The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-03-05
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pi'A 49, 49, II s. February "A, lSI7.
Edsfors Dispatch Gentiene -I ~ q ~
4ion Tor debate last night being on: une .ssa.
tive merit oil sheep and dogs. anu al '.,;,.
having gone abroad that a Dili was W. ,a ~
the Legislature for the abohtion y. s .a.,aIsy
.ns s1ess os animals, there was an unlssuasiy
s w. s sttenda,,ce. The debate was opened
nS nemcon Smith, Of pihey Ridge, VINO
,,sade mn exhaustive argument in support y.
che Affirmative: but as the DtSpatCt nas 90
,sso,, given its columns to the sheep aato,
,otes We think Ii but fair that pieS snowy 1m
ns heard In behalf Of the other slae. I'VE
Nil, therefore omit the ,Deacon's TemafNs'
,,h;ch. by the way, were most eSceI!shss
and restrict ourselves to tahh1u' go
the argument For the negative. ,,;,oa 70
The speaker, whose name Wv n,,my FOL.
cafah. was 1.-THE, deep-chestea soans with ,S
low OF some seven or eight anu ."o" ,;,snner
= frank bearing, bold eye, ana q h a. ths
thnt ;,.,nl;ed ,lnbounded confidence 10 tne
. ."s ~ his convictions. His CHIEF eioEy
..,as The distinction Of having caught nstcen
aaa,s In q single season, and the priae VI
~ sanr4 yraS crop-eared beagle that was
n,n ~ have "the coolest nose OF any
Jn~ In fhe Chickahominy bottom.
AMID profound silence the orator QUERY
arose. tossed quid Of tobacco through
broken name in the window, ana thus 1u,
dressed himself in an easy, conVeTsati0na'
tone to the presiding officer:
Mr.. President, il you will take Tue Tou-
n,a 70 turn 70 section 10 Of our revised by
laws Won find it to be incumbent ON the
nresidinr officer OF this society to check IN
their incIpiency any remarks OF personal
nature in which member may laauiSe,
and vet. sir, for more than forty minutes =!
have calmly listened to the wretched driver
az this mountaineering idiot from Gihcy
Ridge, who has the audacity -
NSries OF "Order," and ruling by the
char: The gentleman from Hillow.oak
Bottom will observe the properties OF ue-
bate.l ,oor
It's all very well for the presiding ofhcer
to abuse the privileges -
Renewed cries OF ''Order~ ana gene
raj confusion, during which the speaker
throws aside his coat. leaps on the bench,
and with wild gesticulations and flashing
ewes makes his presence felt, and then WIN
inconceiyable volubility pours forth the
Tials OF his rising wrath.l
/ tell you, Mr.. President, that Will mol
be suppressed, nor bullied, nor bnlidozed,
nor put down; and il any son OF Plney
Ridge shall again attempt to break the force
OF nv argument by interruptiDg me, actth-
out cause, by the twinkling stars above us,
sir. and the noonbeam's lambert light, l'N
give him cause, sir, to interrupt me with
cause.
lOrder being thus happily restored the
orator continued j
/ say that it is all very we'll, sir. for you to
abuse the privileges OF your official position
by sitting the gush Of an honest indigna-
ton. but I declare before this assembly and
before the county of Henrico that when
the bleating-a-a-gentlem from Piney
Ridge took occasion to speak diSparaging'y
OF .hound-puppies he was guilty OF gross
personality!
ISensation. and cries of "That's % from
the -gatberers.]
I shouldn't care a pine-tag, Mr.. Presl-
dent, for the united villifcation OF the whole
Ridge crew, but you will recollect that it
was at the instance of that pestiferous fac
ton that section 10 was Incorporated into
our bylaws, and / have been told in inyio-
liable confidence by the Widow Green that
the clause in question was particularly IN
tended for me.
But, sir, I scorn to fling mud at an adobe
wall; the traducing villains will find from
me fitting refuge in the slime Of their own
infamy, and so leaving them to writhe and
wriggle in their native mire, approach
the question under debate with steady
purpose to rise to the height Of the great
argument involved, and leave the bandying
Of opprobious epithets to the base wretcheS
who are vile enough to employ such detest-
able means of assault. .n'1
It is charged, sir, by the abandoned mon
ster who has the efrOntery to speak to the
affirmative OF this proposition that sheep
are superior to dogs! The nameless auda-
city and impenetrable stupidity which such
an assertion implies carries with 1t its own
II hot Ny,n o. ROY
CLEAN OF reason has pierced the gentleman's
dense skull, inasmuch as he had the saga
city to make but single allusion to dogs,
while he devotes the whole remainder OF
his miserable twaddle to an idiotic pane
gyric on sheep.
And. sir, though the gentleman in his
disgraceful trade distinctly charged that
:. hound-puppies were constantly in mis-
chief and not worth the trouble OF rails
ing" though be made this sanderously-
personal and Neutrality-suspicious. remark
unrebuked by you, and within hearing OF
ove-y one in this assembly, yet will not
permit myself to be betrayed into the utter
ance of unworthy terms, but will at once
proceed to show you by evidence deduced
from sacred writ and from the calm historic
page that the atrocious animal so fulsomely
lauded by him has ever been mans direst
foe, his pursuing fate, the very incarnation
of the principle OF evil.
The serpent, SIR, in Paradise, has been
unjustly charged with mans first tempta-
ton, but we know that bis Kissing and his
twining would have been all in vain il Eve
had not cast sleeps eyes at Adam. It was
that that did the mischief, sir. It was then
that our first parents fell. 1t was then. and
not till then, rs the poet beautifully sings,
that " Adam delved aud Eve spun." Spun
what? The fleece, sir, OF that betraying
sheep whose baleiul eyes she had just used
with such tremendous consequences!
All, sir, would that Adams children had
continued to delve as the sons OF an honest
granger should. 1t might have been SO but
for the malignant influence OF wool and
mutton. Abel was restless and discomfort
ed, and nothing would do but he must aban-
don the spade and turn his attention to
sheep-farining and thence came the strife
and rivalry of mixed industries and all the
woes that follow that desolating doctrine OF
the division and economy of labor.
] tell you, sir, it was not for nothing that
the astrologers of old gave this creature its
place in the first sign OF the zodiac, and
made its influence in every conjunction ma
lign. There is something, sir, perverted.
and pcryerting in the Utmost nature of the
animal. Nothing less than its supernal
habit of forever going astray would en-
power theology to floor the mathematics and
enable Brother Moody to prove that each
one Of them is ninety-nine times mere re-
fractory than the rest. Its very name, sir,
is the very synonym OF every evil. IT
man is an idiot you call him a mutton-head;
80 he Ia robbed Won cav he ia fieeced: III