The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1884-01-16
More Historic Studies.


70 the Home journal:
II Virginia taught her sous any one
thing more than another, it was com
mon courtesy and politeness to her
clergy, and TO one another. The origin
Of this controversy arose in the violation
Of the former by your correspondent,
DR.. Shapard, and the breach Of the lat
err in the insinuations throughout hls
improyiscd letter from Boston. The
casting ofsedimcut, and the retailing OF
garbage, is not VirgiIlan or Tenesseean.
It is not Puritan, nor Protestant nor
scholarly, or gentIemanly. To reply to it
in kind; but it looks to Inc as though,
in III. present. instance, the plumes Of
the Cavalier had dNindlcd to the cock
erels feather Of the cowboy.
! have no var 10 wage on 'Fennes'cans
or Virginians Nor do ! recognize him
as the champion Of their fame, or the
staudard-Lcarer Of their martial glory
To the man who barred bis bosom to
the storm ut Manassas, or Shiloh, or
Chicamauga, doR my cap in respectful
sympathy ~ he tells the story that na
tions and ages will remember, but he
who wages now the battles neglected
twenty years ago ! pass by in silence,
ard with mental reservations.
If, however, DR.. j. Cavalier Shapard
will read the careful historian, Mr. w.
f. Poole, in regard to our early history
and the prosecutions for wtchcraft, both
in Europe and America, he will learn
so much more about Virginia, and Ma.
ryland, and Massachusetts, and the Pu'
ritans and Cavaliers, than be ever knew
before, that he will compare his former
knowledge Of such things AS that Of Il
mere qunck against the knowledge Of Il
competent physician. lie will learn
that Cotton Malhcr really did say, " |
had rather lose my life than that one
drop Of innocent blood should be shed
in religions prosecutions" and that "no
person who believes in Jesus Christ
should be troubled or molestod for his
or her religion, OF in the free exercise
thereof, or in any way compelled 10 the
belief or exercise of any other religion
against his or her consent, "a senti-
ment of this nation to this day, and is
the bulwark Of onr religious liberty.
| simply desired in the outset to re-
si.t the larberous expression that ship
load Of Pilgrims fleeing from the most
cruel religious oppression, with only the
Bible, the broad sea and a winiry land
before them, should perish in mid
ocean, and appeal to ihc refined senli-
mcnt Of this people, or the world, if it
is not worthy the challenge Of the hum
blcst or the most gifted pen.
Why it is, that through Shiny ways
he traces our Lineage back to that heroic
time j cannot tell. 10 is some little
satisfaction to know that our pedigree
ends in no worse character than the
Reverend Doctor, whose shade is tor
tured by the sudden development Of 50
much historic ignorance, while 20 nc
others, seeking for similar knowledge,
" Trace back their own ancestral line
To find there moose OF hempcn twinc."
Could it be possible that our adverse
ry, seeking for light, should find the
component parts of his circulation idch-
teal with that Of that lively and rolick.
ing English worthy, Jack Shepard, and
that it was advisable to change letter
in the name as the pulse Of his ancestry
beat westward with the Cavaliers No
midnight walks around Ncwgatc, or
anything We can say, will disturb his
bones, us they never had Christian
burial or iricndly scpulchrc.
| cannot see why the revival of sec
tional prejudice is II matter 50 dear to
the Doctors heart, or why he should
think US, while working early and late
on orr little farm, to be schcming for
or to capture the Presidency.
Reading over his narrow and well
roned Church and political polity, we
IAN hut thank God that, rising above
religious crccls and political prejudlccs
Vt the three past centuries we al, save
low and then an isolated case, have
cached that sublime hight ON which we
AN stand and say, 81 have one cnun.
nv, and Americans are my country
men. :. - MATTER.
Brlvi,lpro lam I'M 1884