Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1874-08-22

She does indeed bear q certain re-
semblance to the Main-street defini-
tiOn Of a sewing machine-OHly her
stitches are very uncertain and film
sy.
As for Beecher-the morbid-the
man who inherits from his father and
his grandfather the remains of "a mis-
anthropic family streak-the man who
has suffered the fortunes Of the damned
he seems to be getting on pretty
! well in this hour of his supreme
wretchedness. He Jokes with his
friends on the top step Of the 'front.'
door, whilst his chosen judges, the
committee of investigation. hold
solemn cOnclaye IN the back-parlor.
He Is even merry with the night
watchman after the company has gone.
1t tickles him nightly. that the re-
pOrters are not able 10 find out all he
knows him self He does not feel in
the least ike the gentleman who has
''let bird 60" He Is proud as of
an achievement. He has handled his
case artisticaIly. The appointer of
his own Judges, he has patiently kept
his counsel until ali the witnesses
against him have shown their hands,
and then, having the-advantage of
the last word, he comes in with a
muddle of verbiage too complicated
for the ignorant, and too long for the
buSy-thinking by a general melee
and cOunter-assault OH IIlton and
Moulton, to escape by q side-doOr,
leaving the world at least IN uneer-
tainty.
He sets a poor estimate npon the
public =intelhgence----+ -+4s.,eSeaea-is-
never shifty. II is rarely patient
under wrong. 1t is usually able to
make its case. Mr.. Beecher has car
ried himself throughout this business
ike a tactician-not like a simple
truth-teller He has displayed the
and enforced cOmpnsure of
guilt. not the eager Indignation of
outraged innocence. He has display
ed along with the futile cunning of
Mr.. Pecksniff, the patience of Job.
He closes years of submission and
folly by an unnatural story, the
of which rest upon the
that he is an extravagant f.
idiot, that Tilton is n self-desroying !
scoundrel. that Moulton is a motive /.
less wretch and rufiian, that Mrs. Til /
ton is One-half angel and the other 4
-ldlA AAAAO6s All4 lutAt al bhO NAANAAA-
stances and letters, which can not be I.
have another meaning to |
them than that which plainly appears !
upon their face. Mr.. Dickens, in I
none of his amusing fictions, asks rs /
to stretch our credulity half so far as
Mr.. Beecher in this most amusing fic I
tiOn of his 1t is rather compare /
bic with the inventions OF Sylvanus 4
Cobb, Jr., or Of Mrs. E. d. E. n. |
who, being paid for .
their work in the lump, have no time 1
to consult probabilities, time, action,
or intent. So they sustain the inter /
est of the theme, and end with COM
plete happiness Of the hero and the /
heroine and the destruction of ali the |
Only day or two ago we wrote !
''De Finibus" over this dreary scan /
dal, and here we are again pounding /
away at it. What shall we say to the /
good people who, like ourselves, are 1
sick of it! Nothing, except that, dis /
miss it as we may, it will como into /
our daily talk, suggesting evil to /
those who evil think, suggesting good /
to none. 1t is a nasty business, in /
deed, but, like the contents of the /
vault which the common sewer does /
not empty, we must submit to have /.
it carted away and can not shut our
senses upon it. 1t is the wonder, as
it is the stencil, of a summer untOward /
in our social annals.