The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1866-01-05

s5Is lecture. delivered before that association.
m Monday evening. Goth inst, take this mode Of
,erforming that most agreeable duty Hoping that
T5u will not fail TO favor with the desired copy,
" remain
Respectfully yours,
7. 7 7 I. T T. f%SS5 i%SSSHh' 54S$HEhrr, Committee,
YORK. Pa, Nov. IS, 1855.
To o. T. Shannon ". T. DrughsrtU and ".
LygRS ESg'S, Committee
GGNrLEWFy The copy of my lecture before the
keystone Club Of Bedford, which you requested in
vrur note Of the 23d inst. is herewith placed at
y7gr disposal with sincere thanks for the kind
;r.rit which dictated the request
Very truly and respectfully, yours.
JAMES +. SKUNK,
propose, to night, to discuss, as full
II as l can, within the limits Of an
hour. the Liteyat,6'eQf the abolition Yan-
tse. The subject is almost novel one.
We have had no time and been in no
mood during the past five years, to eX-
anime the structure Of the Yankees
prose. to count the feet in his couplets,
Or to discuss the merits or the morality
Of either. He has given us reading of
another and heavier kind, which could
not be put off. He has entertained Us
with taX-bills which took away our
money, and prOciamati0ns which stood
in stead of our laws, has diverted our
attention from the light and demOraliz-
ing literature Of the stalls, to the peru
,al Of healthy tracts, showing to our
delighted minds the blessings of a ma
ti0nai debt and the joys Of an early
death in the arms of ConscriptiOn. To
suppose people with such pressing lit
erature as this thrust into their hands,
capable Of reading anything else, Is to
give mankind credit for an amount OF
industry anda deal Of cQm9p93HEe which W5b i!ef5hl
~art that there is no writing in the Eng
Ash language so thrilling, or which eX-
cites such lively personal interest in the
reader, as the notice that he mas been
drafted and has ten days allowed him in
which to prepare for glory or DEATH
The hard prose Of the Conscription Act,
has shaken hearts with amightiert touch
than the Ioftiest lines of Shakespeare or
the tenderest melody Of Burns. pre-
ciseIy in the proportion as it Is sadder
and more tragic for human creature
to read his own doom than to dream o.
yer the woes and tears Of visionary men
and women, or Of generations that are
in the dust. Nor is the taX-cOllector a
better friend to study than the provost
marshal. It's impossible to read poetry
with satisfaction when you are engaged
in estimating the comparative advan-
tages Of being shot or starved, cOnscript-
ed or sold out of home. Odes, ballads,
plays, histories, novels, are alike impo-
tent to engage the attention of the cit
lzen, who is listening to the breathing of
government spy at his keyhOle, wait
ing for the rap Of pr0vost-guard at
Ms door, or watching from his window
for the approach of the bayoneta which
are to stimulate his patriotism. Since,
then, the awful scenes Of the years just
past. have afforded US no time to charm
0lrminds with the fancies of the world )
Tisest men, it Is not likely that we
should have given many midnights to
the scribbIings Of the meanest race that
ever read books or wrote them. Hence
IT'S that my subject is not a hackneyed
one.
Before we go further it is well to un-
derstand that by the Abolition Yankee
iTeier, and refer solely, to that band of
malignants who now dominate over
New England, and, as has been most
ruly said, "ruIe US for their pleasure
and plumber us for their profit There
"a Democracy in the Eastern States
"aich we must all respect and cling to,
1'. merely because they are one with
Is IN devotion to the constitution of our
eountry, one with Us in their contempt
or the ''higher law" one with Us i'm the
termination to preserve this govern
A-ent as a heritage for white men and
"''lr children, but because they brave
~ Steadfastiy, and year by year, cast
'''e' utterly hopeless for present effect,
d" 'he calm belief that God will bring
'> better days, and that, in any event,
l. better to be right than to be pop
''"I' Every word that we can utter
VI uehunciatiOn of the cruel and corrupt
1'oiIIonlsts is word of praise to the
'''t men who have stood up against
Inn III his home, and who have fearless
VUght to wipe from their own states
>tlgma of his crimes and to re-
Su The rest Of the land from the
s'% oi his rule. The names of such
.aI -" aS % Pierce and Toucey and Seymour
the CurtiSes are thrice dear to us
,1use they have proclaimed the truth
- ~ STOOD steadfast to it in the face OF
l.e most ferocious and lawless majority
~ -, ever held land under its heel.
o, nave said that my subject is a novel
in, II Is, nevertheless, oneof the most
"r'ant that can engage your atten-