[Illustration: The Schoolhouse in "the Slashes."]
Clay joined the Richmond Debating Society and soon became the star
speaker. He improved his speaking by studying daily some passage in a book
of history or science, and then going out into a quiet place and
declaiming what he had learned.
The chancellor knew about this, and it pleased him. He advised Henry Clay
to study law, and within a year after his studies began, when he was only
twenty-one years old, he was admitted to the bar.
To begin his law practice, he went to Lexington, Kentucky, which was then
a small place of not more than fifty houses; but Clay very soon built up a
good practice. Although he had arrived with scarcely a penny, within a
year and a half he had been so successful that he was able to marry the
daughter of a leading family. He soon owned a beautiful estate near
Lexington, which he called "Ashland," and with it several slaves.
He became a great favorite among the people of the State, largely because
he was absolutely truthful and honest in all his dealings. He was also
talented, good-natured, and friendly to all. It is said that no man has
ever had such power to influence a Kentucky jury as Clay.
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