Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 08.pdf/522

 The Green Ba Vol. VIII.

No. 12.

BOSTON.

December, 1896.

JOHN MARSHALL, THIRD CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES, AS SON, BROTHER, HUSBAND AND FRIEND.1 By His Great-Granddaughter, Sallie E. Marshall Hardy. "Humble mortals lay at the feet of their deities, the crowns they dare not place upon their heads." — Madame de Stael.

THE life of John Marshall, the great judge and statesman, is a part of the history of the country he so faithfully served and so dearly loved. It is something of his other life that I am going to tell, as I have learned it from people who knew and loved him, from letters written to those peo ple and by them. From the one account we see the surpassing grandeur of his mind, from the other the rare perfection and deep sweetness of his character. The one gave him the admiration and respect of the world, the other won him the love of all who knew him well. He was a gentle, loving, studious boy. To his mother and sisters he was especially kind and tender. His father said, " John never seriously displeased me in his life." His father, Col. Thomas Marshall, was upright, consistent, and plain spoken, and very intolerant of the lack of these qualities in others. It is said that when his son was a candidate for the legislature from Fau quier County, one vote only was cast against him. Col. Marshall was very angry; he said, "That man could only have been prompted by malice and spite, and must be punished." He ascertained his name and the next time he met him gave him a sound thrashing. John Marshall's mother was Mary Isham Keith, a daughter of Rev. James Keith, a Scotchman, and a clergyman of the Episcopal

Church. The Keiths are descended from Robert Keith, grand marshal of the Scottish army under Bruce. Rev. James Keith was a son of Bishop Keith. The Bishop was guardian of his nephew, afterwards the re nowned Field-Marshal James Keith, Fred erick the Great's valued lieutenant, who was slain while rallying his troops the night the king was surprised in his camp at Hochkirchen. He had been dangerously wounded early in the fight, but refused to quit the field. His bust stood side by side with those of Voltaire and the Marquis d'Argeris, sacredly kept in Frederick's private sittingroom. Mr. Keith having been raised with his cousin, was devoted to him. After the earl had taken part in the rising in favor of the Pretender and had left for the Continent, he carried on a secret correspondence with his cousin. When this was discovered the Parson also had to leave the country. He settled in Virginia and married Mary Isham Randolph. There is a ghost-story belonging to the Keith family, as is common in all great families in Scotland, Ireland and England. Mr. Keith had a classmate at college named Frazier. When they parted, the one to go to America and the other to go as a soldier to India, they pledged themselves that the one who died first should appear to the other to tell him what came after death. So one day, years after, in Virginia, Mr. Frazier came to

1 Krom Family Papers and Letters. 47'J