Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1868-11-05
BEECHERISM.



From the Baltimore Gazetto.l
The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher is
not at all above the love of lucre
Bait your hook with grcenbaclSs and
you may land him anywhere you
please. You may land him in the
pulpit, where he shall take the beauty
OF brotherly love for his text, and
preach damnation TO all who don't
agree with him You may land him
IN the rostrum, and be shall discourse
of "charity to the neighbor," and nd
by abusing him Fling him out on
tho green sward, and he shall praise
the glory Of the flowers, the majesty
OF the trees, the music Of the running
lstreams, and the fertility Of the globo.
Cast him back into the city, and be
shall recant all the praises Of the coun-
try as he recanted his only honest
utterance, the Cleveland letter, and
pander TO the worst passions of the
worst faction that ever numbered the
earth. His religious precepts have a
secular taint, his secular outpourings
are mixed up with religious cant. He
isapostle, preacher, journalist, lecturer,
essayist, farmer, hortieulturist, mis-
sionary, and charlatan, and through
all these various masks and faces men
may see Henry Ward Beecher, and
may trace the supreme egotism of the
Yankee. Not content TO limit the
versatility of his powers within the
range we have described, he now un-
frocks himself once more. He aspires
to the honors Of the novelist, aud as
Mr. Robert Bonner, of the New York
Ledger, the liberal patron Of the Syl-
vanus Cobb class of noveists, has
offered Mr.. Beecher quite Il large sum
of money for the parade of his talents
ia new field and the notoriety of his
name, he has pocketed the-well, the
compliment, and has kindly consented
TO iraternize with Sylvanus Cobb and
other tttterdfeTs Of similar calibre
The first instalment Of the novel so
bargained Tor has been out week
To say that the opening chapter is
"Beeoherism" is simply TO state what
every one who knows the intense
vanity OF the man would expect it to
be. The hand of Beecher is visible in
every line The notions Of Beecher,
both secular and religious, crop out in
every sentence. New England was
his birthplace, therefore he lauds
New England, as her accepted apostle
ehould, and with tie certainty that be
will be amply repaid by fulsome praise
from the quarter from which he is
constantly shifting the air.
"The chief characters of the open
ing" says one of the Northern journ-
ais, "are the hero and heroine of u love
story" How that story is construct
cd we learn from the following brief
but happy analysis: "Mr. Beecher
sandwiches at intervals between the
points OF bis love tale and the moral
which is TO adorn it. First comes a
streak Of lore fat, and then foll0us a
streak Of religious lean :" Ii is his old
pulpit method transferred TO the wri-
ting Of a novel, First a text from
Scripture, and then n discourse on
Sharp's rifes-the thin streaks of
religious lean being almost entirely
hidden between the broad layers of
political fat One popularity OF the
novel in question we have already
alluded 10. IL introduces us to Beech
or under different forms and DISCUSSES.
Writing from what the Germans call
"his inner consciousness the man
Beecher stamps his image upon all
the most prominent Of his persOnages.
Here, for instance, is a description of
himself sermonizing under the disguise
of Parson Marsh "There had been
some little parish quarrel, and on that
afternoon the text was "A new com
mand | write unto you, that ye love
one another But after the sermon
was done, the text was the best part
Of It. Some one said that Parson
Marsh's sermons were like the meet.
ing ghouso-the steeple was the only
thing that folks could see after they
got home"
We cordially commend this porlrai-
turo cf Beecher by his own hand to
the devotees OF Plymouth Church,
Brooklyn.
In another place we have n still
more graphic sketch OF Beecher in the
disguise of rooster in the midst OF
his congregation of hens Wequote: !:
"Tho great golden-spockled rooster
drew up with magisterial dignity aud
called out Cut tark.oui, cut, cut
Receiving no answer with low
grooming noise in his throat, he cock.
ed his eye, first at the doctor, then at
tho house, as much as to say, DO you
know what's going on here ? And
then letting down lis right foot, which
had boon drawn up in suspense, he
pompously moved off TO lecture his
hens on the mystery Of life |"
The whole Of the above extract is
capital. How admirably Boeohor hits
himself OF as "golden-speekled" The
"Cut.tark cut, cut, cut" tho shrewd,
sido-iong cock of the eye, the arttul
insinuation that everybody must nee.
essarily be ignorant but himself in-
piled in the query, ado you know
what's going on here n and the con.
sequential air with which ho moves
off to lecture his hens "on the mystery
of life" are all 30 oharactcristically
Beechersh that no one can mistake
the man, whether ho appears in broad
cloth as Parson Marsh, or in feathers,
as the Cock Of the Barnyard.
No ROMANCE few days ago,
young girl, accomplished and beauti.
ia! who two years ago was movingin
ihe highest society in New York, died
in the cell Of q station house, having