New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1867-05-19
MU MINES,

n AitaNl dblC plldH NOuli hl1 T'l'tN
potentate, whose only recommendation and
virtue might be that he had destroyed not
quite so many of Als subjects as some OF his
predecessors-imm the body of this
benevolent creature was wrapped in hun
dreds Of yards of the finest linen, and his
veins and arteries well filled with precious
drugs, and there was graduated a fully de-
veloped mummy.
His mummyship was not, however, con
tent with merely this degree OF care and
homage; he demanded still higher service.
Tbe mausoleum, or the sarcophagus, rich
with the sculptured records of the deeds OF
the departed, must be prepared, and then
the pyramid which throws the shadows
down through ages, must be erected
Years Of toll, the energies and labors of a
nation, the death of thousands, were ne
ccssaIy to secure for the mummy proper
resting place. He comes down to us
heralded by the most glorious of the monu-
mcuts that man ever erected, and as we
gaze upon the silent pyramid which has
Knocked decay and scorued time we feel
that within and under this grandeur there
must be a mighty presence, . jewel worthy
of the casket. Do we find it, No In the
| centre of all this magnifccnce, hid away
in its stone scarcophagus, we find a black
shaTeles7 mass which on exposure to the
light proves to be a horrible, sneering,
grinning mummy, which is made the more
hideous by the magnificent surroundings.
A mummy is an cminently disagreeable
thing to look at, and well do we remember
when a child thoroughly frightening our.
selves by cautiously peering into glass case
where four mummies gave quiet soirees
thrice a week, under the auspices Of the
Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia.
We are apt to think that the embalming
days are over; that there are now no mum
mics save the Egyptian ones. This is mis-
take; there are mummies now existing,
and mummies now quietly embalming III
society, even in these the halcyon days Of
civilization,
The largest species of this interesting
genus of social mummics is one which may
be termed the antiprogressionist. 1t is an
eminently conservative class, and is com
posed of men who are so eInbalmed in
ancient ways ana dogmas that in case crea-
ton had been delegated to them as duty,
there never would have been universe,
chaos being too aged and respectable an in
stitution to have been tempered with; It's
prcrogative of confusion too well established
to have been abridged.
This class adheres to old prcjudiccs, plat
forms, and creeds with tenacity which, |
though it may excite contempt ald ridiculc, |
still acts as a rctarding power in the history |
Of Intellectual and political improvement. |
Laws which were united to the age in which
they were passed became through the agency |
of several revolutions, and often by mere |
lapse of time, unsuitable to meet the de- |
mand5 of the present time. The general |
sense of security rebels against these laws, |
and demands their repeal they are pre-
scrptive, and hence unjust and dangerous |
in their tendency, and must be annulled.
New laws suitable to the new birth offreedom |
must be framed.
And then comes the wall of these social |
mummies in defense of the obnoxious laws
and customs They tell US: These laws
were planned in wisdom and grated into
our political constitution by Or forcfathers,
who were much wiser than we are, and
these laws are foundation stones, and if re-
moved the entire structure will fall
They frantically entreat US to adhere to
the ancient regime.
The truism, that revolutions never go
prevents the mummies from
ever attaining a decided victory, but they
act as a perceptible brake upon the wheels
of progress.
Alone they could achieve but little but
there is warning class in the political and
social build of every nation, which the
frequently influence and often
control. 1t is natural TO have respect for
age, and for ones fOrefathers, and the social
mummy taking advantage OF the bump o
plants his cerements, until
.he warning class, overcome by the perfume
Of the ancient days, bows to the aromatic
presence of the mummy, and lends its aid
TO the conservative wing in the great con-
test ever wagng between error and right,
between standstillism and progress.
The political mummics have OF late been
quite active, or as active as it is in the ma
lure of mummies to be.
The mighty steppings made by progress
n the last few years for time stunned
hem and they disappeared beneath the
pressure of the power which they could not
but now that there is an execu-
i've wing under which to find shelter, eye
men of ye ancient days" are again re-
appearing and participating in the political
contest.
BY their venerable presence, and from
.he musty smell of compromise which still
hangs about them, they act as continual
protest against the theory, so old, and yet
o them so new, that all human beings are
men, and as such are all entitled to equal
lights and privileges.
Old Blanket, however, to certain ex-
ent, accepts the situstion.r 1t pleads,
: No doubt but that ii is all wrong and i'm
proper for the negro to vote he has stepped
tut of his natural and normal sphere, but
IT'LL, as he teM vote, our advice is that he
yote with us, with his friends who have
always stood by him. Our interests are,
md always have been, one and the same,
ind so ardent has been our friendship that
n. the good old times which are passed,
yhen the negro attempted TO leave us, we
" gentle force restrained him, and If he
ucceeded In departing from the plantation
learthstone we followed and brought him
,ack to the bosom OF his afflicted family. 1t
s true that we may have used considerable
r. I