New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-12-14
rH1Hx1Ha A1p sEE1IN oBYKRsRLY.

/ S44AASA88N =
bennett would never have succeeded as
| q lawyer any better than he has developed
! himself into political editor. He can
never bring his facts and his arguments
into consistent relation with each other
His imagination is Chronic sore, while
his eyes are fountains of gladness. For
instance, last Saturday he called upon his
mental reserve to declare the condition of
st. Mary parish, and got for answer that
it's peace and prosperity had departed
since the war closed, because the people
bad bowed submissively to the laws and
The constituted authorities. Her wealth
is dissipated, her productiyeness is de-
parted, and she is now the wreck of that
former prosperity which raised forty thou
sand hogshead Of sugar. All this solemn
indictment against the present is duly
printed and circulated to inspire Strangers
with an abiding desire to make their resi-
dence in st. Mary. This is one side Of
the case, presented by the attorney of a
morbid Imagination. In the next column
another witness enters on the stand, and
this time it is actual observation, in
stead of mental observation that tes-
titles Vas to the situation of the
lovely parish by the beautiful waters Of
the Teche. bennett has been out among
the farmers, and instead of seeing the pow
erty which he imagined to exist, his great
down East eyes fell upon thrift and pros
terity in great abundance. There was no
installing the sign. Even the glass through
which he saw darkly, refused to discolor
the country with failing crops, wasted
farms and listless Incidence. The people
are up and doing. Crops are good. New
farms are opening. The desolation of the
great war is being repaired. The dis
jointed relations of labor and capital IRE
smoothing down to a. new and harmon
ious action. Men are making larger crops
with smaller forces. Independent labor
ers are asserting themselves as competent
to thrive without being subjected to owner
ship. Where the slave bent under the
whip, the man is seen armed with the law.
In another war the South will have no
necessity to relieve white men from mill
tary service, in order to guard suspected
bondmen. st. Mary parish will count on
her muster roll, as subject to duty in de-
fence of the State, all the people irrespec
tive of color, for each citizen will be pre-
sumptively, lover and defender Of the
country.
This is what bennett saw with his
eyes, and he tells it in Ills clumsy way,
leaving off the embellishments that make
it attractive to our eye of faith. And
yet, in the face of what he saw, and what
his industrious pen discloses, he allows
that brooding and morbid mind of his to
bewitch him into drawing most melan-
choly picture of affairs all around him.
Where the earth is all gladness he paints
us CHASTITY skeleton. Where the people
are trimming over with labor and energy,
upon barren breast. In the midst of
sunlight he is dismal shade. Away
with him or let some honest citizen of
the town of franklin furnish him with
high trottipg horse that will shake this
dyspepsia out Of his bones. Let him
give his mind a rest and trust to his eyes.
1t will be great relief to the Teche
country if this is done; for while the
present condition of mental strabismus
exists in the Banner Office we shall be
by these dismal fancies. Den
nett has snakes in his boots, and it is
time to have them out. His eyes are
but his intellect is drunken with
He dismisses the bounty that
is apparent, and the peace that is fruitful,
to sup on horrors, and invites us to the
feast. Away with him to trotting horse
or handy pump.