Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1857-07-17
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Communicated for the Lewisburg Chronicle.
Cosi.atiOnS idmonitOTy....NO L.

Communicated for the Lewisburg Chronicle.
Cogi.atiOns idm0nitOry-..NO 1.
When | was young, there was 4 newspaper
rr;n.ed in the nearest country village, which
well remember had for its text or motto the
manly, heroic sentiment
.H,li.y 10 prai<e-pur NOT AFRAID To BrAxE!"
How faithful the sheet was 10 its short creed.
am not able al this interval Of time to say
only remember it had FIVE short and narrow
columns to a page, on dingy looking paper,
with foreign news concerning Bonaparte or
Bolivar from three 10 six months old, with
good Tale now and then administered in
alonahc doses for a month or two, homcO-
pa,hic Poets Corner weekly, and an eclectic
dose of Anecdotes TO suit other matters.
1t often occurs 10 me, as this oracle Of my
childhood comes unbidden but not unwclcome
to nv memory, that there is no; enough OF the
spirit of its motto in the editorial corps-not
enough of sterling independence and supreme
devotion to the public good in the utterances
Of our public journalists. Few indeed are the
editors who dare speak out their honest senti-
ments, like fearless men. They are too much
disposed to empty or purchased compliments,
to prophesy smooth things about all things and
all men, and 10 cry Peace! Peace. continu-
aly-"wiliing 10 piease.' But they lack totally
the nerve or the will correct Pernieious
ruhlic customs, 10 chaSiise offenders against
rublic morals. and check individual trans
cressions upon public rights. II is true, we
often see the motto. "lndependent in all
.hass," Fearless and Free "Neu'ral in
nothing,r e, Get; but as rule, you will find
that those who make the least professions of
lnderendencc, best illustrate that virtue
rractically; while the veriest trimmers 10
passing breezes, the most sycophantc cring-
ers to station and to money, while bcastlng OF
their integrity have given the least possible
cy,dence of backbone. Gentlemen Editors!
.,hese things ought not so TO be- Doubtless
1t is more grateful to praise than 10 blame,
and II is no pleasant task TO crltIcise when
condemnation is required by conscience; and
vet. the censor isR more useful being than
the latterer. 1t is by no means a poetical
are the uses of adversely" Thou ar, the
man. were the words of preacher worth
score OF the highly educated "Revcrends" of
our day who "disaPprove OF the exceeding
sinfulncSs Of sin" in general, everywhere and
among all men, and recommend ''holiness in
the abstract but who never dare 10 expose
and denounce a practical, vulgar, every day
SIN by name so as to hit the mark unmIstak-
ably, and impalc the offender as Nathan did.
They are "atraid 70 blame
With the truth authenticated by Holy Writ
Itself that "the wounds of friend are faithful
while the kisses of an enemy are deceitful,"
you may rest assured, whoever you are and
whatever may be your sphere in life, that
timely and candid admonltion of public evils
will be well considered by all whose good
opinions are worth having, although they may
excite the anger of those worthy of animal
version or the disgust of those who Galio-lkc
"care for none Of these things" Downright
honesty need not, however, be impcrtinent or
pugnacious. Aside from the natural right of
all men and women to try to benefit their fell
low beings as they have opportunity-besideS
he relations of citizens and neighbors, which
have their pleasant as well as their unpleasant
dutics-the great Declaration of Independence
We have all just heard read, confirms, as by
statute, "the liberty to know, 10 utter, and to
argue freely all matters of public concern
to scold, and TO score, wherever We deem it
proper. And all people have a right TO hear
and then reject-to read or not TO read-to
PRINT or not TO print-exactly TO the same ex-
tent.-But this introduction is far too long,
and proceed TO practice upon my own pre-
cepts.
And, lst. The Day of our Nations birth is
becoming too much undervalued. In some of
the cities and larger towns of our land, no
general observance whatever was had of i,
The White House itself, I read, was no, omen.
Cd to visitors this year, as it has been hereto
fore. In the South, the tendency is fearfully
downward. In twenty years hence, if the ig-
norlng OF the day proceeds as rapidly as it has
ior twenty years past the Declaration will be
pFoscr bed as an incendiary publication for,
Already, some Of its greatest men have pro-
bounced its PRONUNCIATION of "self-evident
truths 10 be "selCevident lie" and they will
'aaIbit its circulation and forget the day that
gave 1t birth. AT the North also, some seem
" regard 1t as of less consequence than ones
own birthday, or the nativity of some imagin-
- SAINT, or the parade day of some secret So
''ely. as the proper observance of the Sab
O@'h Is Inc sures, index OF the true belief Of
s'y people IN the Christian Religion, in Ike
I,l amer Is the regard for the Fourth Of July an
Indication Of Ou- sincere attachment 10 the
fls principles oiL.y,.,v.