The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1880-05-01
PATMOs AND BATHOs.
UnrecOrded Incidents Ana mississippi
History.

!
History.
~ am breaking my heart over this story aud
cannot bear 10 finish it."---From private letter OF
Charles Dickens, while writing the history Of Little
Nell.
, On reading this pathetic ayowal of the
) great novelist, my memory recalled a
, striking incident of the melting mood,
{ related to me by quite character of auld
lang syne, in Mississippi. Tom D., as
he was Familiarity called, over forty years
ago, was well known as peculiar character
to the bluff regions bordering on the Mis-
sssippi river, as well as to members of the
Legislature of that period.
Tom D. was man of some culture,
more brains, an active fancy, and keen
sense of the ludicrous, but prone to harm
less intellectual eXaggerations. The evils
of intemperance were not so much appre-
ciated by the wealthy planters of that day,
along the Mississippi river counties, as
they have since become.
On my first acquaintance with D.
personally if his bouts with John Barley
corn had not decreased his wit, they had
certainly enlarged his self appreciation to
the very verge of vanity-each of us lived
in the same Senatorial District, but not in
the same counties.
ID. was an aspirant for Senatorial honors.
l was Il voter from the county from which
he looked for his most formidable COMPETE
tor, in the person of Judge Jones.
In the view of river county man of
those days, Jones was from a locality not
appreciated as the soil on which statesmen
were fully matured, and d. was anxious
to impress me with the idea that
he was superior to Jones, at least
without claiming much ostensibly, from
him, d., being from the center
of civilization and the bon ton of the
universe. In this, our first interview, d.
having the Senate and something more
inhamatory on the brain, made some effort
to impress me favorably, as a voter, with
the basis of his pirations-incuded in
the long inventory. of his distinguished
abilities, presented for my admiration, his
power of pathetic appeal was placed con-
spicuously forward to such an extent as to
draw from him the confession that pathos
was in fact, his forte. He gave this very
striking evidence of it: "Oakland Col
lege," he said, con one occasion intended
to make a ten strike ut her commencement
the purse strings of Darcy Hunt were
still as loose as overland that commence
ment was to be gotten up regardless of
expense, while the Presbyterians on that
occasion, are to be made prouder than
ever-if that were possible--of Oakland and
Darcy Hunt. "But" he added with a sup
pressed tone, "between us, it meant Hunt
at last without him it would be nothing
but oak-laad. He was the institution, and
a grand and good one he was. But to
make the commencement a success, they
invited me to make the speech of the oc-
casion.
"Knowing that the pathetic was my forte,
of course | selected theme calculated to
excite all my powers in that line. For two
nights and one day. walked solitary and
alone in my library in silent meditation.
The ebultion was profound, the melting
mood full to overlooking, my tears rained
in torrents. learned for the first time
how much of woe man with a soft heart
but sound constitution can survive.
~ knew that before such a select audi
ence, on such a grand occasion, could not
trust such rush of feeling without con-
filming it to a channel-a levee as it were
to keep the surrounding country from
being submerged. For this purpose |
needed the aid of manuscript to recall the
booming tide to literary limits. After s
recruiting little, sat down to my task, {
my pen flew, my tears gushed in keeping 1
up with the torrent of my pathetic thought. r
But when L came to read the production, l 4
found my,tears had blotted the lines as fast
as they were written, until it was utterly
illegible for my purposes at the commence
ment. 1 tried to have it copied but I'M 6
fortunately l selected persons for the task
who were too susceptible for the work, {
and every effort only ended in the accumu- |
lation of blurred manuscript. {
'Iwas in despair, my hopes however were
revived by calling to my mind man from
The State of Maine, who had been educated
for the Presidency of the United States, Il
N the common schools of that State, but 1
who had gradually subsidized from his high L
ASPIRATIONS, through several gradations, to p
preaching, from preaching to teaching q
through newspaper editing, to carrying il
'ound flying horses, thence to selling soap n
'ecipes, down. down. to keeping dead
all for dimes in Rodney-there he reached
bottom. Il
"AnIncident i'll his history recommended u
lin for my purposes. He had lost an
'nly child, whose coffin he had himself
made out of old store boxes, and he took S
Ill the parts at the funeral, of undertaken T
md sexton, from mere avarice. He wrote s
! good hand. and 1 thought he had the :,
tern material, the callous heart, to stand A.
he shock for dollar. But even he, on the v
eventh line, ACKNOWLEDGEMENT out with
lis handkerchief to his eyes, groaning; his a
eryOus sensibilities a complete wreck-sO G.
ar gone that he never had the heart to call tx
or the dollar, or even by letter to propose Il
compromise of the claim. He soon aban-
oned the dead-fall, Rodney and the State. i,
had exhausted the possibilities of a copy.
had overdone the pathetic, and for the :"
Tant of heartless wretch to copy the essay, y
he best example of pathos in the English
lnguage was forever lost. The pathetic
ddress was never delivered and the COM
tenement was a failure. 1 know you
hink your man Jones is a great man, but n
That could he do in the Senate, on these p
Melancholy occasions, when the last tribute "a
( respect is paid to the memory of de- ~
eased member" | knew that d. would d
ave the advantage of Jones, but | was nj
'th to give up Jones for this very remote NJ
of failure, and with desire to So
witch d. off the Senatorial track, l suggest y,
j the lower house as a wider field for his r
ocular talent, and that he might do good h,
y infusing an atmosphere of solemn dig or
ity into that giddy crowd. al
With supreme contempt i'm his manner,
e said: The lower house! Bah !! Sir, =