Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-01-14
THE MEMPHIS DAILY APPEAL

heaven. ambassadors that her man-child
should uursue an even tenor of goodness,
godIiness and honor until the end of his |
days, So her rejoicing was expliesble.
While now-"To bear, 10 rear, TO lose" |
ia the probable fate Of every mother |
who hangs with idolatrous love over |
the cradle where lies her msn-child. |
To bear in agony, TO rear in anxiety, to lose |
in dishonor by that death Of the soul which |
inhicts wound 80 much keener and more
incurable by time than that inflicted by the
death which slays mans mortality only, that
the anguished sufferer may we'll ask, "Oh
grave. where IL thy victory~ That mother
does not 1--we who has no: woven the tissue
Of many bright and glorious possibility of
the future of her mau-child into the first
fairy-like garments her tender anxiety for
his proper welcome into this world of worrv
and frei, sets her 10 pTens''--
days befor~h- r-...x .on9 dreamy
.---rnd, aud with her frat loving
| gaze into bis indifferent eyes she begins that
wondering" ~ 10 what his moral, mental
| and physical possibilities are likely 10 prove,
| which ends only with The bright ctln,ination
OF all her hopes BY his admittance TO the
1 mont rank among his peers, or with the
draining OF the dregs of the bitter cup of dis
4 appointment that his unflial hand presses
| close to her quivering lips.
Our own city and our neig boring city OF
Nashville have been in a Iemor of excite
ment for some days past over the discovered
defalcation OF a State official who had al
waye stood 20 high ia social and in business
| circles that the revelation of his crime burst
Ike thunder-clsp in a cloudless sky upon
| the startled ears OF all who mad ever heard
the name Of Marsh T. Polk. Incredibly,
amazement, indignation, sarprise, pity, dis
l.gust, all entered into the excited how of COM
ment and conjecture that bu.sed like an I'M
| dercurrent through the general transactions
OF business. Men discussed the great defal-
cation from mems own peculiar standpoints;
the figures; the marvelousness OF the fact
that such system OF stealage should or
could be carried on go long with such sue
cess; the probabilities OF catching the crimi-
nall the course that should be pursued with
him when caught, and lido l do them in-
iustice?) even looked forward with spice
OF enjoy able excitement to getting glimpse
OF him when he passed through town,
and then exchanged amused conf actures
SIS 10 tho those startling reve-
lations," the defaulter has declared
his intention Of making, will involve among
the other high State officials. And every man
among the thonsands who have boon discuss
\ ing the treasurer and his crime for the past
ten days unexpectedly speaking) palted
himself on the back in the fond consciousness
that no concentration of circumstances could
have undermined his moral sense Of right and
wrong, or rendered RIM so oblivious to the
binding recognition of mean and teum.
There be those who hold that "virtue is
only the absence of temptation" Others
again who proclaim it simply matter OF
education. a sort of to6Lssoe O6fi0e arrange
ment between The educators and the educated
which tacitly saysi "You ought not TO have
| done so, because taught you better" (Which
EN- pdssant-would give the untsught and
ignorant a wide margin of liberty. There
be others still who have humbly learned that
TO err is human, and who have taken for their
own motto Pope's beautiful prayer of life
Teach me TO feel another's woe
| To hide the faults / sec
The mercy to others show,
That mercy show to me-"
(Which" says the opposition, briskIy,
"amounts TO helping hide criminals and con-
doning crimep In which assertion the oppo-
sition would err grievously. 1t il only an
admittance of fallibility on ones own part.
I Women, aud confess myself chief among
sinners in this respect, have such a trick of
| trying to get bebiud things-begging the
question l suppose you might call (which
has always made me think that as lawyers
generally they would never amount TO any
thing but as advocates or special pleaders
they would be prodigiousl Now, if you
were TO ask every woman in the city of
Memphis if Marsh 7. Polk was not a de-
faulter; if defaulting was not stealing, and
| stealing was not low crime, and if GRIM
iuals should not always be dealt with 10 the
utmost rigor of the law, she would say plump
out "Yes, yes, yesp But, my Lord, if you
were not glaring at her too severely with all
your own unassailsble virtue aoazs in your
stern eyes, che would add with timid tender
Eness. "All the same my heart aches for
him." Maybe it comes easier to women
| than il does 10 men 10 feel another's woe
Perhaps it is species of weakness for which
the sex ought to cry 10 full chorus,
"Peccaui!"-that they prefer to hide the
faults they see. So 1 guess, on the
whole, lite very well the jesty of the law is
not intrusted to our feeble executive powers,
for beyond few strictly feminine reforma-
tory measures, such an amount of letting off
and pardoning would be done as would re-
duce the majesty of the law 70 a by-word
and jest, and would make muddle of
| jurisdiction generally. Unconsciously, I
have glided into light strain while all my
heart and thoughts are full of the pathos Of
this latest sensation. Oh, the pity of i'll
The woe Of it! When read that Marsh T..
Polk had been finally captured in mesquite
bush-a hunted criminal run 10 ear.h-my
involuntary exClamatlOD was, HOW are Inc
mighty fallenw And I could fancy him
standing up there before his captors like an
uncrowned king. He who had been reared
so teEderly, Tapped so luxuriously, climbed
so high, stood so firmly; he who had ranked
king among men for Intellect and dignity.
A-man without reproach and above sus-
| picion-crornless Of his pride and virtue
Does his career, Indeed, prove thai virtue is
only the absence of temptation7 or does it
not rather prove that in the mad, hot haste
which men are making TO get rich
all the old safe landms rks erected by caution,
prudence and foresight being UNDER
mined, and even the gallant chip of State is
being swept from its moorings by the resist
less current that is carrying us as a nation
whitherward?
In foolish fancy and vain pity wandered
backward to the cradle OF this captive. To
the time his mother rejoiced, as did Elizabeth
of old, because 10 an child was born unto
her! Onward through the bright years of
his boyish promise-into the MONDAY radi-
ance Of his successful manhood-down,
down to the bitter end Of the shadow and the
gloom Of his sin.stained now.