The Western Democrat

Life of John Bell—By an intimate acquaintance.—The Hon. John Bell was born on Mason and Dixon's line, of rich but pious parents, and was noted for his ringing voice. His extreme personal beauty suggested that delicious poem, in which the poet asks his friend, Brandon:
"Did you ever see the beautiful Bell, Brandon."
He spent the earlier part of his life on a plantation, acquiring such fine cultivation, that his epistolary efforts are regarded with admiration by the whole world, and no man is considered a good scholar who is not familiar with Bell's letters. As Mr. Bell grew to manhood, he gradually eschewed all youthful society, and cultivated "old" gentlemen exclusively, and was noted for his venerable virtues. On one occasion he won the friendship of a tea-total society of old maids, under the following circumstances: Being asked if he believed the use of tobacco to be injurious, he promptly replied: "If tobacco is chewed in a certain way it will do no harm to any one."
"How is that?" asked an antiquated Miss.
"It should be es-chewed," returned the eminent statesman.
In reference to Mr. Bell's public career, they tell the following:
Anecdote.—As Mr. Bell was going from the Senate Chamber to his hotel, after delivering his celebrated speech on the re-opening of the slave trade, he was overtaken by a prominent politician from one of the Northern States, who saluted him with:
"I say, Bell, that was a good speech of yours; but you are always too solemn, and your friends have told you so often."
"Well," replied the Senator, "how can a Bell help sounding solemn when it is tolled so often?"
Immediately after this, the subject of our memoir was seized with a severe fit of sickness; yet even that did not quench his spirit. When the doctor asked him how he felt, one morning, he replied:
"Oh, I feel all sound, like any other Bell."
If Mr. Bell is elected to stay at home, he will adorn that position and write for the Ledger.
A man starving for bread in New York city, robbed another of five cents to buy a loaf of bread, and Justice Quackenbush sent him to jail in default of $2,000 bail for trial for the heinous offence.