Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1881 — Henry Clay’s Heel Marks. [ARTICLE]

Henry Clay’s Heel Marks.

As old citizens of Lexington know, the Sage of Ashland for a long time occupied the brick law office on Short street, next to the alley, and now occupied by L. P. Tarleton, Esq. In front of the office are several locust trees. The one at the corner is decaying rapidly, and the brick-pavement near its roots is sunken below the general level. ’ Under this tree Mr. Clay was in the habit of sitting always with his feet elevated and

his heels resting against the tree about four feet above the ground. Few men could sit in an ordinary chair and reach so high on a tree, but Mr. day had long legs, as well as a long head. So constantly was he in the habit of sitting in this position that the pavement was sunken, and hii heels gouged a deep hole in the bark and outer wood. The spot has since decayed some in consequence of the abrasion from Mr. Clay’s boot heel. Who can tell what thoughts passed through the mind of the great commoner when thus sitting and ruminating ? Perhaps iiL front of that modest office, with his heels elevated, he formed some of his great plans, and forged some of the thunderbolts that shook the American continent. It was in this same office, too, that Mr. Clay was sitting when the news was brought to him of James K. Polk’s nomination, and he exclaimed, “I am beaten!”— Lexington Transcript.