The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-09-08
UTAH AS CORDELIA.

us have seen reflex of one or more times
in our lives. He has three daughters,
GoNERIL, REGAIN and CoRDELIA, whom he
loves equally well and upon whom he is
DESTROYS of bestowing all of his worldly
goods and betaking himself to retirement
for the remainder of his life. Calling them
up one by one, he sought to learn from
each, by her own protestations, how much
she loves him. If LEAR had lived in
modern times he would not have trusted to
such criterion, since when woman is
interested in the choice she makes, her
choice is apt to follow her interest They
are that way now, and it is a fair presump-
ton that 'Merrie England" a few hundred
years ago was not one whit different as re-
lates to human nature to what it and other
parts of the globe are at present, even ad-
hitting that all that the bard of Avon said
in his historical inspirations was altogether
the truth.
However, it does not much matter
whether they were or not for the purposes
Of this article. They furnish a text for
present purposes and that is enough. Each
of the daughters, in the order we have
named them, was called before the presence
toward the author of her existence her re-
gard to be further borne out by means of
a promise, such, no doubt, as the district
courts here were wont to exact in the days
gone by from offenders againstthe laws of
the nation as a condition of immediate
grace. LEAR was disposed to take his
daughters word without subiecting it to
any especial test, and the one that promised
the longest, loudest and fastest was to re-
ceive the greatest reward.
First came GONERIL, eloquent in her
terms of Paternal affection and most voluble
in her vows of constancy and regard; she
loved and would love him under any and all
circumstances, more than her husband or
Whomsoever providence might de-
cree for her to love, then
or thereafter. She told her story pretty
well and made a deep impression upon the
livery foolish, fond old man, more sinned
against than SHINING But she was thrown
altogether in the shade and made to feel
how utterly weak and Intellectual are
English words in mouths unskilled in their
use by her sister REGAIN. She loved he pa
all through this world and the next; she
adored the air which surrounded him, and
the soil upon which his sacred feet rested;
she loved him more than all created things,
herself not excepted. As a lover of the
old man, she knocked GoNERIL over the
ropes in one brief round, and made the
smile on his face elongate to FLANAGAN
proportions as he listened to her perora-
ton. Then came the meek and lowly one
of the flock She, too, loved her father,
hut if she should ever wed her first ale
glance would then be transferred, and
instead of looking to her father as the
source of all authority thereafter, she
should be guided by her husbands will, as
dutiful wife ought This did not in any
measure disparage the source OF her being,
but being a wife she would give to her lord
and master the same obedience and love
and regard which her mother had given to
her father Brave girl! let US all say, and
no drawer was she than good. Would there
were more like her.
Well, CoRDELIA was dismissed from the
kingly presence with curses which were
not at all kingly, nor even manly, follow
ing her from her paternal: parent. She
was welded to principle, and subsequently
became welded to an object more tangible
than mere abstraction. The sequel shows
US that .GoNERIL and REGAIN, having OBJ
tanned all the old mans property with the
understanding that they were to take him
in and keep him during his latter days as
daughters should, whether they had his
possessions or not, turned him out of doors
and left him to seek such shelter as he
might find in his sore distress. The pic
ture which he presented, with his gray
hair and beard blown about by the winds
and his ragged attire barely warding the
blasts from his breast, while in his wrecked
mentality he plays with straws as
little, helpless child does with its gossa-
mer toys, has been correctly and powerfully
portrayed by the greatest of all actors,
ancient or modern, EDWIN FORREST, and
whoever saw him do it will never forget
what they saw while memory remains the
warder of the brain.
Well, in his extremity, the poor old man
at last finds shelter beneath the roof of the
poor girl who promised nothing that would
conflict with her duties as a wife. I'm
crowned, friendless and a wanderer, he
finds himself in the tolls of the enemy at
last, and when they are hanging his
youngest and only real daughter, he gathers
all his little strength together and Stays the
knave that is doing it. So that in his ex-
tremity, the only one that was treated
badly among the daughters was his conso-
lation and his refuge, while he did not at
last hesitate to- risk his own life in order
that hers might be spared little time
longer.
Among the western commonwealths,
those who scrutinize closest and are most
adept at drawing comparisons, will not
have to strain their faculties to perceive In
Utah the CoRDRLIA of Uncle SAN. With
out being so boastful or pretentious as any
of them, she has never refused to acknowl-
edge her paternity and pay it all needed
respect. While being conscious of the fact
that there was superior authority, one to
which she never faltered in her allegiance
and never refused to render full obedience,
she has all along at every time and upon
all occasions looked steadfasuly forward to |
the day when she would occupy that dis |
tinct and separate station among the PEG
ple of the union which would render her in |
dependent and no longer the mere creature |
of the governments whims. Although put |
off time after time, and treated with the ut
most contempt on all occasions, Utah has
borne il all meelzly and patiently, her heart
being set and her hopes fixed upon
that other ami grander condition which
SO many Of her sisters are about