The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1860-08-17
A Widow in Troable.


ne dover to console their Widows -
n. That our spiritual guides and guard
Ill ians thus live poor, labor poor, ant
Sc die poor, is a fact, whatever may b,
st their gifts, not pleasing to the gen
I'd erous mind. To this rigid rule, th,
ne late Reverend George ID. Mclean
IN Of Princeton, Kentucky, afforded az
as exception. Who the Reverend Mr.
v. Mclean was, except that he was {
ID married man and Minister, W,
r know not; nor do we know wba
is particular creed was his private weak
ness. We only know that, upon biz
ID translation, he bequeathed to bis
h inconsolable relict "a black negro
(uamed Harrison) weighing one
m hundred and seventy pounds, with
10 some ot his teeth Out; a reader and
d a preacher" Also Laura, wife OF
% Harrison, with freckled face and
@ straight hair-a bright mulatto." -
a Also "a girl child Of Laura, nearly
white" So, we suppose, when the
d Reverend George ID. Mclean dis
n covered that his lungs were giving
a out, he derived unspeakabe conso-
!. lation from the fact that he left be.
: bind him for a solaco, one hundred
! and seventy pounds of Preacher,
:, with a reasonable aud proportionate
weight Of Laura and child. The
bequest was really handsome one.
, Harrison, without estimating his
theological requirements, was worth,
at ten dollars per pound, not less
than seventeen hundred dollars
Laura, only twenty-five years old,
would be good stock till forty, and
with care would produce, Providence
also smiling, from twelve to fifteen
valuable parcels, worth in the gristle
about three thousand dollars. The
girl child, being nearly white, would,
il reasonable pretty, be worth at four.
teen years oi age, in the New Orleans
market, about twenty five hundred
dollars. The sum total OF the legacy
left by this faithful Minister OF the
Gospel may be stated, therefore, at
about eight thousand dollars which
is comfortable sum for a mourner.
There was Harrison to preach and
administer spiritual consolation to
the widow Mclean; there WAS Laura
to wipe away her teaIs and get up
her caps; and there was the girl
child to divert her by its bounding
friskiness. But sorrow never comes
single in this world. The entire
legacy of the Reverend George ID.
Mclean has stampeded! The widow
Mclean is left to exclain: "Insatiate
fortune! would not George sutiice?"
II seems not
The first thing the widow Mclean
did-or the first thing after seeking
the Throne Of Grace--was to rnsh
to II printing Office, where she order.
cd the appropriate handbill with a
portrait OF Harrison represented with {
u bundle upon Ills shoulder, with his
left leg iel, niously elevated, and his
right foot, with malice aforethought,
projected-in that posture, in short,
technically known as "levansing. -
For the apprehension of the entire
absconded estate the widow Mclean I
offered a reward OF 5000. Having {
procured these placards, and, as we
hope, paid the Printer, Mrs. Martha
Mclean proceeded to that temple
in which her husband, while in the !
flesh, was accustomed to minister, 7
and affixed one of the notices to the
Church door, and perhaps stuck
Others upon each Of the horus of tho
al'ar-a proceeding which must have
been 30 soothing to tho perturbed
shade OF the Reverend George, that
we are surprised not to be informed
that he raped his approval upon the
communion table. 1t was very
good idea for Mrs. Mclean thus to
make all the brethren acquainted
with her loss. For, in the first place, '
it gave the successor OF the late q
Pastor an opportunity of emitting q I
neat discourse from the Epistle to q
Philemon, showing the depravity of
human nature in general and of
black human nature in particular
the rascality OF this Harrison, who
could thus desert widow in her
grief, and the propriety Of Offering {
dozen or two OF short prayers for the
speedy arrest and return Of Harrison
Laura, and tho little girl who was
nearly white, with VOW of unbound.
ed gratitude for the restoration of all
three, and OF proportionatc thanks
giving for that of the man only, the
woman only, or the child only. We {
do not know what formula is used
in the Princeton (kentucky) Church
upon such tremendous occasions.-
Our liturgical knowledge affords us
many methods OF prayer TOR the sick,
the dying, the dead, the bereaved, :
for all things necessary to the body
and the soul; but we do not remem. d
her any "prayer for the capture of
runaway negroes. But we suppose
that the Pastor of Princeton, Ken.
lucky, was ingenious enough to
invent one for the nonce. We Can 4
imagine him setting forth the spirit i
ual desolation in the house of Nc /,
Lean, in consequence Of the abscond ,
ing Of Harrison tho Preacher, who I
was now no longer at hand to do a 1
little cheap praying for his mistress a
when commanded. We can sup. /,
pose him passing from the family d
altar to the Laura.less laundry, and |
exhibiting to Heaven the wretched {
condition Of Mrs. Martha McLean's
linen; while tho "girl child about {
eight years old" is economically ,