Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-04-05
PROM PULASKI, TENN.

my room by affliction they will be
Sorry that 1 have been sick. AZ
usual 1 read a great deal and to but
little purpose when out of my work.
/ have for several days turned from
to State, and from State to
Church weighing them by the
''signs of the times" until am al
most crazed. To me X seems at this
time that Tennessee is but a bat
tered vessel in the midst of q storm.
Her officers, standing by with idle
hands, say to those who have en-
trusted their interests to her,
''take a pittance of year int
crest or we Will let her sink,
when she viii certainly sink in any
event unless her leakages are stop
ped. Stop them and every interest
committed to her trust will be Sc
cured. Look at her thousands Of
ignorant children, with no means
for their education. Can State be
expected to stand by the principles
of public honesty when its masses
are growing up in perfect ignorance
of those principles =? Look ut the
great swarm of consumers who pro-
duce nothing for the growth or de-
vclOpment of the State. Can State
prosper when its people, by their
Incidence, burden and stifie its eff
forts and resources ? Look at the
tyranny of the few over the many.
When the legislature meets, and
threatens the interests of q class of
people it Is seized upon, and soon
sends back to its expectant cOnstitu-
ency n wall of despair. The cries of
thousands of suffering women and
children must be hushed to silence,
and their wretchedness and dis
grace Knocked by a hackneyed legis-
lative subterfuge that the measure
is unconstitutional. Men leave
their homes perfectly aware of the
troubles Of their people, and the leg
islation needed for their relief, and
yet when they reach the point
where their people expect to be
heard through them, they are either
shamefully silent, or openly mis-
representing the people who hon
ored them, and whom they dishoa-
or. They are the heroes of virtue
and honor when on the stump, but
machines when in the legislature
assembled. 1t is time that this coun-
tenancing of iniquity were stopped
and this incompetency in Office, and
farcical bO-beep with the dearest in
terests Of our people, often resolving
itself iutogambling in political pros
poets, were rebuked in a manner
that would be terror to evil-dOers
In the future. But the corruption
in official circles is only equaled by
the private and public extravaganza
of our people. The lack of conf
dence that these things have pro-
duced contributes largely to our
present calamities. When a State
pays for intoxicating liquors annu-
ally over SIS, 100000 and struggles
to repudiate debt of SIS, 900, 900
then it is time that we should pause.
Almost any legislation proposed to
remedy the evils of the liquor traffic
is pronounced unconstitutional,
while the same men regard an act
looking to reputation as wise legis-
latiOn. OF one thing l am proud.
The press and the pulpit give no
uncertain sound on these questions.
And / humbly trust that they will
never cease firing until the State
learns honesty, and addresses itself
in good earnest to the education of
her children, and the industry and
sobriety Of her people. She will
then feel herself able and willing to
pay every dollar she owes. Social
vices will give way, public virtue
will appreciate, sinful and excessive
patronage of worldly amusements
will cease, confidence will be res
tored, and the State will blossom as
the rose.
There is much in Giles county to
discourage and depress her people.
Times are peculiarly hard. The
shrinkage in values, failures in
crops, unreliability of labor, and
many other things local in their ma
ture, seems to be against them. But
never, until the polls convince me,
will believe that they would repu-
diate the public debt, and reprOach
the fair name of their native State.
/ will not now enter into the affairs
of the church, though if John and
Charles Wesley could be re-human-
lied, and have the people called by
their name pass in review before
them, they would imagine them
selves again at Nottingham, as in
1746, when John made the follow
ing entry in his Journal : ST had
long doubted what il was that him
dered the work of God here. But
upon inquiry the case was plain. So
many Of the society were either tri-
fiers or disorderly walkers, that the
blessing of God could not rest upon
them. So 1 made short work by
cutting off all such at a stroke, and
leaving only that little handful,
who, as far as could be judged, were
really in earnest to save their
souls" Let disciplinary latitude
narians remember that Jesus was
Dir. Wesley's exemplar in this mat
ter. and that He scourged the Tenn
pie when prostituted to unholy pur-
poses. Jesus taught that che hurts
the good who spares the bad :" and
hat the worst discipline on earth Is
% let men alone in sin.
OF one thing ] am sorry. If any
ecclesiastical body on earth have
aught Reputation by their exam
Die it Is the people called Metho-
-. L,..aL hos M mora FfOht