Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1885-09-05

of the seducer of their sister, they an
swered doubtless with their hands on
their swords: "Should he deal with
our sister as with a harlot?" Then,
as if God was pleased with what had
happened, Jacob journeyed from that
country in safety to another, and the
fear Of God fell on his war-like enc
mics; not one lifted his finger against
him or his.
"The sons of Jacob smote the adul-
terer, and the seducer of their sister
and the daughter of their aged father
and then went in safety, Gods power
and influence falling upon the sur
rounding troops, all ready for assault,
and holding them while Israel went
their way.
SHOULD he deal with our sister as
with harlOt ?" How just and pow
erful thas expression! 1t has sur
vived the chasm Of the ages, and stirs
your hearts this moment as it did the
hearts of men in the remote and il
limitable past. 1t embodies an eter-
nal truth, that the home shall be pure
and protected; it contains the pri-
mary and vital element of civiliza-
ton; it was the keynote utterances
in behalf of human happiness, eleva-
ton, culture, refinement and Chris
tan publication. 1t was the same
old cry, with the antiquity and au-
thority of God upon it, on which
Captain Johnson spoke and acted.
The one burning, throbbing, inces-
SAINT, unappeasahle cry of his heart
was: "Shall he treat my wife in life
and in death as harlot ?" / have
known the father to battle the up
turned face of his daughter still in
death with his tears, plant evergreens
over he grave, and then call her be-
trayer and murderer to account with
the stern and awful question "Shall
he deal with my daughter as with a
harlot ?'
"ThiS question comes down from
the days when Jehovah dwelt face to
face with people; when he declared
the adulterer should die; that the
sentence was eternal, and there was
noreversal. The blOOd-stained earth
from the plains of Judea, where
Jacob fed his cattle, down to the coun-
ty of Greene, in East Tennessee, all
speaks the same voice, and God is
here the same, yesterday, today and
forever.
"You can render but one of two
verdicts in this case. If Captain
Johnson is guilty of anything he is
guilty of murder in the first degree,
and should suffer death. If you
should reach that conclusion, l pray
you when you go home tell your
wives and children, as they cluster
around you in love and happiness
and ask you all about the great trial,
what was said and what was done,
what the truth was and what it was
all about-tell them this defendant
was feeble and sick, hardly able to
appear in court, and could not hear
much of what was said if he was
here; that his wife, whom he loved
with tender, deep devotion, had been
ruined and defiled by his pretended
: friend his whole life had been laid
: waste; his idOlized son put to shame,
and in all this he was without fault
and had done no unmanly thing, YET
you have decided that he shall die or
the gibbet. Tell them all, and they
will be filled with wonder and horror
at such a verdict.
"But 1 turn away from such hide
Gus thought and picture. There is NJ
: such fate in store in your minds anC
, hearts for this manly man, this kline
t husband and loving father, this gooC
l citizen with life record free from
= stain or blemish. Soon you will per
form far different duty. You will
I not render this fair-faced boy father
I less as well as motherless. In one O
: his letters to his wife the defendan
said: 81 can not forget that you
i are the mother of a hero and an an
r gel" One boy on earth and one il
!, heaven. The hero is here in court
s looking on with rigid lines il
n his young face sustaining his feebl
l. father as he has from the beginning
a and waiting to lead him forth ono
e more to liberty and to a life perhap
IS beyond the rigor or the reach of tn
s whips and scOrns by which he ha
e been so cruelty scourged. How ofte
O father pleads for a son! The seen
n is here reversed. The son of onl