The freeman. (Fremont [Ohio]) 1849-1850, 1850-02-09
Follow Him Home.

tiles and disposition of her husband replied in the
vernacular Of her native district-"Ah! ye should
foller'n whoam"
Follow him home! The phrase, though unpre-
tending, admits of an explanation both wide and
significant What different social state should
we have had the world been always accustomed to
follow men, things and ideas home. How much
that is vague and mysterious, would now be clear
and explicable; how much that is contemned would
rise into honor. And we may perhaps, without be-
ing over-ventursome, affirm, that the moral and
physical world would not have been Just as it is,
had following home been an immemorial practice
The proposition may be supported by discuss
ing few salient facts in history. Had the priests
of ancient Egypt been followed home, the pyra-
mids mightnever have been built Could Mahom-
cts disciples have followed him home, one hundred
millions of people would not now be votaries CT the
crescent. Had Caesar followed home the spare and
abstemlehs Brutus, on the advent of the Marian
Ides, he might not have died under traitorous dag
gers in the capitol. Had the monk Schwartz been
followed home by cardinals hat or bishops mitre
would he have invented gunpowder! Had the
Romish churchmen followed Luther home and
searched the secret of his 'heresy' what wars
prosecutions and miseries would have been spared
to humanity. Could papal nuncios have been fol-
lowed home, people would not have been silly
enough to endure the horrors of an interdict-
Had the Danes followed home the minstreLwhose
harp strings charmed their camp England might
have waited little longer for hundreds, tythings
and trial by jury. Had Columbus not followed
home the Castilian sovereigns again and again,
would he have discovered America? The queen
of Scots might have saved her head had Elizabeth
but once followed her home-to her private cham
Der at Fotherngay. If instead of shutting up Sol
omon de Caus lunatic, some kind patron had
followed him home, James Watt might have found
much of his work already done to his hand. Had
Charles the l followed Hamden home on his first
refusal to pay ship-money Whitehall might never
have witnessed royal execution. Had the Bed
ford magistrates followed Bunyan home instead of
ncarcerating his body, where would be the pilgrims
progress? Could one or two of prince Charles
chieftains have followed the London Bank Direc-
tors home on that memorable "blaek Friday" in
l745, there might have been farewell to George
l. and the Hanoverian dynasty. Could Napoleon's
soldiers have followed him home, how brief would
have been the catalogue of his victories. Had
Robespierre followed Collot d. Herbois home on
the eve of the ninth Thermidor, the Curmagnole
miget never have been danced and sung round his
headless trunk Had Fox followed Pitt home, there
would have been an end to their rivalry Had
Wapole followed Chatterton home, instead of de-
celvlng him with vain promises poet the more
would have left immortal thoughts for posterity.
When the hostile Philadelphia printer followed
Franklin home, and saw the remains of loaf on
which the unconcious hero had dined, his hope of
crushing bis sturdy competitor vanished. Were
slaves followed home mauumssion would not be
long delayed and if impatient turbulence could fol-
low Legislators hone it would put less faith in ma
ievolenee, Endless would be our catalogue if pur-
sued; and chequred with the lights and shades of
hope and fear, success and disappointment ioy and
sorrow. Were we keen in the investigation of ex-
amples, we should find them resolvable into two
great classes; those who do and those who do not
follow home their thought The latter comprise
what Wordsworth calls "the dreary waste of mans
life" among the former appear the worlds heroes
whether good or bad. Homers and Neros Rien-
zis and Shakspeares, Machiavels and Newtons-
Benefcent or Malignant is not now the question !;
was their thought followed home? Glance for
moment at the world of politics; what changes
have been wrought by following a subject home
At first, the pursuit oft is laughed at as an awk-
ward mistake; by-and-by statesmen discover that
there is something in it, and "get up its elementa-
ry principle. At last voice gives utterance to
the ripened and multtudinous thought of people
and the matter is settled, whether it be food
emancipation, or forest abolition.
If followed home, how much passed off as 6eing
would be detected as nothing more than seeming; ;
ostenslble reality would stand confessed mockery
and sham How much that has been regarded
with awe, would prove to be "piared rotteness." +"
We should get at the true materials for writing
history. Party secrets would come to light; and
the reason why, for many struggle, be laid bare
All the world is kim and we should not unfreouent-
ly find that had the victor followed the vanouish-
ed home, he would have seen cause to lament his
victory. Links of union would present themselves
where nothing was looked for but points of repul-
sion. How much of modest worth would be
brought to the day, and made exemplary if follow
ed home, which is now obscured beneath nexper-
ience, OF grinding necessity. Shyness and awk-
wardness in public would, when followed home,
be found manifested in heroic endurance, or efus-
i've tenderness,
Pretence and plausibility whether clad in rags or
attended by laced footmen, would hardly survive
the following home. Track yon whining, coatless,
and shoeless beggar to his lair the shiver and
whine have given place to bold tone and rude
bearing, as equipped with coat and shoes, he sits
down to a recherche supper. Softness of speech,
and suavity of demeanor would no longer be
cloak for righteousness; sanctimoniousness for
sincereity. Take that man at the dinner party; he
is the life and soul of the company. His observa-
tions are received with respect and his wtticisms
with applause. Over wine and walnuts he has
descanted on all that is noblest in public virtues
He has demonstrated what public man had
ought to be, aad sketched character whose per-
fections would reconcile all discordances but fol-
low him home! As his knock sounds at the door,
his little children shrink away and hide themselves
in corners; his servant obeys the summons doubt
ingy, and his wife trembles; for too well she knows
hat fhn FOI1hI liz LIST D.