The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1860-12-21
Criminal Disregard of the Public Sem
sibilities.

rapidity. Now we are up to the topmost
heights; now we are down to the lowest
depths. These vibrations between extremes
of feeling and condition, may serve some
good purpose in keeping the blood in circu-
lation, and in preventing the mind from
rusting; but when the motion is sudden,
they have wearing tendency. The human
frame and mind are admirably constructed
to bear all ordinary drafts upon them, but
violent shocks are dangerous. Therefore, it
is, that those who recklessly plunge COM
munities into unnecessary excitement, are
always counted enemies of the public welfare.
We regret the necessity of placing the
Henderson Democrat in this unenviable
position. The people have been seriously
exercised, for some time past, in regard to
the stability of the Union of these States.
But, under the influence of the conservative
movement among Republican politicians,
backed up, as it has been, by the masses of
the people in Massachusetts, at the late
municipal elections there, the public mind
had become more hopeful, and was resting
itself down into comparative quiet. At
this precise juncture, when it would seem a
mercy to let them alone, or, at least, tt. stir
them up tenderly, the Democrat utters
vehement, nerve racking cry, first, to the
Men of the North p secondly, to the
Men of the Northwest p and thirdly, to
the "Men of Minnesota !" calls upon the
entire crowd, individually and collectively,
to "Awake!" informs them that " This is
no time for sleep" and, before they have
had time to rub their eyes open. startes
them with the exclamation "You are about
being involved in ruin p and then adds, in
the same breath, Aye, the ruin is upon
you"
Following directly upon this alarming
awakening, and before solitary man, either
of the "North," the Northwest" or of
" Minnesota" has had time to recover his
faculties, the Democrat tells them all to
look whittier they will, to the South, to
the East, to the West, and the heavens are
lurid with the glare of confagration, which
is destroying the noblest fabric ever built
by man ;" that with the next puff of the
breeze, the mad waves of the angry fame
will overwhelm them, and wither them, as
chaf or stubble, by its furious heat" that
fanaticism has applied the torch to the
gorgeous pile;" that "the hungry fire is
tapping its thousand forked tongues around
the dome-aye, about the very spire of the
building" that zone, two, three, of the
columns supposed to be South Carroll
ma, Georgia and Alabama have already
parted from the superstructure )" that " the
structure is falling from them because the
flames have already made sad havoc with
the fifteen supposed to be the Northern
States on the opposite side;" that the
ruin is falling, not that way, not toward the
three, i.e., the South, but this way, toward
the fifteen i.e., the North )" and that it
threatens to overwhelm US with fiery mum
dation."
OF course, we cannot tell how all this
affected the entire body of the" Men of the
North" the Men of the Northwest" and
the " Men of Minnesota ;" but answering
for ourself, we will contestant we hope
without mourning the imputation of weak
ness-that when we saw E" the hungry fire
tapping its thousand forked tongues around
the DOME" and, straining our eyes upward,
in wondering terror, beheld these same
forked tongues" also about the very spire
of the building" and then, on lowering our
gaze, saw that zone, two, three, of the
columns had already parted from the super
structure" We concluded that tie game was
up, the {" building" done for, and the whole
concern gone to everlasting smash.
At this point, when horror, acting upon
sensitive organization, might, and probably
would, in very short space of time, have
cleaned us out, we cannot tell how gratefully
the renewed call of the Democrat to the
Men of the North! Men of Minnesota p
fell upon our despairing heart. Nor, how
joyfully we caught the exclamation, half
question, half adjuration, "Shall it fall ?"
because that gave us assurance, even
against the evidence of our senses, the
moment before, that the building" was
not utterly demolished, that the "hungry
fire /" had not destroyed the "dome," and
that, in spite of the detection of one, two,
three, of the columns" the "spire still
stood erect-still pointed upward, like
Hopes finger, through " the mad waves of
the angry fame" This opinion was sus-
tanned by the imploring request of the
Democrat, to crush to the tottering columns,
and hold them erect, whilst extinguishing
the flames, and repairing the damage" And
it was confirmed by the subsequent assur-
ances of the Democrat, that " the United
States" still remain an "ezisting nation :"