The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1874-01-23
MIR. BOtherem's Speech.
POVERTY TEND MOST TO THE EXAL-
TATION OFTHE HUMAN MIND 2"

POVERTY TEND MOST TO THE EXAL-
TATION OFTHE HUMAN MIND 2"
Mr. PREsIDENT-I rise, sir, for the
purpose of saying something on this
question; question, give me leave tC
say, sir, which to any man who has i'm,
bibed his mind with ideas, can't be al
no loss which side to expose. The nues-
tion asks, Mr.. President, "DOes riches
or poverty tend most to the exaltation
OF the human mind ?' Notwithstanding
all which, have no doubt but before
the expiration Of this evenings debate
| shall paint vice and luxury in all its
horrors to which we are liable, in COM
pariSOn with virtuOus and honorable
poverty, as we all know is the case, and
l presume shall place the matter in a
| new and legible point of view.
| The love of money, Mr.. President is
a great evil, and luxury, sir, is the bane
of every vice. Having surmised this
key stone of my argument, | shall, Mr..
President, proceed to compare them to-
gether II such way as you will find
| there to be no comparison at all. Look,
sir, at the man prepOssessed Of luxury
behold HIM say, sir, arraved in muniti-
cent robes, decked out, sIr, in tawdry
| silks and satins, in purple and fine lin
en-, completely developed around, in
Eastern and oriental pOmp and munifi-
cence. Yes, Mr.. President, | repeat it
| again, see him declining on his enerva-
ted couch, or counting everv luxury to
| stipulate his appetite, which lie has
none at all, though he vainly tries to no
| purpose to provoke its influence by ex-
hailing rich Mocha coffee in golden tea
cups Of the most costly foreign clancy
from abroad, which I think, sir, our
our American chaney would be better
maietaGtored at home. .A5pplause.] =,
poet, "mark the end 0n't.n See this
high-foWn nabOb, unable no longer to
persecute his wild career-behold, sir,
his poor creditors, no more unable any
longer to liquidate his debts, destrained
to except an imposition of ten cents on
the dollar ; and thus we see many hon
est and ingenious men evolved in one
common ruin.
But, sir, | revert with horror, from
the portrait you have just heard. Yes,
sir, my frlghtful senses, say, revert with
DISSOLUTION from the scene; nv over
heated imagination chillsatt the thought,
and [ hasten to change this unpleasant
tropic, by displaying an opposite con-
trast.
| come now, sir to the man possessed
of poverty, and [ will venture boldly to
confirm tlat he has this grand adyan-
tage over the man possessed of luxury
he cannot, sir, experience such severe
losses; he cannot be so often baff1ed,
neither, can he be so often foiled, for
as much as his expectations are declined
uDOn low pinnacle of bliss. For hap
&c
perched on the neighbOring top of some
distant mountain, which the meagre
sportsman yainly strives to no pur-
pose to endeavOr to ensnare. He looks
at the crow, Mr.. PreSident,-and-M
President, the crow looks at him-and,
sir, they both look at each other. But
the moment he attempts to reprOach
him, he banlsheS away like the schis-
matte taintS of the rainbow, which it
was the astonishing and perspiring ge-
MUS of a Newton that first depIOred and
0nvelOped the cause of it. Applause.
Cannot the poor man, sir, precipitate
in all the beauties of nature, from the
loftiest mOuntings up to the most hum
blest valley, as we'll as the men prepOs-
sessed Of indigence? Yes, sir, while
tOiling, transports crown his view, and
rosy hours illure his sanguinary youth,
he can raise his mind up to the laws of
nature, ,lnCOmpressablea as they are, while
viewing the lawless storm that kindleth
up the tremendous roaring thunder, and
fireth up the dark and vapid lightnings,
and causeth it to fly through the imper-
viOus intensity Of s1ace that belches
forth those offal ant, sublime meters,
fathOmable legiOns of fiery hemispheres.
[Applause.]
Some times, sir, seated in some lovely
retreat, beneath the shadOwy shade of
an outrageous tree, at whose venal foot
snitfies some limping stream of stagnant
waters, he gathers around him his wife
and the rest Of his orphan children. He
there takes a retrospective view in the
diagram of futurity, and casts his eye,
like q flashing meter, forward into the
past. Seated in their midst, aggrava-
ted and exhaled by the dignity and in
coincident with honorable |
his eOuntenance irrigated with |
an intense glow of self deficiency and !
excOmmunicated knowledge, he quiet |
ly turns to instruct his little assem- blage,
He there endeavOrs to distil into their |
young youthful minds useless lessons to |
guard their juvenile youths against vice |
and Immortality, and teaches them to |
persplre TO that endless facility which |
shall never end. There, on clear sun
ny evening, when the silvery moon is |
shining forth in all her indulgence and
ubiquity, he teaches the first Sediments
Of gastrononly, by pointing out to them |
the bear, the lion, and many other fixed |
invisible consternations, which are con-
tinually involving upon their axle trees, |
through the azure expense of the blue |
eeRulean fundiment above. From the |
the vast ethereal he dives with them to |
the very bottom Of the unfathomab1e |
oceans, bringing up from thence liquid |
treasures Of earth and air, He then |
courses with them on the eimaginable wing
Of fancy, through the bounoless regions |
Of unimaginable either, until swelling
into impalpable immensity, he is for !
ever lost in the infinite radiation Of his
own overwhelming genius. (Grent 0p-
plause. NJ. BOtherem sits do,Cn, oUer-
enfaae lcith emotion nnd his ererti0nS