The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-08-09
T.lton as q DOlate.iO.

/
| Forty wears ago this summer, Young Henri,
, W. Beecher graduated from Amherst College.
| Tne next year Was born Theodore Tilton III
| New York City. People Yet in their youth
may yet remember the brilliancy OF TIlton +
debm. In the ten wears succeeding the attain
men, of his majority, he worked upon the IN
dependent and became the i'd ii and the week.
teacher of vast constituency OF readers. He
was Young, handsome and full Of heart he
| had the Dhusique of the natural III IN, ana a
head and face like Goethes, IN that bust o.
him in his youth, and such as pagan would
| have called Godlike. He WAS a man OF I'M
pulses and affection, no less broad than Mr..
Beecher's and in his writing he added to
these style trenchant and vigorous he loved
| umanity in the abstract, and he loved II Ia
his friends, having for his intlmates, even OF
his own sex, fraternal embrace that
smacked of the Gallo habit. tie was a
man whose heart Was great, and it was a
Time when heart was needed. 1t was time
| when dormant natures had to be reused, when
| the discouraged and the weary had to be
n rived again to the conflict. 1t was no time
tor logic, but tor battle, and we all pressed on
grateful for any impetus, impl lent OF reason.
In the great tnti-slavery war Ihe"dorJ Hilton
did his shar.. After the W,r we fell upon
times which demanded considerable cold cal
culttion and we Slid back, into the Id mate
ri ,istic ..horse-se sc ways of looking at
things. Oar Donatelo (for he strongly re-
minds us of Hawthorne's Marble Faun') },
seemed out OF place with his sentiment which
by that time we had come to call gush. In
our cynical mood. he seemed an overgown
boy rather than mature man. Spoiled by
the batteries that had been heaped upon him
and soured by business disapp ointment, we
Of 1anuth ntun uaH mi a Hnnacfio
d ,fficulty of an appalling character A SickleS
would have shot the supposed intruder, sell
fish man wo lid have settled 1t I for a consid-
Grafton" but lilton fOrgIve He undertook
to save his wife and Mr.. Beecher the smart
became too sore, and he sought advice. and
little by littl he proved quite inadequate in
cunning to carry out the plan which his heart
dictated.
We have sketched Mr.. Tiltons character,
first, because it IN really key to many
secrets tn this mystery, and. second, because
he maintains it to the end. The Tilton OF
curly days comes ont nowhere more strongly
than in his cross-exaulination. We see every
where the generosity # his intentions and the
pettin-ss Of his cunning. He apyrehend-
himself truiy when he says. g am not very
great man., but his whole examination be-
trslys no meanness in him. II thought / did
a rrtfty thing" he says, speaking Of his letter
to a compl timing friend, intended to hush up
the scandal, but which only added to it.
Again, his persistent equivocaton in repre-
senting his wife to toe pure woman"
though in fact he believed her to be guilty of
adultery. certainly cannot be stigmatized ms a
common lie. He meant to stand between his
wife and the world and his loyalty to her even
now is char ,cttr ste oi the man. Even when
asking advice to guide his own steps, he
l.,
bhcken her However men may iud e. that
it IN offense that will rest lightly i'll the eter-
nal balance. Again. speaking of their early
relations to Mr.. Beecher, Il think she looked
upon him very much as she would look upon
the Apostle Paul And in fact l ,Oked up II
him so in curly life. loved that man as we'll
as ever loved Il woman.
1t is entirely consistent with this sort of a
man T. at the Characterization. in endeavOring
to trace his fl ut CO umuuication with Beecher
on the subject to his desire to get aid in keep
ing his pace. broke down entirely Under
every guise in which the question was put he
insisted that his first move towards Beecher
after her confession. WAS inspired by his wife,
and to prevent an open scandal. 1t is vely
conceivable tia lis fine animal br. Ike his
vows OF fid, lily t. his wife; it is incon-
ceivable that he cherished for years deliber-
II
Beecher or tn aven"e II business slight He is
incapable Of that continuity Of enmtv or OF
purpose.
.4rs. rilton, the fearful mismate Of this
nature, was scarcely less striking in character.
She Is plliuly n" mere soft thing, tickle and
upset with u few illicit ciresSes. Theodore
was deeply religious man, as Dona,ello was
religious. and ,s the primitive men We're rell-
glou, when Il ey saw gods III the tie and the
stars. He would have made >plend.d pagan.
Mrs Ti.ton. on the other hand. Wits u rue
daughter of the church. She ought to have
b zen il ma. Sl5 cLn,tO nave Il h ,rr IT OF
her husbands rank intidelity, lis It seemed to
her.
SO stern is Mrs Tilton's orthodoxy that she
does not. according her husband. allow her
children their p.aythings on Sunday, and WAS
once greatly shocked that Iohl. q. Whittier
should appoint Il meetin, ut her house with
Mr. Greeley and Oliver John on on u Su utl.v
evening. Sh was not, says Theodore. a. = liy
woman taken captive: she would not feel fl IL
tened 10y call IRON Preoid nj Grant for ill.,
5 ance. "but if she regard d President Grant
~ MN OF higi religious nat IRE. c ming
with the Gospel in hi, la ID. and dev,'.ed 10
the evang heal Religion, Thea, whether h.
", re famous or lnwiv she W uld r..vele re |
him" Like M my high .usch na;ur - e
ldu nolTor vi Td'iicitlS OF All y It's. ana
especially of radical women. Wlen IL first |
saw Mrs. Woodruff, and when the latter WAS
merely II Spiritualst and woman suffrage lec-
urer. the eyes of both fiShe their r.pui-
,ion. Mrs Tilion regarded Mr.. St.rtnn and
,t.er irreprMchable women with no less aver
'm. But it is too painful to dAell on the |
noble natural traits of these wrecked lives.
The strong man and the religieuSe. the happy
ounders of a new home dozeu years ago tn
What hearlache have they come? Springfield
Rep.
The Germ IN and attn Races.
ThnS Ear Rso,,rcE h,s haan var, C,,ooaoc