The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1868-03-20

: except the name:
LANCAEsTER, February, i5th 1868
REV HENRY w. BEAcHER--Sr:--
/ hardly know how to address SC
great man. You said in a sermon
some time ago, that honesty ought to
be rewarded. i am honest with ny
fellow-men, myself, my God. Car
get recommendations (the best from
Lawyers, Doctors. Preachers, etc
Get me an eassy (sicD situation, thai
honesty may be rewarded. I ElEss
1 To which / append my reply.
| My DEAR FRIEND The proper
way to address great man is the way
in which you would any man who has
good common sense. Never begin
by telling him that he is great man
IT lie is one, he probably found it out
before on did; and if he is not one,
you will not be apt to make much by
tickling his vanity by so cheap a com
phment. -~.a 2 & soIs -IaE
4 Surely a man as honest as yoI arc
has been rewarded already. What
''honest with your fellow men your.
self, and your God' There are few
men that can say AZ much. Honest
with your fellow-men? Is your con.
duct without knots, wind shakes, oil
cracks ? How long has it been so
Have you come to it gradually, as
the winter apple ripens, or has it al.
ways been so? Excuse these ques
tions, for really I am deeply interest
ed. You belong to an exceedingly
small class. You have few fellows nc
earth. Indeed when you add that you
are honest with yourself / cannot
keep company. You are ahead of me;
and that clause--honest with your
GOd--tales yon entirely out of my
sight. Why do you come to me Z
ought to sit at your feet. You are
my master.
u No doubt you can get "recommen-
datiOns from Lawyers, Doctors,
Preachers" You place those gentle
men, doubtless, in the order of their
honesty, ending in a climax. Law
yers are prOverbially honest. Doc
tors never deceive, preachers always
fpractice what they preach. Recon-
mendations from any of these smack
of self-laudation. Get some one not
so inevitably good to commend you.
Are there no editors, no members of
Congress, in your,neighborhood?
But now come to the most impor-
tant part your letter. "Get me an
eassy situation that honesty may be
rewarded" / am ready to do all in
my power for you. Had you signifi-
ed the sort of an easy place you would
prefer l should have been less per-
picked. Let me see
How would good farm suit you--
with say 30 head of neat stock in the
barns, 30 horses, 100 head of hogs,
cribs full of corn, and 30 stacks of
good timothy hay, besides all that the
cattle can eat moved away in the
barn? 1 propose giving you this.
But, on reflection, l am sure it would
not be easy enough. Hired men must
be loked after. Fences, tools, and
buildings want'continual repair. Sum
mers are very hot, winters are very
cold, and farming requires a man to
be up and about in all seasons. No,
l am sure that good farm will not
be an easy place
I give up this project the more will
ingly because 1 thought of manufac-
turing. Would you like to own large
cotton or wooden mills2 A great deal
o: money has been made land some
lost) during the last 10 years in man
ufacturing. But just now / am afraid
there is some embarrassment in the
business. The place is not easy
enough. / would not, if were you,
90 into manufacturing, nor merclan-
dizing, nor speculation. There is too
much agitation just now.
/ could sc nd you to Congress Eve
ry thing is easy enough tLerel But the
singular honesty which you possess
would make you lonesome. Con.
gressmen are all, or most all. honest;
but not so honest! and you might
find yourself an object of jealousy and
envy, which would take from the ease
of your position all the more, be
cause it would bring you so near to
the White House.
I Now my, dear fellow, that is the
very place for you Your peculiar
virtue of honesty would eminently fit
you for that place. The White House
has been often refurnished, but new
er with that which you would carry
to it, with one late exception. 1t
took the nation four years to get
used to honesty in President; and
then, alas, just as people began to
like it, he and it disappeared.
You are born President All par
ties are looking out for you. They
want man "Honest to his telloao men,
TO himself, and to his God What a
motto i'd that to run race with
Thus far they seem not to have found
just the man. If | were to divulge
your name, no doubt you would be
ravished away to Washington in spite
of your screams, and made President
of the United States. And the only
reason why 1 do not disclose your
whereabouts, is that / fear that the
Presidency would not prove that
"easy" place, which you so justly
think is due to your honesty.
In fact, believe it is hard place.
We read of many patient martyrs
Men have sung in the flames, and
been broken on the wheel and rack
without groan. and have worn a
Heavenly countenance while arrows
were piercing them or stones plump
ing down upon them. And all these
things might be. But shall we ever
see holy martyr whose faith will
sustain him in the Presidential chair?
Can man be tormented by office
seekers, praised by parasites, teased
by widows, overrun by Congress,
carved and pierced by both parties,
flayed by newspapers, cajoled, deceiv-
ed, and finally tormented by cabi-
net, who treat him to advice as con-
solatory as that which Job received
; from his frlends-and yet be a saint
Can there be peace in the White
Hause? You are the very man
for a President, but the Presidency
is not the place for you! 1t is not
"easy p
i Perhaps you would like to come to
New York and take Mr.. Astor's place,
or Mr. Stewards. Let me advise you