The daily citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1889-1890, 1889-09-01
TALKATIVE WOMAN.
THE LURKING DANGERS OF
LETTER WRITING.
The MaIiGnity and III-BreeaIinH of
Mrs. Garfield, the Kansas Cor
respOndent-The south OH Peril
GUS Ground.

The Ma11Rntty ana 1II-Breeft111R q
Mrs. Canfield, the Kansas Cor
respOndent-TheS south OH Peril
GUS Ground.
WEAvERvMLE, N c., August 80.
Some poet wrote about the quiet re
treats of the ocean," The rcstfuness 0
this mountain region recalls the pleas
ant idea. Friar Tuck's favorite Saying
PAX Vobscum" seems peculiarly ap
plicable to the mountaincers of far faI1cd
Buncombe. At first glance, stranger
would conclude that nothing short of al
earthquake would disturb their serenity
and he would be about right in his con
clusion. But recently the peace of the
whole Southern people, including Bun
combe, has been rudely and criminalIy
broken, and, astounding as it may seem,
by woman! Some witty parson once
demonstrated that there were no wOmeIi
in Heaven. How did he do it? BY quot
ing the scripture that says, "Thcre was
silence in Heaven for the space OF half All
hour" That was his major premise, as
the syllogists would say. His minor
premise was suppressed" to use the
language of the logicians, but when ex-
pressed i'll plain English it ran this wise
"No woman ever did keep silence for halt
an hour" The conclusion was inevita-
bic: Therefore there are no women i'll
Heaven. THAT preacher and his logic have;
never been ranked among my iavorltes-
But think that if Mrs. Garfield of Kansas
had had her memory logged with that
uncharitablc piece ofreasoning she would
never have written that famous, orrathel-
infamous, letter from Nashville, which has
set the South ahame and the world agog.
To say it exploded with the suddennesS
and unexpcctedness OF a dynamite bomb
i'll prayer meeting, or clap OF thunder
from a cloudless sky. is putting 1t mildly.
The people were first dazed, then out
ragged by it. To them it sounded like a
fire bell at midnight-likc the rattle of a
VenomOuS snake.
Letter writing has been a dangerous
business SO far back as history can re-
member. For some eunaccountablc reason
people appear more reckless in letters
than in conversation. walls can hear"
and "pitcherS have ears" are saws OF gen
cral acceptation, and whose wisdom is
commonly acted on. A man will take
YOU off to one side and then look all
round carefully to see if any cavesdrop-
pers are within carShot before communi-
eating anything of Importance. have
heard my husbandlaughingly assert that
he had one friend up i'll grand and his
toric old Pike" who was so careful and
so fearful of Others hearing what he had
to say that he'd take you out on raft
in the middle of the Mississippi, and then,
with hand to mouth, whisper the mo-
mentous fact that your house was on
fire That man is simply the average
citizen exaggerated in regard to careful
ness of talk. But put a pen into his hand
and all his circumspection seems to van
ish. In the slang OF the day, "the bridle's
off" | speech is silvern" and 'silence is
golden" then not to write private let
ters which may be published and being
published, may cause suffering, anger, an
guish and red ruin, should be certainly
classed as "a diamond of the first wa
ter"
To go no farther back than our own
country, Il private letter, unwittingly
published, caused Aaron Burr to kill Al
exander Hamilton at bloody Weehaw-
ken. letter kept Martin Van Buren
from the nomination for the Presidency
in 1874, and gave it to that distinguished
son of North Carolina, James X. Polk.
And, in passing, will say that ii any pol
itician needs confirmation of the doctrine
of the necessity of being wise as a ser
peut, let him read Senator Bcnton's ac-
count of the conspiracy to extract that
fatal letter from the Sage OF kindcrhook,
who was popularly credited with his full
share of serpentine astuteness.
The same year another great states
man, Henry Clay, wrote letter on the
very same question, "The Immediate An
nexation of Texas" which forever put
uuietus on his presidential hopes. After
that letter killed him dead as Julias
Cesar, he declared that he'd rather walk
thousand miles to communicate fact
bv word of mouth than write letter
lie was quite old to learn that "a burnt
child breads the fire"
To come down to "thc history of our
own times" we all remember the famous
postscript, "Burn this Letter." of Bob
ingcrsoll's "plumed knight In the glo-
rious campaign of 1854 the Burn this
Letter" became as tOrCclul as My Dear
Fisher" and since the Blainitcs are dc
termined to find parallels between the IL
lustrious Kentucky Wing and their idol,
they might put the likeness i'll this shape.
MEM First, point of resemblance. Nel-
ther could be President; second, they
both committed political harl-kari by
writing letters; third, here all resem-
blance ceased.
Take another example to our pur-
nose quite" as Robert Pollock would
say-Field Marshal Murat HaIstead. 1t
wasn't a "bare bodkin' that did the
work for him. 1t was steel pen. Not
content with having whole daily news
paper to express his opinion in, he car
ricd on a rushing correspondence with
Mr.. Secretary Chase, in which he, with
perfect abandon, ran amuck on all the
Republican worthless, including many
who are now ranked among Republican
saints-Lincoln, Grant ct id Omnc genus.
The grandson of his grandfather nomi-
mated the field marshal as minister to
Germany. Everybody said the brilliant
faber-slasher had earned the place by
faithful party service. Everything was
going on swimmingly, when, presto
change! some enemy rummaging IN
lnusty pigeon holes, unearthcd those saw
age and forgotten letters, and 10! Murat
was knocked out as completely as the
great apostle of the Boston Cult knocked
out lake Kilrain at Richburg. He must,
after he recovered his breath and senses,
have recalled these famous old lines:
''If so soon, l am done for,
What was begun for?"
might fill columns with obituary no
tees of suicides who took the letter route.
But enough. This recipe for getting rid
of a pestiferous public character seems
never to fail; Shoot into him one OF
his free and easy, happy go lucky private
lctters-loaded, but not intended for pub
lication."
But Ito return to our mutton',-Mrs.