The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1881-11-03
The Widow Bedott.


the crowded houses and numerous
Newspaper puff, that are revarding
the ~malevolence OF that vile 'Petro-
leuaN Y. \ssby,' who for eighteen long
years has poured out a weekly d
ton Of lies. SANDER, and vulgar attempts
a. wit, under the title II Letters from
..Corfsdrit CIo.s-Roads.'
These disgusting letters OF Nasty, :
like Na.t-y's pictures IN Harpers
weekly were begun during the war,
when the surest and easiest road TO faoe
and fortune al the North lay in manu-
featuring utterly malicious and indie
cent lies about the South, and all things
Southern. Moe than half OF the
Northern people still ENJOY these foul.
mouthed ~fabrications; consequently
Mast and Nasty have continued to
SANDER US, By pen aud by pencil, week
after week, for eighteen successive
years; and with such success that nise-
teen-twentieths mark the proportion ,
of The civilized world 10 this day re-
gard all Southerner. IS blood thirsty,
shiskey Suzz.ing rutfians. rough IL
dress and speech, wearing long hair.
big slouch hats. and = pistols IN the
belt. besides one IN each boot; and
whose f,vorite occupation IS bush
vhack.ng," illicit-distilling, and chas
ing negroes with blood-hounds. Our
people have become SO ussd to these
contemplate ISLANDERS that they can
even laugh Al the absurdity. But We
are apt 10 forget that The world at larse
sccept. these Nasty pictures, and Nasty
stories. as truly typical Of the South
and SoutherDers. And what IS the
result Why, that for sixteen years
years past ali oar efforts to encourage
outsiders 10 come in, and help us build
up our wasted places. have utterly fdt1-
ed! The world ha. been so educated
against us hat even intelligent persons
who have been in the South become
afraid we arc drifting back into tar
barism. Governor BIgeloN, OF Con
ne~cticutt. who accompanied the Rsgl-
ncnt Of Wooden Nutmeg. to Charles
ton remarked in a speech, I'VE were
a little doubtful at first about ventur
mo 50 far South and the most won
derful thing to the Northern visitors
At Atlanta is ssJd to be the absence OF
the typical long haired, snarling, pistol
shooting Southerner whom Harper,
AMI Nasty, snd such cattle have mad
the current belief at the North and II
Europe. .
'Nasbvs' letters represent the South
as a collection Of drunken l~oa'ers. who
bang around country stores to pltcf
horse-shoes, gamble, swill whiskey, and
shoot niggers. Even our religion does
not escape his malicious pen. "Rever
ent" Smith" Deacon Pogran,
Elder Toots," and others are made
to figure as vulgarians, who lie, cheat.
bet on hose races. tell shutting
stories. etc. etc, in citing community
with the other 'Confcdrits," OF the
''Stait Nv Dixie"
Now if these caricatures were harm
less and merely designed to hit of oul
foihlcs, as does Punch in England, We
might afford to laugh at them; but a
everybody knows, the Sectional hate o
the North and 100 years of aisreprescn
tation in other countries, have prepar
ed the world TO accept the pictures a
true representations OF Southern lie
Southern men, amer and customs
And it will take half a century TO full,
undo the mischief.
We know it for "A fact that many IN
educated persons at the North bellev'
Nasbys letters to be actually true; ant
it is said a great many letters are mali
ed to s.Confedrit X Roads" to inquire
if the Nasty lies are really truel
For these reasons, (evsn If we die
not think it unseeMly for a Southerne.
TO sheer at widows, considering tina
the South is flied with them. w
shall never Aave a good word for an,
Of Nasby's works, and none of gu
money shall eve. go INFO his pocket
lie gets a royalty on the play of th'
Widow Bedott.' We have not seen il
but the Charlotte Observer thus aIlude
to it:
After the delicate indecency of th
society play. and the gilded infamy )
the varieties, it is positively refreshin!
to listen to some old fashioned bat hon
est Hith such as the Widow BedOtt,
who ingeniously confesscs that sh
hasn't washed herself since the dennis
of the late lamented, gave US In tn
play last night. With the slight draw
back occasloned by recurring impress
sions analogous to those which the re
moral Of tie uUerage small Loy's shoe
would occasion 10 the parlor at Il s0trt
HtuStcuie, the entertainment is ons con
tinued round of %fiotous laughter an
sub,iding cs~chiunatioD."