Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1869-03-03
mr. BEECHER oNLYINg.

has an amusing article, III which he dis
cussea the question whether men car re-
member what never happened He shows
that such stretch of memory is possible
by Que or two instances, We extract
part of the article, the whole Of which is
IN Mr.. Beecber's Aapeieet vein:
Some eighteen or nineteen years ago,
room after coming to Brooklyn, heard
the following story told of the now veneer
able DR. Samual Cox, the father of many
brilliant sayings, as well as of Bishop Cox,
Of western New York The story runs
thus: 's0n aSunday morning in August,
Or. Cox, rising tc the sermon, without
warning or prefix. began, 1t is ID hot
Looking around in calm and pious way,
he wiped his forehead, and again said,
IT is ID hot Waiting till be thought
the words had burnt in, he proceeded,
These words, my brethren, I heard from
the lips of profane young man as [ en-
tered the doors of the church, There.
npon, the story goes, he proceeded to give
an edifying discourse On the sin and folly
Of profane swearing"
When first heard it, I recognized the
story. 1t was an old acquaintance. It
had been doing service in England It
vas told of Rev. Rowland Hill, only in his
the topic was not the weather, but the the
atre, on which the young mans profanity
was expended But stock stories, like
couriers, like to change horses. Before I
knew it the saddle was shifted to my back
nor have been able to shake it off. /
have denied it, twice in print, mary times
BY letter, and hundred times in CONVEX
sation, all in vain The saddle sticks,
and every month we find new fool rid
ing in it.
DENYING one of these stories is like fight.
ing Canada thistlcs. If you cut them up
cen more will spout from each root, and
If you let them alone million viii spring
from the seed. The only way to extermi
nate the Canada thistle is to plant it for a
crop and propose to make money oat of it.
Then worms will gnaw it, bugs bite it,
: beetles will bore it, alphides will suck it,
birds will peck it, heat will scorch it. rains
will drown it, nildew and blight " II ri, e
it. All nature helps weeds and runs down
crops. We are afraid to deny lie It would
start off walking like Weston. A new
batch ofletters would come moaning and
inquiring at our door. Fresh vigor wonld
be given to its withered limbs, and like the
wondering Jew, it would go tramping up
and down creation till the last day. No,
sos safety's sake, We do not propose to de-
ny it any more 1t would be the ruin of
innocent souls, as this narrative which
shall give will prove.
And the narration of the incident brings
me back to the question whether one can
remember what never happened. It will
be seen that he can.
Sitting at friends table, one evening,
/ was telling an incident that befel me--in
this wise
ga young man from Buffalo called to
see me to day. He said that he beard a
young lady, in large company, relating
the story of my beginning selAon with
this phrase 1T is id hot He at once
contradicted it. She affirmed it positively.
He replied I have lately read a publish
cd denial of the story from Mr.. Beecher
himself She answered: Why, I was
present myself at his church and heard it
with my own ears Of course he could
not say what he thought, but replied, I
ara going to New York, and 1 viii myself
call and ask Mr. BescheY'
The case seemed SO fagramt, that said
to him ",When you go back, I wish you
would take occasion, before witnesses, to
say to this lady, from me, that she lies, and
that she knolUs that she lies, and that she
know that know that she lies"
This was very improper language, but I
was angry, and, besides, had been read
ing the Tribune.
When | had got thus far sweet young
girl who sat opposite me, brought mp un-
der my eye almost from the cradle, and as
incapable of know ngly telling falsehood
as a rosebud would be of committing bur-
glary, this innocent and charming child of
fifteen looked over at me, and said 1:
"But you did say so, didn't you, Mr.
Beecher? | heard you p
For moment there was silence. Then
came a crash of laughter from the whole
company. Confused and blushing scaalet,
she said:
"Why, 1 always thought that 1 had
heard you say it !"
For the first time I then believed that
person might distinctly remember what
never took place. l take back my mes
sage to the Buffalo lady, and hunbly apol-
ogize for supposing that one could not re-
call thing which never happened.