Maumee express. [volume] (Maumee City, Ohio) 1837-1838, 1837-06-03

'cean of forgetfulness. Our readers by
his time, have learned that the reputa-
ion Of our hero is mainly dependent up
On one important act OF his life, and as
well the name, as the reputation. What
that act was they will learn in future
chapter.
CHAPTER III.
Wben man, driven by some stronger
or more crafty beast than himself, from
the cover, into which he had fled, after
filling unlocked from the hands of his
fabricator, sought the companionship of
his species, and became gregarious, his
first impulse was, to choose some leader,
remarkable either for his boldness or
strength, who should preside over his
councils in time of peace, and lead him
forth and become his rallying point in an
encounter with his enemies. Thus, we
read, that he who was chosen by an in
spired sage, to lead forth the children of
Israel to battle stood also at the head of
that nation in physical force, and manly
beauty. AS nations progress in civiliza-
ton, their foreign and domestic relations
undergo correspondent mutation, and
it is always an evidence of wisdom, in
such people, that in the choice of a
head, it should select such an one as is
best fitted to meet those exigences most
likely TO arise, during his administration.
Thus, the nation we have already ad-
verted to, when it became more civilized
and advanced in the cultivation Of the
fine arts, chose for its king one David
a man excellently skilled in playing on
stringed instruments and thus our own
great and flourisbing nation, mindful of
her own mighty commercial interests,
made choice of a military chieftain, as
her chief magistrate, he being in her opin-
ion, most likely to be skilled in her
but our comparison has flaw in it. In
the same manner the little community
we have been describing, finding itself
in want Of leader, who shodld possess
extraordinary acuteness in relation to
their habits and manner of battling their
way through this wicked world, chose
for their chief magistrate, no less per-
son than the hero of our story-Catfsh
Smith. And now having nearly reach
ed the point at which the character of
that excellent individual begins to de-
velope itself, we should do wrong to d.
yress again for the purpose of giving a
history of the city over which he exerci-
'ed the office of mayor, with dignity and
lecorum, and we shall content ourselves
With merely dropping in the course OF
,ur biography, such hints, as our readers
nay understand without a great deal of
rouble. - @
CHAPTER w..
Although those peculiar ceremonies
which relate to the transfer Of things
are in general well understood
heoretically, still there is no matter in
which, in practice mankind more gener-
llly disagree, and such disagreements,
'ften form the most prominent marks Of
distinctions between .manTand anoth-
r. An obliquity in mental vision.in this
aspect, formed amost remarkable feature
n the character of Catfish Smith. This
rait, which in an Alexander or a Napo-
con, would have rendered him immor-
al by enabling him to accumulate king
oms, the property of rival potentates,
7ithout number, proved to be perfectly
nsuited to him, who was destined to be-
ONE no other, than the Mayor of the
ort Tract. 1t threw him from his
alance, destroyed that nice equilibrium
character, which modern preiudices
ave repderednecessary in public func-
onary, and was in fact the, cause of all
is misfortunes.
Since the days of William the con-
leror, the legal learning. in relation 10
ties by conquest has been greatly 'un-
'ttled, and the sickish sensibility Of mo-
n courts has driven them to decide,
lat he who reduces an article of pro-
erty to possession may. have his claim
nsettled by the setting up of previous
ossessory title, This was the rock up
l which our hero split. Having redu-
I'd to ownership the results of his prow-
ssin the shape Of half a barrel Of Cat !
III, he was astounded by the counter I
aim of another, the consequence of I
hich was, that he was stripped of his
'operty, subjected to the animadver- !,
2ns Of a limb Of the law, placed in sit /
'tion, where the lsaTflhs venuese off II I
aeeuntry were employed to provide /
his sustenance, and forever branded :
ith the name Of Catfish Smith-a name
hich has followed him through all the
enes of his variegated life, and which {
ould have been entailed on his posteri- 8
I, had it not been that he was not so I'M t
rtunate as to possess any. t
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