The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-02-05
Fer the CITIZEN.
SylVanus VS.. Rehexus.

week, there was an article in reply TO /
mine of the number before the last, in /
which the author says my article was
well written, and he also pays me the |
further compliment by saying, 81 know
Sylvanus is fair and honest, and wants
to be set right" For these compliments
l thank him kindly, and l also thank
him for his effort TO "set nae right" If
was wrong, there is nothing would
appreciate more than being set right.
If quoted the language used by the
speaker referred to incorrectly, or gave
the language meaning not intended by
the speaker, then l would be glad TO be
corrected, and so would that portion Of
the public who understood it as did.
RefieXus, after quoting from my re-
marks, giving the substance of the pro-
position from which L dissented, says,
snow this is certainly not the phrGseoI-
Ogy or the grammar of Judge SpOfford,
and conveys no correct idea-if it does
not miss the matter entirely-of what
the Speaker did saw" AS to the gram
mar he fails to show wherein it was diff
ferent from that of the learned speak
er, and as to the phraseOlOgy, 1 didn't
claim it was exact, but was substance
of that used. He attempts to give tho
language, and says sit was on this
wise: !" "The man who is Virtuous from
force of habit alone is like the Dutch
clock" &c. / am willing to leave that
matter to those who heard it, and to the
speaker as to which of us is nearer
right on this point. l think Refiexus
has done injustice to the speaker by his
manner of stating the proposition. He
makes it appear that there are men who
are virtuous not only "from force of
/ habit" but ''from force of habit alone"
/ Now when we consider that habit is ac-
! quired, that It is natural with no one,
and that it is acquired by repetitiOns of
the same act, the proposition refutes it
| self, unless habit forms itself, which
| presume Reflexus would not argue. We
admit there is no virtue in the mere
habit itself, but there certainly is III one
who acquires the habit, if it is a good
one. But the manner of stating the
| proposition by Reflexus excludes ali
| possibility of such a thing, for he speaks
of persons being good from force of
habit alone. But strange to say, Reflex
US afterwards agrees with me that no
one is good ''from force of habit. -
| Very well, then, but how is he like the
Dutch clock, if there is no such being z
You have compared him to something
that has an existence, and what become
of the figure, and why are they men,
toned at all. And he further agrees
with me that there is virtue in the hero
ic effort to acquire good habits, and he
thinks the speaker would have COM
mended it had it come in his way
Very well, say again; but then what
becomes of MS proposition which ex-
cludes that idea? And again, what be-
comes of the "Dutch clock business
and of the ''human machine" But he
says ''the speaker was hurting as keen g
lance as ever was thrown at routine Uir-
tue and htImdrUBl pSety," and Refisxus
gives us the definition of routine. The
speaker said nothing about routine Yir-
tue nor humdrum piety. This has
rather the appearance of the shrewG
dodge of an attorney, who feeling him
self called upon to meet proposition ,anC
not being altogether able, endeaYors to
refste some other proposition, although
it may have similarity to, is quite diff
ferent from the first. He must stick tC
his proposition. He says / am fair and
honest; so he should deal honestly with
me, especially since he wants to "set
me right" But he says this habit bus
mess is long after the heroic effort hai
ceased, and the habit Is formed. That
is the explanation you make is it? And
yet "there is no more virtue in that mar
than in the Dutch clock; and on his
, tomb should be written "here lies the
body of a human machine" &c. Sure
ly the learned speaker did not NEAR
this. | must think that Rehexus hal
done him Injustice in his explanation
After one has struggled bravely anC
successfully against all the temptations
of vice and the natural inclinations t.
do wrong, and has gained that poin
where he can do right with ease, sup
pose he does stop there (if such thing
was POSSIBILITY and go through kind Of
routine of virtuous acts, would you say
that such a one deserved such an in.
scription on his monument as ''here lies
the body of human machine &c-nC
need of praise for the good he has done
but only this more than cruel inscrip-
ton should mark the spot where his
bones repOse? That is too bad. Surely
If there is any such point along on the
highways of virtue as the gentleman has
described, where its VOtaries can "sii
themselves in ease and complacency
and go through a kind of routine of du-
ty" that cost them no trouble, that very
fact would indicate that they had got
ten to a great height, and had struggled
successfully with the enemies OF virtue
and we should be slow to think thai
their acts of piety, because they are reg,
ular and consistent, and may seem to bt
hunldram, If you please, are not impelleC
by the best of motives, and that theil
piety is not the genuine article. If we SEE
good acts we have no right to infer they
are not genuinely good, especially il
they are consistent with each other, anC
with the life of the one who performs
them. The world is always too ready
to cast its ARROWS az virtue, it matters
not what form it may assume. If {
, man is impulsive and spasmodlc In his
nature, and his acts are not always con-
sistent with his profession and with du
ty, then its weapons are hurled at hin
from every side; and if his acts are con.
sistent with his profession and with
right and duty, then still It's lances are
hurled at him, and his virtue is called
"rOutiRe virtue," and his piety "hNm.
drum piety. And the very fact that the
world never ceases to attack virtue i:
one of the reasons man cannot be vir-
tuous "from force of habit" because il
every yirtuOns act he has to resist the
world TO some extent.
| L wonder how FAR Re1eXus has traY-
eled in the paths of virtue, and what
he knows about its quiet hooks anC
"shady woods" where its Votaries love
to rest and do things from "force o.
habitf' What does he know about the
evils he is attacking so vigorously? Il
he an expert in detecting counterfeit Yir.
tue ana telling 10 nom ple genuine ar
ticle, and should he use his keen lance:
so energetically unless he tsP / COM
mend him and his earnest band fol-
searching for truth Ia the @4depths OF
the earth and sea to the highest heaven, ,
but ] fear they are too much disposed &c
attack virtue instead of Its enemies
Refiexus should reflect a little before he
uses his weapons. Persons sometimes
see evils where there are none. once
read of a boy who wasted a good deal
of ammunition shooting at what he sup
posed was coon IN the top of high
tree, and no one else could see it, and on
examining his eyes, there was discovered
struggling on the lids OF one of them,
one of the largest size of those animals
that Burns has immortalized. This be
imagined was coon, high up on a tree,
and at this he had wasted his ammunition
l commend Reliexus to this examina-
ton of his visual organs before he
throws any more of his keen lances.
See il the evils he is fighting are moi
nearer home. e Do not attack imaginary
evils, for Their are real ones all around
drive them from the highways of vir-
tue and "let IL have fee course and be
gloriaed," and its presence cheer the
waste places of earth, and its beauty
fnHm - III Il.