The native American., 1838-10-13


erms of condemnation towards those gentlemen
merely because they did not happen to know whe-
ther Mr.. Sigourney was in the land OF the living,
or even that such man ever was, only from the
fact that there was Mrs. Sigourney. His name
has, however, been presented prominently before
the public. How? We never heard itmentloned
but as the husband of Mrs Sigourney; and he was
in fact the barren rock whose name Mrs. Sigour-
ney was clothing with imperishabe verdure-
otherwise he might have lived unknown, and
died unwept, unhonored, and unsung-one of
those
Whose only record as they rot
IL that they were and they are not.
We proceed to the next:
"Those kind gentlemen, therefore who, with
friendly intentions but iniudicous zeal, seem to
bemoan this catastrophe, (as if all the muses. were
about to be turned out of doors to perish for want
an event they might have known years since had
they pleased, are now, most respectfully informed
that they need give themselves no farther uneasi-
ness about my affairs, or those of my family; that
was not aware, before they stated it, | was
dead and buried, but that, by the favor of Provi-
dence, am still among the living; that my wife
and children are not quite yet, candidates for the
alms-house, but that, on the contrary, although
not truly rich, we feel about as independent as
as much as we have a goody share of the good
things of this life, and ample ability to fulfil all
obligations; and that we have really as little
need of their assistance as we have claim on their
sympathy. And until this need come, which I
humbly trust is, in the good providence of God,
not to arrive, pray them to forbear their kind
hearted notice of my decease; and the implied in
solvency of my estate, of the dstresses Of the
widowed and fatherless, and all the other pity
moving incidents so often used up, of the poor
sick widow and ten little children crying for bread
and to stop also the racking of their obliging
brains in inventlng schemes for our relief which
amusing fables are not simply the lapsus pen,e
of the writer's, but absolutely wholesale drafts of
their ignorance on their Imagination, and entitled
to about as much credence as we are accustomed
to yield to the surprising adventures of baron
Munchausen."
Here is an instance of purse-pround humility,
thanking God for bestowing that upon him which
we often see scattered with liberal hand upon the
most undcserving Of tie Anighty's creatures.
Can he think that the mere possession of riches
gives him any claim to public sympathy or dis
tinction. No-hut we rejoice that the gifted,
the good, the talented Mrs. Sgourney is indie
pendent, and independent mainly by her own
literary labors. Has the proud and naughty
husband had the liberality and good feeling to
hand to the Garner of this independence, and so to
place it that in the event of any unforeseen ca
sualty to himself, she and her children would be
independent, or has she, with the liberality and
devotedness Of woman's love, handed it over to
him as fast as acquired, to be merged into his
property and placed at the risk of those reverses
from which Mr.. Astor himself is not exempt, and
which, if the Almighty wills it, may, in less than
year, reduce him as low as Job, and sweep
away the earnings and accumulations of more
than half century in moment. Nothing is
to us so disgusting the pride that exuts in the
abundance of its riches. ''Thou fool, this night
may thy soul be required ofthee, and whose shall
these things be-
We turn now to the last, anxious to dismiss it:
"And | beg leave, my dear sir, in conclusion,
to add the fact. in order to convince you how
little the muses. relikely to suffer on this occasion,
or to appeal to the chvalry of this steamboat and
railroad generation, that Mrs S., unlike Johnson
and Savage, Otway and Chatterton, and host
of the last century poets, is in the enjoyment of
an income, which the whole tenanry of Grub
street might envy, and which | believe to be |
greater than falls to the lot of large proportion
OF the reverend and respectable clergy of this
state, it being the fair reward OF her valued literary
labors.
am, very respectfully and truly yours,
c. sIGoURNEY."
Hartford, Conn, Sept. IL, 1882
The above we have read with great satisfac-
ton. 1t appears that this steamboat and railroad
generation have correctly appreciated Mrs. Sig
ourney's talents, and that she is in possession Of
her reward. We hope she will long live to en-
Joy it, and to delight us with her works-but as
for her husband, let him be satisfied with her well
earned reputation-and enjoy the results, and not
force himself upon the public, who, however
they may estimate his wife, consider him of no
Importance or consequence whatever. Ifhe does
not want to injure her, and to prove what is Of
ten asserted of genius, that it is wanting in dis
creton, and that she must have, been laboring un-
der something of this description when she mar
rled him, let him abstain from entering into pub
lie controversies, or to use his own favorie SINH
lies OF STEAMBOATS, and railroads, he will either
burst his boiler or run off the track
Having disposed of Mr.. Sigourney and his
letter. we turn, as lord Camden said, from the
barren waste on which no solitary plant takes
root-no verdure quickens, to character rich, as
we would verify believe, in any great and good
qualihcaton-we turn to Mrs. Sgourney, and
would willingly forget that she ever had hus-
band and tn