Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1853-08-10
Chr Daily SPY.
WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 10, 1853.
..Lnst Id the TMig Is bond,


In the course OF his ill-Iimed euIogium upon
the great Expouuder at the Plymouth celebration,
Mr. Yeadon, of South Carolina, accounted for MIR
Webster's devotion to the cotton interest, from the
fact thai he read the Constitution when boy, upon
cotton handkerchief. Hear him:
cit is wonder that the boy who FIRST read and
studied the Constitution Of his country on cotton
handkerchief should have been ing and faith.
fol in giving the FULL benefit of that Constitution TO
the cotton States Of the South and West"
Until we heard the above, we supposed that Mr.
Webster's interest in cotton did not commence until
the cotton interest, by purchase, had secured in
terest in him; but with the new light shed upon the
matter by the testimony of Mr. Yeadon, it appears
that his sympahes with the institutions Of the South
had much earlier date; fact, which we presume
MIR Everett viii not lail to enlarge upon, in his con
templated biography of the distinguished statesman.
When we contemplate this subject in the light of
Mr. Yeardon's wisdom, we are almost overwhelmed
with establishment, only at The profundity Of his
researches into the motives and springs Of human
action which led him to such discovery but also at
the wonderful influence that single cotton pocket.
handkerchief has exerted upon the destines Of the
nation. Had the Constitution been first revealed TO
MIR Webster's eyes upon a silk, or even upon linen
handkerchief, what direful consequences to the
South might not have been the result! Our glorious
Union, which, through the aid Of The Fugitive Slave
Law, the 9Th of March Speech, and the Union Safe.
ty Committee, has been kept together until this
hour, might have exhibited only 'he scattered rem
nants of glorious coniederacy, and instead of
being at Plymouth Rock on the first day of August,
!. r. r
cotton and OF slavery, Mr. Yeardon himself might
have been unon plantation in the Palmetto
State, earning his bread by the sweat of his brow.
1t behooves all parents, therefore, in considera-
tion of these revelations, to look well to the quality
and texture Of the pocket handkerchiefs they give
their little ones. For, s'great oaks from little
acorns grow, -as the war horse snufeh the battle
aiar off, and rushes on to the conflict so may little
unregenerate human soul, snuff up from the fragile
web upon which he wipes his proboscis the seeds
and germs OF future years Of disgrace and dishonor
aud generate in his system constitutional in6rmities
which no physician can eradicate or cure. Never
expect child, after this, to grow up with manly
heart in his bosom, if you permit him to wipe his
nose upon the great staple Of the South. The origin
OF Mr. Webster's subservency to the slave power,
has been traced by of his most intense admirers
to the communicating influences Of his first cotton
handkerchief; and ne is neither wise father or a
good citizen, who, with such example of apostacy
before his eyes, will introduce into his household
any handkerchiefs made of that soul hardening ma.
terial
For one, we thank Mr. Yeardon for the useful in.
formation impaired in his speech at Plymouth, and
trust that his monumental enthusiasm will lead him
day to perform another pilgrimage TO The North,
alter all his other monuments are erected, find out
the man who first printed Constitutions upon cotton
and erect a monument to him.