The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1884-01-09

nc Hul heritage from our IHotHc' 4
Virginia, that ought to satisfy the most
ambitious.
In addition to what have heretofore
said about Virginia | will now add :;
Not Greek nor Roman can show no.
bier record than Virginia no people in
all the history Of the world has ever ac-
compllshcd 50 much Of all that ennobles
mankind as her people have in three
generations. Here, one hundred years
ago, lived and thought, and wrought
those good aud great men who conceived
and accomplished that scheme of civil
liberty which to-day blesses all man.
KIND. What made those men so wise
confonnds the wisdom Of the wisest liv-
ing LAY md the greater the intel
iect, the broader the views, the wider
the range Of knowledge Of men and
things, the proiounder is the veneration
for those sagcs. Only bigotry and ig-
nora1ce ever venture to disparage
lhrm.'
Tho great Senator Hill, o. Georgia,
in the last speech he ever made, the
hand Of death then being upon him,
said; ~ never enter Virginia that !
do not feel should uncover my head
N reverence to her great dead and in
respect to her great living men; for |
tell you that never has any nation in
the worlds history produced So many
men 50 great"
OF course Capt Mather knew that |
knew that Tennessee was originally set
tied by North Carolinans, and he also
knew that on account Of the great
number Of her children that had settled
in the surrounding States; and on nc.
count Of her pre.eminence every way
Virginia has been called the mother Of
States, and that consequently | had II
perfect right to speak Of her us the
mother of Tennessee.
True, if Jerc Black was Il war Demo.
crat he vas rot much better than Re
publican, but to the extent that he was
IL Democrat his testimony was worth
that much the more in the case given.
Puritanisn, in its time, has devel-
oped mauy strange phenomena, but
none stranger than the well known fact
that no matter how narrow its preju-
diccs aud how bitter its hatre,ls may
have been at home, the moment one Of
its votarics crosses the Potomac or Ohio
his heart warns up and his charity ex-
pands, and he at once falls in love with
everybody and everything. o! con.
sistcncy thou art indeed jewel rarely
found
Now, ! don't want to be too hard on
Capt. Mather, but some of his stories
smell little iishy; still he is II very
clcar-minded man and reads very well.
But to say that during the craze Of
witchcraft $4,000 witches were burned
and butchered by the laws and churches
Of England, and more than 100, 600 in
Germany, Switzerland and Italy, seems
to me TO be drawing on the imagination
pretty heavily. Aud to think of thos.
brave Germans, "whom Cesar failed to
conquer" as burning witches The
thing is prcpostcrous. But, ''What is
writ, is writ"
Why didn't the Captain go on in the
same strain Of clearness and tell US that
half Il million had been burned in the
moon, five million in Jupiter, and ten
million in Saturn 7
If | were Capt Mather's adviser !
, would suggest to him that when he
finds those few well cultured acres, il
would be wise in him to he herewith
conirnt, and to bid farewell to ruin am.
hition.
! Finally, Capt. Mathcr has aourshed
his religion about good deal in this
controversy. lie insinuatcs that his re.
ligion is great deal better than re.
ligion of forms and responses, aud he
imagines that his religion comes from
Bethlehem! | am sorry to dispel the
illusion, but he is mistaken. lie is Il
Puritan; at least he glories in Puritan.
ism, and have no doubt he is Puri-
tan indeed, and that the blood of the
Puri,ans is this moment coursing through
his veins. Who knows but that he is the
vcritablc long-lost descendant of Cotton
Mathcr alluded to in the lettor at the
top Of this article? That being the
case, the question is settled. Cotton
Maiher was II celebrated Puritan d.
vine, so.callcd, who delivered woman
bound to Satan, and had her burned,
and while she was burning he sat in his
comfortable study and. chuckling, said
she was going roaring out of one fire
into anothcr-that is, out of his fire in
to hcll-irc!
That is Puritanism, and there is where
Captain Mather's religion comes from
More anon it nccessary-and no craw-
fishing. j. &, SHArAuD.