mr. Graves of Kentucky and Mr. Cilley of Maine, which was exceptionally absurd in its ori gin, and proved fatal to the New England congressman. It arose from a severe re mark made by Mr. Cilley on J. W. Webb, the editor of the " New York Courier and Enquirer," who wrote to W. J. Graves to take charge of it and obtain retraction. At first Graves declined making any interven tion; but when he consented, and had no satisfaction from Mr. Cilley, he chose to
