Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1855-10-25
PETER CARTWRIGHT:
The "RaeksYOod Preacher

The "Backsw0od Preacher.
! We once gave sketch of Pete1
Cartwright in our columns. /
> would be unpardonable to omit tn
4 adventures Of such character from
, this class of @Jottings;" We must
3 then, call him again into your pres
: ence, courteous reader" even if We
should repeat some of his stoiies al
ready told. a.,.f..
lie appears broken with years and
labors, and you preceive some para.
lytic tremblings in his attitude and
voice; but there is, nevertheless, a
general aspect of strenuous vlgor
about him. He looks as if he might
yet Wrestle with bears and come oil
conqueror, as we learn he really has
heretofore. He is war.worn and
| weather beaten. His complexion is
bilious, the integuments OF his face
wrinkleG and rough, bis eyes small
and twinkling, and defended by a
heavy pair of spectacles with greer
side glasses, bis mouth compact and
full Of force, his head large and round,
his forehead deeply indented, and his
hair there is no description of that;
it looks as if he bad poked it into
the bag of the Kilkenny cats, and
had not had time to comb it since
its extrication. And yet do not
suppose there is any ferceness about
his head. Nay, verify; face more
finely characterized with good nature
and gallant generosity is not to be
seen. Should We attempt an intel
lectual portrait Of Peter Cartwright,
we should summarily say that he is
characterized by good sense and good
humor. We know not that we can
better describe him. He strikes
right at the object before him, and
never fails to bit it; and he bas that
characteristic of the highest wisdom
-brevity, sententiousness. s9if9a,,.
! We never knew him to speak in
General Conference more than i've
minutes at once. His humor. is al
ways spontaneous--always ready
sometimes cuts sharply, but is usu-
ally genial and generous, relieving
rather than exssperating the case.
Humor is of rare excellence, but it is
not, like gems, valuable chiefly for
its rareness; it is intrinsically val
liable. 1t should not be too severely
grinned at, with elongated faces in
even ecclesiastical bodies; it often
CLEANS like exhilarating sunlight
among lowering clouds of discord, and
sometimes dispels them, the strong
est logic or the loudest rhetoric to
remove obstructions te business
Still a man Of combined good sense
and good humor is liable to suffer
some disparagement. Our poor
human, nature Las sort of self com
plimenting propensity to speak Of
a superior man witha qualifying "but
the import Of which is, that though
he excels us in some things we can
see in him defects we have not our
selves. He has Imagination "but,
he has not much sense; he has humor
"but,'' he has notmucb logic. Much
OF this kind of twaddle is sheer fudge,
and something worse. Peter Cart
wright is not merely man OF humor,
but of genuine sagacity; woe be to
the man that attempts to circumyent
him in debate. If some of his short
sayings were divested Of their humor
and spoke by a grave man, they would
pass for unique utterances OF wisdom;
as they are, they pass for pertinent
jokes--happy hills. Peter Cartwright
is "Doctor Of Divinity Good
old George Pickering, when asked
once if the Methodists had any Doc
ters of Divinity, replied, "No, sir, We
don't need them: our divinity mas
not yet become SICK m
Those healthful days seem, how
ever, to have passed, if we may Judge
from the ample provisions made iora
theological meditation among US now
a.days. Some College in the West,
deemed Peter Cartwright too knowing
in the NIateria Medica, or too skil!full
with the scalpel, to die untitled, and
therefore. dubbed him D. D, We
know net that he pretends TO en-
cyclopedie seruditioh, or in more
skil,ial than some other doctors we s
ars asls;;atsd with in the lsarped'
laheuaga % ass-a knowledge of which is
usually "a presupPosed is giving that that
-, -. ffaa r,,a1 uuf)fa alton We.