New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-08-04
A WIDOW IN TROUBLE.

temporal toll, and called TO their eternal rest leave
little dover to console their widows. That our
spiritual guides and guardians thus live poor, labor
poor, ard die poor, is q fact, whatever may be
their gifts, not pleasing to The generous mind. TO
this rigid rule, the late Rev. George ID. Mclean OF
Princeton, KY, afforded an exception. Who the
Rev. Mr.. Mclean was, except that he was mar
ried man and minister, we know mott nor do we
know what particular creed was his private weak.
ness. We only know that, upon his translation,
he bequeathed ~ bis inconsolable relict Z" black
NEGRO (named Hsrrisop) weighing one hundred
" and seventy pounds, with some Of his teeth out;
ga reader and a preacher" Also Laura, wife OF
Harrison, with a ireckled face and straight hair
Ga bright mulattO." Also Ga girl child OF
"Laura, NEARLY WHITE" So, we suppose, when
the Rev. George ID. Mclean discovered that his
lungs were giving out, he derived unspeakable con-
ISOLATION from the fact that he left behind him for
solace one hundJ ed and seventy pounds preacher
with a reasonable and proportionate weight Of
Laura and child. The bequest was really baud
some one. "HarIison," without estimating his
theological requirements was worth, at ten dollars
per pound, Lot less than seventeen hundred dollars.
Laura, only twenty five years old, woult 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 if reasonably pretty, be worth
fourteen years of age, in the New Orleans market
about twenty five hundred dollars. The sum tota
of the legacy left by this faithful minister of the
Gospel may be stated, therefore, at about eight
thousand dollars-whch is comfortable sum for
a mourner. There was Harrison to preach and ad.
minister spiritual consolation to the widow Nc
Lean; there was Laura to wipe away her tears
and get up her caps; and there was the "grl
child" to divert her by its bounding friskiness.
But SORROW never comes tingly in this world. The
entire legacy of the Rev. George d. Mclean has
stampeded The widow Mclean is left to ex-
claim: "Insatiate fortune would not George suf-
fce?" 1t seems not
The first thing the widow Mclean did-or the
first thing after seeking the Throne of Grsce-was
TO rush TO printing where she ordered the
appropriate handful with portrait of Harrison"
represented with bundle upon his shoulder, with
his left leg fsoniously elevated, and his right foot
with malice aforethought projected-in that pos
ture, in short, technically known as "levantls g."
For the apprehension Of the entire absconded estate
the widow Mclean offered reward of $500.
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, and affixed one
of the notices to the church door, and perhaps
stuck others upon each of the horns Of the altar
a proceeding which must have been SO soothing
to the perturbed shade of the Rev. George, that
we are surprised not to be informed that he raped
bis approval upon the communion table. 1t was
very good idea for MIS-. Mclean thus to make all
the brethren acquainted with her loss. For, 10 the
first place it gave the of the late pastor
an opportunity of emitting neat discourse from
the Epistle to Philemon, showing the depravity of
human nature 10 general and of black human ma
ture in partcular-the rascality of this Harrison,
who could thus desert widow 10 her grief, and
the propriety of offering dozen or two of short
prayers for the speedy arrest aud return Of Harri
son, Laura, ard the little girl who was nearly
white, with VOW Of unbounded gratitude
for the restoration of all three, and of
proportionste Thanksgiving for that of the
man only, the woman only, or the child
only. We do not know what formula is used in
the Princeton (Ky.) Church upon such tremendous
occasions. Our hturgical knowledge affords us
many methods Of prayer for the sick, the dying
the dead the bereaved, for all things necessary to
the body and the soul, but we do not remember
any prayer for the Capture of Runaway Negroes"
But we suppose that the Pastor Of Princeton, KY,
was ingenious enough to invent one for the nOnce.
We can imagine him setting forth the spiritual
desolation in the house Of Mclean, in consequence
of the absconding Of Harrison the Preacher, who
was now no longer at hand to do little cheap
praying for bis mistress when commanded. We
can suppose him passing from the Family Altar TO