g as a fan. He walked directly up to a large bowl of mint julep
which had been prepared, and drank off a tumblerful, smacking his lips,
and then turned to the company with a cheerful 'How are you, gentlemen?'
He was looked upon as the best pitcher of the party and could throw
heavier quoits than any other member of the club. The game began with
great animation. There were several ties; and before long I saw the
great Chief Justice of the United States down on his knees measuring the
contested distance with a straw, with as much earnestness as if it had
been a point of law; and if he proved to be in the right, the woods
would ring with his triumphant shout." * What Wellesley remarked of
the younger Pitt may be repeated of Marshall, that "unconscious of his
superiority," he "plunged heedlessly into the mirth of the hour" and was
endowed with "a gay heart and social spirit beyond any man of his time."

* Thayer, op. cit., pp. 132-33.

As a hero of anecdotes Marshall almost rivals Lincoln. Many of the
tales preserved are doubtless apocryphal, but this qualification hardly
lessens their value as contemporary impressions of his character and
habits. They show for what sort of anecdotes his familiarly known
personality had an affinity.

The Chief Justice's entire freedom from ostentation and the gentleness
with which he could rebuke it in others is illustrated in a story often
told. Going early to the market one morning he came upon a youth who was
fuming and swearing because he could get no one to carry his turkey
home for him. Marshall proffered his services. Arriving at the house the
young man asked, "What shall I pay you?" "Oh, nothing," was the reply;
"it was on my way, and no trouble." As Marshall walked away, the young
man inquired of a bystander, "Who is that polite old man that brought
home my turkey for me?" "That," was the answer, "is Judge Marshall,
Chief Justice of the United States."

Of the same general character is an anecdote which has to do with a much
earlier period when Marshall was still a practicing attorney. An old
farmer who was involved in a lawsuit came to Richmond to attend its
trial. "Who is the best lawyer in Richmond?" he asked of his host, the
innkeeper of the Eagle tavern. The latter pointed to a tall, ungainly,
bareheaded man who had just passed, eating cherries from his hat and
exchanging jests with other loiterers like himself. "That is he," said
the innkeeper; "John Marshall is his n