The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-02-21

mower Of cant. To enumerate oil the cases.
in which It's effects have fallen uuder our OBJ
servat;on, were to write folio upon folio. Its
name 10 Legion. II multplies itself in ten
thousand different ways, and in every instance
assumes ten thousand different shapes. 1t in
sinustes itself into all the avocations Of life
Like the frogs Of Egypt, il agoes up into our
houses, and into our bed.chambers, and into
our beds, and into our very ovens, and our
kneading uoughs." There is no tie, relation,
interest, or avocation of life, with which it
does not interfere, to the annoyance, and some
times destruction of those who are subjected
to its influence. 1t is ever ready to lick the
dust from the feet Of wealth and power, while
itrevenges itself by crushing the comparative
ly weak and helpless. 1t has great regard
for the Sabbath, provided those who infringe
upon it, are not of the class to set them at de-
fance. In such case the most it can venture
upon, is to select a scape-goat, who may bear
who wallows in wealth, may drive to Church
every Sunday, without caring whether it be
sin or not, to make his driver violate the Sab
bath. Cant does not care for the spiritual well
fare of so Insignificant character as a carriage
driver. The great manufacturer may make
his africans work on Sunday from the rising Of
the sun even to the going down thereof. This
is work Of necessity, for no one will dispute
that it is very necessary for gentlemen of this
class to have both pockets stuffed with money.
The workmen at the gas works may work, all
the year round, only learning from the distant
sound Of the Church bells when Sunday
comes. This too, is a work Of necessity, for
the Churches and private dwellings cannot
condescend to supply themselves with oil
or camphine, and the rule of "touch not
taste not, handle not, the accused thing"
does not apply TO persons and Churches
who encourage this sort of Sunday labor
The man who has the means, cannot be
expected to forego the pleasure of q good
dinner on the Sabbath, though it imply a
whole day spent at work by cooks and dining
room servants. This too, says Cant, is a work
of necessity for what can be more necessary
to sound morals than that the lords of the land
should feast upon the Lords day? 1t is true,
cant has to put up with a great deal, in
this way, but it has its revenge. Ii con
soles itself by running down the first poor
printer who may wish to preserve the existenc
of his newspaper, by publishing the latest
news on Monday morning, even though it may
not imply more than the labor Of an hour.
while he leaves it optional with the hands to
work after twelve at night. He is the scape-
goat-he is the person upon whom it is conve
nent to lay the entire burden Of all the sins
which Cant does not find it convenient to at
tack in higher quarters. 1t may be his ruin,
but what of that. When did Cant ever have
compassion for any human being, unless
he were above its reach7 1t proceeds upon
the composition Of sins-upon destroying one
man for DOUG that which it does not object to
in others.
For the whole system of cant, from begin
ming to end, in all its forms, revolutions and
phases, We profess the most intense abhor-
renee. The facility with which it blasphe-
mously mixes up the name of Heaven, and
even of the Being who created it, with its own
vile schemes of petty malice, forms one of the
most disgusting chapters in the dark book of
human character.