New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-04-01
4 LEGAL WHIRLPOOL.

|
Boston newspaper Is exceedingly suggestive.
at is singular" he says, " that the pecula
" tons of certain county officers in Mlssachu-
sets should become the subject of judicial
inquiry in New-YOrk but this case sweeps
everything into itself, like the maclstrom
(which it is" Many things have occurred in
the metropolis which have awakened a national
sensation, but nothing of such widespread
general interest. Many scandalOus law pro-
ceedngs are of record but hardly any with
such a heightened list of drdmG'is persona
and such a various and varegated miscellany
of details. From the far West, from the ex-
! IRENE East, witnesses have como, each with q
contribution to the melancholy or the anus
ing narrative. From churches and schools and
lecture-rOoms and colleges, from the Offices of
brokers and the Offices of newspapers from
lyceum bureaus and from inns, from tho
boudoir and the scullcry, from The dwellings
Of the Ncw-YOrk dcm-mOnde and the rural
homes Of Connecticut, from ccrGymcn'5
studies and fashionable eating houses, from
old men and young women, from the black
and white, from the crudite and the illitcratc.
from Doctors of Divinity and Mrs. Camps, tho
turbd stream of the testimony has proceeded.
| There has been nothing like it since the
witches caldron dubbed under the eager nos
trlls of Macbeth 1t iszthe very pot-pOurri Of
trias--a hash of religion and s1epdcism OF
divinity and communism, of the Sacred Scrip
lures and rcys de societG OF stocal professions
and epicurean ndulsences, of heavenly souls.
and bodies of the earth, earthly. l. is as If
both tho mystical nights of GOethe'5 drama
were brought tOgether-the sensual grO,csquc-
~, "A. A
the second.
One of the strongest suggestions which this
melOdrama will make to the philosophical mind
is that of the danger of an extensive acquaint-
ance with ones fellow creatures. 1t seems at
first nice thing to be celebrated, does it not
to be tho delight and the demand of lecture
committees to be sure of selling many edi-
tons of any book one may wife? TO DO
pointed out Oh the railway train as the great
b. or the great TT to be photographed gratis
in rival galleriesf to be the ornament of the
illustra cd newspapers to receive constant
applications for your autograph to be all
mred, petted, cOddlcd. caIcssed, and Gener
ally fooled after the most fashionable
fashoni Nothing could be more agreeable
until you get into your scrape. What
is it you say You will not get
into srrape Bless your soul, if you are
admired, petted, coddlcd. clress2d, and fat
tered, you are in scrape already, and tho
worst of it is that You do not know IT, Fame,
nOtOriety, celebrity, popularity yOu
may call it-has its drawbacks, aud one OF
them is that all the world and his wife, and
even his dreadfully precocious children, know
of your scrapes In yOur elgcrness for Gn-
bounded publicity you have parted with the
privilege of SHINING in corner, of being found
out, as 1t were, anonymously, and of undergoing
your pangs and penalties in obScurity. You
are not the distinguished Mr.. So-and-So fOI
nothing. You cannot be equally well known
at the North and the South, at tho East and
the West, without paying for the pleasure
When your action is called, to your horror yGl
will find that considerable portion OF the
population of the United States has been sum-
moned to give evidence. All the pretty things
which you may have said to pretty women
will be remembered against You. a lovely
lion You were upon that brilliant evening
but what 4 sick lion you are now How
heavy and hard the dOnkeys' boois are, to be
sure You cannot read a newspaper without
seeing your name you cannot walk Ill the
street without being remarked on 10y the
naughty little boys; you are the pllintlf;
you are the defendant 1t is i fOretastc Of
the Day of Judgment All your uprsings and
downsittings, all your publications and
speeches, all your associations and habits, are
described under oath,-what you said, Oct. 80.
1872. and what you did, July 3, 1S73-how long
YOU allowed your tailor's bill to run in 1851
what views you once expressed of the anthem
ticity of John |. 1-5-which candidate you
supported for the Presidency in n certain
campagn-whethcr you like hard-bOiled eggs
for breakfast or prefer them fried with n bit
of bacon-whether the feather bed or the
mattress is more soothing TO yOnr fcvered
frame-the state of your bank account, Nov.
80 1860, at o'clock, p. m.-thc average mum.
Der of your daily tilfs with your mother-in,
law-what you said of Smith to Jones and af.
forwards of Jones to Smith, both being
called and sworn, and point blank con.
tradictmg each other-this thing, that
thing, the other thng-what mott IL you
were not celebrated there would be only ono
lawyer against you, but now there is whole
pack at your heels. IT you were not notorious
the newspapers would condense the story Of
your ordeal in two lines of agate type. IL
you knew nobody how brief would be your
agonies! But you are celebrated, you are
notorious, you know everybody and every
body knows you-and so you must take the
consequences.
A distinguished novelist was one morning
eating his breakfast in Western hotel. "Do
"you know who that is THAT is the great
"Thacker" said one waiter to another.
What's he donef" "lIang'd if l know! 70
Happy is the man who has done nothing-or