New-York tribune., 1878-04-27

friend has been all the while looking at
them with a peculiar expression in his left
eve, and a slight extra contraction at the cor
ners of his mouth. Mr.. TIldcn is patient and
careful. He waited TIL there was pressure
to sell, and we presume that he has now got
the whole lot very cheap.
--
THE OCICKENED CONSCIENCE EPIDEMIC
The new industry now in process OF devel-
opmept has not yet given us any very en-
couraging results, but there are still great pos
sibiitics in it. When we consider the large
number of IDLE persons 10 whom the new pro-
fession of cOnfessing other peoples sEs under
the spur OF n quickcned conscience offers
steady employment, with chances OF greater
or less degree of remuneration, we cannot help
thinking that the business is destined to
extend over the whole country. Thus far the
failures in it have been more conspicuous
than the successes; but this ought not to deter
others, who are out of work and ready for
speculation, from undertaking it, The late
Mr.. Tweed was a case of this kind OF quick
ened conscience. With a view Of procuring
his own release from confinement he was
ready to confess almost anything to almost
voubility and mt great length, though
without success. The recent Brooklyn con-
fession il another instance of an uncOmmOnly
well directed effort, followed by most
lamentablc failure. Then there are the Florida
statesmen, who not having received from the
Administration the encouragement they
thought they deserved, and the recognition
and promotion they thought they had fairly
earned submitted themselves to the process
of having their cOnscienccs quickencd-de-
scribed i'll the most touching and fearful
language by the remOrseful McLin-and
began Immediately to confess, in the form OF
an affidavit Of the most solemn character,
that the Administration was and is fraud.
So far rs the pubic is concerned, this quick
enipg has not been attended with any results,
but it is not impossible that, III
their relations with certain individuals,
they may have accomplished something
winch does not yet appear. Then there is the
mysterious witness mearthed by Glover, who
proposes next week, when his conscience gets
fairly quickencl up 10 the sticking point, to
confcs, that the officers of the Treasury De-
partmpnt nave been TcdCCmng fraudulent
bonds. How he will come out remains TO be
seen.
All these things go to show that conscience
quickenirg has become something more than
an endemic or a contaciOn, and, in spite of the
failures which have occurred thus far, Is
rapidly developing into business which GER
taiuly furnishes exciting if not lucrative en-
ploymcnt to persons who would otherwise have
nothing to occupy their minds. And it is
calling which, when it comes to be
fully understood, will draw hundreds
TO it by its romantic fascinatlons.
Consider for a moment what field 1t opens
to the tramp: the political, social moral or
religious tramp. How easy for him, after
dav of unrcqutcd mcndicancy, to slip into
village which has been blessed-as what
village is not-with a scandal, and after a
brief period of preparation, to bring his
mickened conscience to confession which
will delight the whole village with evidences
of the guilt of Il suspected deacon or a COM
promised clergyman. What Il field for lnyen-
ton. and with what assured rewards, does such
a prospect open. What tramp under the spur
of such an Indictment would hesitate, especially
# his conscience had been quickcned by
hunger and abstinence, to confess that
Deacon Suggs had set fire to his own barn for
the sake of the insurance, or that the
gossip about Parson Pipchin and the deacon's
wife was absolutely true in every particular
What visions of comfortable entertainment
for the body and sOul-satsfying nOtOrlety for
the mind open to the tramp who hoyers over
n village meditatng with quckened con-
science such a confession. Here, then, is en-
ployment for the idle, cheap contrition and in
extensive remOrse for the vicious, entertain
ment for the public, and what the prOfane
call " the -deyil-to-pay" for everybody. Doubt
less the fashion of it originated away
back in some remote past, but it
has never until quite lately come into vogue
80 largely as to Iise to the dignity of a regu-
lar pursuit and steady business. There have
been auickened cOnsciences, of course, and
accompanying confessions, in all ages of the
world. but the quickenng and cOnfeSsing,
usually hitherto appcrtained to the personal
wrong-dong of the owner OF the conscience
and maker Of the confession. We have
changed all that. COnscences are quickened
nowadays for other people, aud the cOnfes-
sions are all of other peoples sins. 1t seems
10 be "A much more cheerful exercise.
Let us be prepared through the coming
season for the tramp with a quickened con-
| science. The tramp catches quickly the spirit
Of the time, and is prompt to respond to what
seems to be the public want If he sees, as he
is very shortly liable to, that Quickened con-
sciences and vicariOus confessions are the thing,
he will food the market before the season Is
over.
--------------------