Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-05-08
THE MODERATION ON THE
SOUTH.

THE MODERATOR ON THE
SOUTH.
Talmage is in love with the esouth
DON'T have a doubt as to the trutl
of this assertion, for he said so him
self in his sermon of Sunday last
when he took the southland fol
his subject and held it up to oul
admiring eyes. Oh, wonderful man
Under his skiIful touch a picture o.
grace and beauty grew and grew
until it reached a perfect whole
He began by touching with grayish
tints the year before the great rupt-
ure in the states. With wonderful
dexterity he added color after color
to his misty outline until it took on
the scarlet glow of beacon-fires and
the fash of cannon and musketry.
Then swiftly he widens his canvas
until he paints battlefield, with
the rush of the horses, the tramp OF
the men, the war of field-pieces, the
screams of the dying, so vividIy, so
clearly that they are almost heard.
A hot sky bends over them, cloud
of dust blinds eager eyes, the glitter
of deadly weapons flashes In the
sunlight, and then-brother meets
brother, father son, and the pain
and sorrow and woe of a great bat
tie is before US. The blue and the
gray stand face to face and fight
with deadly hatred.
With a rapid touch of his brush
he blots this out, and in its stead
brings up the fair, smiling orange
groves, the magnolia trees and
glowing gardens of our land. He
paints for these cold north-peopIe a
scene of unrivaled beauty; he shows
them the noble homes and institu-
tions of the southern men; he bids
them look and see the hospitality
which is so proverbial under their
roofs; he tells of the courtesy, the
warm-heartedness, the friendship
they extend. He denies, in this
wonderful. word-picture of his, that
the people desire slavery.
Again, he paints for them a scene
in Charleston of the death and
funeral of northern man who had
died in their midst, and at whose
obsequies the men and women came
in great numbers, and the little ones
strewed flowers in garlands; and
shows up in this picture the false
hoods of their sayings in regard to
the treatment given people of the
north.
Then home scene is spread out
before them, in which he shows the
family at meal-time, eating without
the fiery spoons, forks, ETC., which
they are credited with doing. In
their midst sits a northern man,
apparently enjoying their good
cheer, and as he turns we see it is
Talmage himself.
With another dash of his brush,
this too is gone, and he then calls
up a cradle, in which lies tiny
infant. A blue-eyed father of the
north stands on one side, while a
mother with dark eyes betraying
her southern blood, stands on the
other. daughter and applause.)
All animosities are buried in this
cradle, for the painter stops long
to say that, unless they do
rs King Solomon advised the two
of old, "to cut the child in
Lwo," they cannot divide the north
from the south.
Another touch of his magical |
brush, and Lookout Mountain, in
Ill its grandeur and beauty, is before
rs. On the summit stands man
who retrospects the different things |
that he has viewed from its height.
He sees from here the commanders !
Of the two armies marching bravely
and Jackson, Sher-
man and Grant. They meet and
ight. The beautiful Tennessee river
winds in and out, forming the letter
J, for shame, in sight of the two
armies. He blots this out, and
far southwark he sees two
more armies marching toward each
,ther. The men of the north and
he men of the south meet once /
lgain, but to embrace and forget
heir long enmity, and above all,
WO spirits meet in the air and en-
,race. They were killed fighting
lgainst each other during the war,
md they were brothers. The beau
iful river still winds at the moun-
aims base, no longer red with
blood, but golden in the mOrning
un, and this time the letter 5 1t
makes stands for saIUation.
Our wonderful artist throws down
lis brush, and coming forward to
he vast audience says: "Quit lying
md cursing against the southern
.eopie, and let them alone," and
hen he says, "if half-a-dozen poll
icians at the north and half-a-dozen
It the south would consent to die,
le would pay all funeral expenses
md march them off to the tune of
he "Rogue's March,"
Well, Talmage has done our peo-
lie jnstice. 1 like him for that.
after the sermon was finished, l
poke to him, saying SO. Now,
iris, he is the most wretchedly
lgly man 1 ever saw, but some
,eople are fascinating, and Ta1mage
5 one of these. He smiled, shook
lands and inquired what part of
he south / came from, and then
overwhelming honor actually tore
leaf out of one of his books and
wrote few words and his name on
{ for me. I consider it a wonder
hat I did not then and there sink