New-York tribune., 1870-05-30

and cov with signs. and noisy with greatness.
His tender old soul yearns over It, Dimiy nc
s,,spects that it maybe more comfortaDie thah
the wilderness that for aged llmDs there may
he other beds softer than hemlock b0ugls, anu
that il would perhaps be better thing 10 die
in such. But he turns his back on 1t all, ana
saws no good-by He thinks it is from pure love
of freedom that he goes; but he is mistaken: {:
deencr still il an instinct which does not know
itself by name; which conquers and gives no
account of its victory an instinct that the
city would not want him-w0uld give him no
fitting place. All, the city knows even better
than he how right he is; how soon he would
come to be called "poOr old LeatherstocklnS'"
and be asked pityngly to fill nominal offices,
and be content with less than nominal honors.
We fancy him, glorious old worthy, sitting
dumb and dstrait at the city feasts,
and finding nothing to say when pert young
Jings toasted him with reference contemptu-
ously respectful. The very subtlety OF his
misery would be that he could not quite COM
prehend it. Gam not LeatherstOclingf Did
~ not cut down tie first trees' But for me
"w where had been this cityi The city is mine,
"and they that dwell therein are my sons"
Meantime, the sons are scOrnful or indlffer-
ent; the city bows down to the rule OF new
men who have come to live in it for gain, and
Notwithstanding pines. He looks very shabby,
too, in midst of the new splendOrs. His
clothes are of odd cut, and his voice is harsh.
II grew to be so in the days when he fought
with beasts that the wilderness might become
habitabe; and he is too honest to learn new
tones now, or even to understand why MS
words are unwelcome. Wise Misunderstanding
to fly from this; any possible dying in the
forest would be less death than such living.
We are almost afraid to say why we are
so moved just now to remember the tate
of Leatherstocking; and yet there Is really
no satire in our sympathy for the retiring
pioneers who so vividly recall him. When We
read in journal after journal the expressions
of enthusiastic satisfaction which have accom-
panied the announcement of the withdrawal OF
Mrs. II. b. Stanton and Miss Susan Anthony
from the editorship of The RerOlutiOn, and, in
fact, their general withdrawal from prominent
connection with the Woman's Rights move
ment, we feel precisely as we should have felt
if we had seen Misunderstanding himself, rifle
and all, disappearing with sad, slow steps
among the trees of the untried forest. And If
we add that, instead of rifle and all" we
came very near saying "tomahawk and all" We
still speak in tcnderest sympathy. Such plo-
neers have as hard time as they who hunt
panthers, cut down forests, and fill up swamps.
The two lives are more alike than appears
on the surface, and require men (or women ,
of equally rough make. And civilization,
whether it be in shape of new city or Six
teenth Amendment, is forever ungrateful to the
uncouth hands which make her first clearings.
Perhaps this kind of virtue is its own re-
ward We hope so for Mrs. Stanton's
and Miss Anthony's sake; for really we do not
see what other consolation they can find in
their present position. However there may be
still unexpored bowling spiritual wildernesses,
still uncleared social forests into which they
can plunge, where truant wild beasts can be
terrified into compromise, and the slow
gIowths of centuries can be torn up. We hope
so; that is, we hope, if there are any such
promising and satisfactory moral wastes, these
banished pioneers will 90 to them.
GOod-by, LeatherstOckings!