The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1848-01-13

MesSrs. Editors Il am a plain man, wa
brought up in plain way, in a plain littl,
town down East, and although at the presen
time | should probably be taken by the un
discerning for one of the aristocracyj there il
. not a man walking the public streets who
chcrishes deeper degree of fellow feeling
with the mass about him. sympahise will
the struggling poor, and would fain shake the
hand of every honest man who is fighting his
way through the worlds adversely and chan
ceS. Notwithstanding my interior nature Gas
the transcendcntalists would term it) is thus
mbued with the most tender emotions which
can fill the human breast, find there is none
of that cordial appreciation of my character
which the heart so fondly looks for, and i'll
searching the cause | am somewhat reluctant
ly compelled to admit that my dress and ex-
terror department so dreadtully belle the in
ner and hidden man, that the genus to which
| belong is enormously decided by my Dor
rowed feathers and jackdaw limitations of the
peacock.
To speak no longer in cnigmas, proceed
to enumcrate some of the difficulties | have
laborcd under, which l can do in no better
way than by briefly relating portion of my
history.
1t was my fortune (whether good or i'll is
matter of opinion) to marry lady belonging
to the higher circles whose private property,
combined with the prosperous state of my
business, gave us the ability to take our sta
ton among the celebrated and much talked
of "upper ten thousand" should our inclina-
tons thus prompt u.s. AS my personal taste
is decidedly averse to ostentation and extrav-
agance, | should have been content with
plain and comfortable style of living, but my
lady was not person to forego the adyanta-
ges which fortune had thrown in her way, and
we forthwith commenced a course of fashion,
able housekeeping, fashionable visit making,
fashionable company entertaining, fashionable
airs and manners, lies and grmaces, which
summed up gives grand total Of fashionable
misery. The beginning of this routine open
ed a sad chapter in my history, and had not
striven mantully against its consequences and
cherished deep and abiding veneration for
the sober virtues of my pious ancestry,
should, no doubt, ere this have concluded
that mankind in general were made for my
use in particular, and the utterance of truth
full sentiments only betrayed the highest de-
gree of verdancy. Among the many minor
requirements made of me by my lady was
that of grading my notice of persons we met
to- rather than by their intrinsic merits and
the excellences of their character.
This requirement, am sorry to say, was
made to extend to my own relatives as well
as hers, and has resulted in the entire es-
arrangement from us of many estimable con-
nexons, and in leading them to regard us as
dcspicable, purse-proud arstocrats | had
been married aboutthrec months when cousin
Thomas tho Of ho,,bool
had become indebted for the most hospita-
in the country, came to the city, and calling
on me at my place of business, was induced
at my solicitation to have his baggage trans
up town. Not dreaming but that my wife
started for home at night, anticipating a right
Jolly time with cousin Tom in recounting some
of the scrapes and exploits of our early days,
and in living over again in Imagination some
of the blithcsome scenes of youth. What my
chagrin was, when l reached home and found
that cousin Tom was "non est invcntus" can
only be imagined by those who happen to be
the husbands of fashionable ladies. Why |
how is this, Mrs. Pandevack," Immediately
inquired, hasn't cousin Tom been here ?"
Mr.. Pandeva," she replied, (giving the name
a French twang, which she always persisted
in doing) "I wish you would not be at the
pains Of sending every clodhopping country
man you meet up here to take board with
us; there is no scarcity of rooms, | believe,
dow; at the hotels, and do not choose to
have my house made tavern Of"
" Well but what Of cousin Tom ?" again
asked; he's here suppose, of course gone
to lie down awhile perhaps"
"Fo lie down? No, Mr.. Pandevd, not
here; invited him to stay to tea with us, and
he, possessing sense enough TO perceive that
the invitation was meant to extend no Farther.
took umbrage at it and decamped quite
abruptly"
"N ny Mrs Pandcvack, )" Ireplied, " Cousin
Tom is the friend Of my early days. | had
rather sacrifice a thousand dollars than mis-
use him. shall go Immediately in pursuit of
him."
At this, Mrs. Pandevack, apprehensive tina;
would be as good as my word, fairly bullied
me into the belief that as Alderman Crab
stick and his lady and some others of the cod
fish arlstocracy were to pay us several visits
during the week, Cousin Tom would be "out
Of his element" or in other words would feel
like - cat in strange garrett" in the pres
cnce OF the distinguished Crabstick, and so |
acquicsced in her very kind and very hospi.
table arrangements
afterward had to make up, in extra at
tentions to Cousin Tom out of doors, whas l
lacked giving him in prog and house room,
and this course | subsequently pursued with
nearly all our country relatives who came to
town. On another occasion, some five or six
years after marriage, Mrs. Pandevack had en-
ployed dressmaker to come to the house,
and when | reached home at the dinner hour
on that day, l went to the nursery, as was
frequently my custom, to have a short frolic
with the children. Here found the various
dismembered fragments of female toggery
such as dress bodies, skirts, strips of whale
bone, calico and the like, all strewed around
in beautiful confusion, and neat, tidy young
woman in the midst Of the scattered elements