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he would help himself. The strawberries had been
put on the table, in a deep plate which was
near. He seized on the plate - placed it imme-
diately before him, & eat up all the strawber-
ries to the amusement of Hadon & myself - to the
amazement of the ladies, & to the infinite dis-
tress of the child, who looked on with intense
interest, while the fruit was being devoured, that
when she saw the last of them, disappear, she
screamed out lustily - to the great annoyance of her
mother, but without disturbing the equanimity
of our ill mannered guest. Haden & myself told
the affair the next day to the plain, honest racy
people of the county, who were delighted with it.
They swore by their Maker that "Matthew Lyon
was their man" and they were as good as they
said. His majority in the county was large.
Colo. Lyon resorted to all sorts of means to get votes
as before noticed he drank with the people all
day. Spent his money freely at the tavern. Was
attentive to forewarding newpapers & public do
comments to prominent & influential men -
in travelling thro' his district he would distri-
bute Almanacs by thousands, gratis. Gave
little pieces of money to children. Sometimes
present a valuable book to a particular friend
(he had a large bookstore in Russellville).
Tho' an illiterate man, he became a well
informed politician, & had the reputation of
wielding a strong pen.
In 1807, I was a candidate for the clerkship of the
House of Representatives & received the votes of the
members, from the "Green River" county generally
but was not elected. The candidates were Gabriel
Jones Johnson of Louisville. Thos. Dougherty of
Fleming, Isham Talbot of Frankfort, Thomas
Montgomery of Lincoln & myself. Mr. Dougherty
was elected. He was some years afterwards,
(1813 or 14) elected Clerk of the House of Reps. in
Congress. Mr. Johnson was a distinguished