The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1866-02-28
The Southern Poor.

! ANUhEW JUHNSON,
/ ,aeas& President.
i .,ssgs .N~Noe~~A~>~~~~~ -
r5,. The Southern Poor. aa.a e. ID Z
It is fashionable for sensation preacher
and other hypocrites in the North to wreal
their vulgar vengeance on portion of tn
Southern people, by speaking of them a
"poor white trash The Augusta Consti
nationalist rebukes them in caustic way
as follows !: & 80 ,, s.
| These lowly beings-poor, indeed, bu
uprlght-are constantly bitter in the mouth
Of the Rev. Pharisee, who never wearies O
comparing them unfavorably with the negro
Of their own section and the white slave O
the North. The insults heaped upon this
class Of our people are unworthy Of min
ister Of Jesus Christ, the Father of thu
poor, but in excellent taste coming from tn,
opulent 'caricaturist of !. Brooklyn. Mr.
Beecher, like many another man. has beer
spoiled by evil courses and pew rents, HI
makes the common mistake Of involvin.
principles with potatoes.
When worldly minded materialist turn!
reverend and INDUCES in species of elo
quent and lofty tumbling for wealthy hypo
critics at $4,000 per annum, we marvel no,
at his sublime tergiversations or headlons
drifting from the gospel of peace and CHAIR
ty. Good living and greenbacks create
thick atmospheres, and the vision is full o.
obliquity when gazing through them 1T the
humble and the INDECENT. And so, purse
proud and self clarifying, with nose erect
like Jobs war horse snorting at heaven
but feet paving into the pit, this man and
hundreds of his caste disgrace the earth and
offend the skies. What Beecher g. Co.
blather about in the pulpit, hired scribblers
slobber over the press. This everlasting
aim IS to degrade the South by degrading
its poor, but the measure they mete out to
others, even the lowliest of these, shall be
meted back to them.
Before the war, a Southern pauper was a
rarity even in large cities beggars were as
scarce as January shad.s The time has new
er been when they did not infest the North
like the plaques Of Egypt and at this day,
the Philadelphia, New York and Boston
journals fill column after column with hor-
rible narratives Of human depravity and
wretchedness. In that section the tenden-
cy is for the rich to become richer, the poor
poorer. Never yet have we beheld any
thing approaching the leprous condition of
the North. and God forbid that we ever
should. Here, truly, the most of us are i'm
poverished, but not debased many Of US
are ignorant, but not degraded; many re-
duced to short commons, but few beggars.
Our poor, those especially living in the
country and subject to the sneers of dapper
eaves-dropping donkeys, are superior in ev-
cry way to those Of the same class toward
the Arctic: circle-called the North.
True, they live in log cabins, but they
built and own them ;.they, have but few
acres of tired land, but such as it is, it has
been paid for; they dress in coarse home
spun, but til is the product of their looms
and quite as comfortable and far more hon
estly obtained than the fripperies Of Queen
Shoddy they survive on coarse food, but
it is of their own raising; they know moth
ing Of metaphysics, but they fear God in
Of heart; they trudge every Sun
day to distant meeting houses, but once
there they praise the Redeemer in old fash
Toned hymns and not in the shibboleth of
Puritan infidelity; the old mans rifle hangs.
above the door and the old mothers Bible
near her bed brave and industrious
sons extort subsistence from Inc SOIL and
yirtuous and dutiful daughters prepare the
daily bread or ply the unceasing shuttle
they lie down at last in remote graveyards,
but the Angel Of the Resurrection will deal
more tenderly with these sleepers than
many that rot in the gilded mockeries at
Greenwood. a5lF
Thousands of these mean cabins have
sheltered heroic boys, and the place which
knew them once shall know them no more.
On every field Of battle they charged with
the foremost phalanx-on every field they
slumber, side by side, with the proud and
ofty. These are the beings-poor and in
-untutored but God-fearing-|
but valorous INDECENT but con-
tented simple but hospitable-these are
The beings that Beecher effects to despise
md scribbling rascals depreciate. We are
to understand it all. A cores
oondent of The New York Times has
taught us an important element in SANDER,
when he confessed that false witnessing
was, acceptable to the North and
hence he lies for his paper and hence too,
Beecher lies for his congregation. Wei
shall always denounce this yillany, when
aver presented. All honor to the South
srn poor, for their sacrifices, their honesty,
bheir independence palsied be the hand
that is uplifted against them and paralysed
The foul tongue that wrongs them with the
ola lie.
b9~ A petition has been received at
Washington for presentation to the Presi-
dent, asking for the pardon of J. G. Brock
lnridge, signed by upwards Of forty.