The Ripley advertiser. [volume] (Ripley, Miss.) 1843-1897, 1856-03-06
From the Richmond Enquirer.
ACTOMATA. OR "FLUMMERl'
AND "TDMFOOLERI.n

AND "TOMFOOLERI."
We have been a good deal takcl
to task 70. charging the KnoW Moth
ings with making themselves mert
"autoInata," with parting with thei
separate individuality and free agen
cy, by becoming The instruments an.
sworn liegemen Of midnight lodges
The abandonment, at least in Virgin
ia, Of the oaths and secret meeting
the "aummery and tom-fooicry,' goe
far to justify our charge. We die
not dare heretofore (none but trent
and ally could do thut) charge then
with "hummery' and "tom-foollery,
We did not suppose that grown VI
men took oatls without serious
weighty object-much less to breal
them. We did not suppose that the.
would ride many miles to hold mid
night lodges for mere idle ceremonial
! We believed what they proltsscd
that the lodges directed the politica
conduct Of its members, and that tho
members were sworn to obey. W.
have seen no reason TO change odl
opinion, nor to soften our language
A much harsher construction might
be placed on the epithets eppiied tc
them BY their late ally. If their oaths
their ceremonial, and their lodge
were "hummcry' and "tom-foolery,
it must have been because they dis
regarded the obligations Of their oaths
and the counsels and commands ot
their lodges. We are sure no sucl
charge was intended, yet the words
will hardly bare any other conatruc'
ton. Those oaths, lodges, and cere
monial, were very serious and impor.
tant matters. We rejoice that Nir.
ginians have been the first to dispense
with them.
Still it is melancholy to observe
the wretchod fate of once prosperous
and iubilant Sam The following
melancholy picture is not drawn by
an enemy, bat by one who sympa-
thizcs with the biyoted "natiyeism
of SAN" 1t is from the New York
Courier and Enquircr-high authority
and the richnoss Of the humor, the
vigor Of the pencil and the truthful
ness Of ,he picture, ali commend il tc
the earnest attention Of those who are
called upon to lament the premature
decline Of poor sam y
Under what happy star was it that
our friends the IN q0,c .N9!AiagS found
their name? A very silly and baby
lsh name some thought ia shock
ing bad and most ouiIan Ii h name,
in the mind of othcrs--a new and
most fantastic name, all agreed. Ii
turns out to have been just the thing
"a hit--a palpapble hit 1t has all
the qualities OF a good name. In cu-
phony, it il like one Of iIomcr's cpl
ihets. In originality, Bunyan could
not have done better In significance,
fitness, and application, there never
was anything, in the whole range OF
party nomenclature, Ike it. Ii Is a.
full of meaning As an egg is Of meat
descriptive through and through
suggestive and stimuIaiiyc out-and
out. 1t is more than a mere designa-
ton; it is an apoihegm in itscIf-a
watch word--a motto-a thing to be
borne in mind, and lived up to--a
name 10 be worked out aaJ made
good. That fast young man, ALcI-
Blades, the Greek historian tells Us,
cut of his dogs tail to set Athens "A
wondering. The American "Sam
dubbed himself Know Nothing from
no such low motive as that. He did
it from sense of propriety, and n
regard for truth. lie did it because
he specs" he ought to be called by
something characteristic Of Nun, and
because he don't know rAo he IS, Or
rterc he is, or ho'r he is, or '"hy he is.
He did it, because like Joe in Bleak
Hopsr, he don't know-nothing,' and
like Tsp$y in Uacle Ton, don't want
to know nothing,
"Know thysclf." An excellent
maxim that. Plato called it "heavcn
descended" But, We stars above us
what maxim for SAM" our young
hopeful. Where shall he begin
There is not one inch OF him he dare,
assert to be his own. His pineal
gland hns left MIN. His sense OF
identity is all snuaed out. 1t is rela-
ted Of Johnson-'rare Ben Johnson
that going home in his wagon, one
hot day, he fcIl asleep. Some young
scamps. passing that way, unhitched
his nag, and, sending the poor beast a
roaming, drew the wagon to the fence
After a time Ben awakcs. lie won
ders, and, wondering, cyclains, Am
| Ben Johnson, or am ! not? If am
Ben Johnson | have. lost horse; if
am not Ben Johnson | have found a
cart" Ben did not know himself
Neither does our Sam" Ben, how
ever. recovered bis wits. "iSam, we
fear, never will.
Physiolosl.is tell us that an alliga-
tor, when cut in two, keeps on mani
tcst;nc FIR n while canal vitality in