Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-04-29
YI GOATS AND HOGS.
oar Sentimental Man and = Cor
respondent.


oar sentimental Man and = Cor
respondent.
The enforcement Of the goat and hog
ordinance by the police authorities has
awakened the deepest indignation in the
bosoms Of stock owners residing in
North Memphis. North Memphis is
blessed with the ownership Of quite an
army Of hogs aud goats that prowl
around the city as public scayengers'
and by way Of advertisement at night,
chamber over or root under the fences
and gates Of southern residents and lux
uriate upon the flowers and roots found
In vases and beds wherein they were
placed by the fair hand Of ye gentle
maiden or by the professional gardener
Many time and oft has ye gentle
maiden just risen from her couch, looked
adown from her window upon a scene OF
destruction, Of flowers ruthlessly rooted
up by the average porker, and Of gates
butted down by that most playful OF all
animals, the much abused goat Of the
period. Look upon that picture, then
on this" says Hamlet, but Linden
or Pinch showeth another sight
widows, with many children, residing in
shanties and humble dwellings and sing
ing stitch, stitch" the song Of the
shirt. Inside are poorly dressed chill
dren and a scanty larderi outside are
the half-dozen goats that supply
the tactical fluid for the children, and the
few pigs and porkers that pay the rent
and furnish an occasional barbecue.
Take away the goats aud hogs from
these people, and penury enters the
dwelling and sits grinning CHASTITY grim
maces upon the hearthstone. 1t were
better, indeed, that all the flowers on
earth we're buried deep as Hades than
that single cry Of distress should be
heard from woman or child. The poet
Gray has sung;
4" Let not ambition mock their useful toll.
Their homely joys or destlnies OBSCURE,
Nor grandeur meet with disdninful smile
The short but simple annals Ofthe poor.
But we are getting sentimental over
hogs and goats; yet Lawrence Sterne
gave utterance to the most beautiful and
most sentimental ideas over-an ass
The above sentences might never have
been written, did not the following letter
reach our sentimental editor from SEINE
unknown Memphian who signs himself
or herself An Old Citizen of Eighteen
or Twenty Years and Subscriber"
Now, the fact of being an old citizen for
either of the above periods oftimo makes
but little difference to us, but the more
important fact of being Z" a subscriber
makes the letter most interesting. May
the old citizen be able TO subscribe for
the LEDGER for fifteen or twenty years
to come, and ut the end Of that time we
will take pleasure in renewing the sub
scription-terms, eight dollars per an
mum, in advance. Butte the letter:
"SIRs-We would like to know by what
authority Captain Athy is authorized to
take up, or in other words, steal our hogs
off the streets, or open fences or pens
and drive them to pens Of his own and
sell them. Let me saw. by what authority
does he do this2 These hogs are our
property, and he or any other person
who does so is committing theft and is
subject to the law or the shotgun, as the
case may be, etc.
We can inform our correspondent that
Captain Athy is only enforcing an ordi-
nance passed by the General Council,
| and the only way he steals goats or hogs
is by employing the boys of the period
to steal up in rear Of the animals and
persuade them to migrate toward the
public pounds, where the animals are
sold, is not redeemed according to the
ordinance. We would advise our CORE
spondent that if he intends to shotgun
any hog or goat driver to do so early in
the forenoon, and not in the evening,
because the opposite course would give
the item to the morning journals.