The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1901-10-31
SPIRIT RHppIHGS
The Ghost of the DefunCt Republl-
Gan Hppedrs With a Message
About Daniel.
To The TRIBUNE:

dlu tllc uloculuOulod SHOoO VI lhO
lately deceased Republican. Having
been comfortably disposed for my last
long sleep have been rudely disturb
ed by the yengeful and passionate
kicking of one Daniel Mcdonald on
my grave and | have risen from the
cerements of death to rap out final
making you my involuntary
medium for that purpose and waving
the requirement that you shall gOinto
a trance to receive and impart my
Were l possessed of the human
emotions that moved me when in life
should doubtless be fiattered that at
nv death the noble Daniel lost no
time in comforting upon me that sort
of honor which it is alone within the
compass of his ability, and which it is
certainly most congenial to his nature
and habits, to bestow. TO be i'll spok-
en- of by a moral coward, after death
had closed my last form and sent me
to the final press of the tomb, ought
not to have surprised me; that | in
creasingly incurred the disp,easure of
my maligner as my success and his
failure grew upon him in his decrepi-
tude ought to be taken as most satisfac-
tory proof that 1 labored not in vain in
my efforts to be better paper than his
Anticipated plant and still more ancient
ideas ever could produce. Though in
spired less by generosity than by
shameless spleen and vindictive envy,
still he has paid me the high COM
pliment Of unwittingly admitting his
inferiority by the very method and
matter of his attack. Like an infur-
lated coward he stamps upon my grave
and utters incoherent lies and maudlin
filth too coarse and obscene to be
rightfully admitted to the mails OF
have circulation in self-respectiDg
families.
1t is well enough. l should have
nothing to complain of. Perhaps
when shall be longer dead and the
last vestiges of my weak humanity
shall have sloughed away, / shall nc
longer be stirred by the pounding on
the mound above me by this bereft
old man. But now, retired though ]
am from the world and all its affairs
and pleasures, 1 confess it does kindle
in my nearly extinguished sensibilities
vivid satisfaction to be so commend
ed by false assertions.
Knight retaliate. / might, while
remaining within the bounds of exact
truth, say things of him that would
pierce his armOr of Self-eSteem an6
wound the sensibilities of his most es.
Unable family; but candidly, what
good purpose would be subserved
The people of Marshall county knew
me and knew my editors, and in the
forum of public opinion we are mo-
put upon the defensive. Daniel Nc
Donald is a poor, weak, old man
whose opportunities have been grea
but whose harvest has been small, ant
the disappointments that have crowd
ed upon him in his old age have OBJ
scured and distorted his mental vision
He has so determined a hatred tc al
who have not smiled upon him a
every beckon of his finger that he de
MES even to the departed the sad i'm
munities of the shroud and he un
plumbS the dead Republican for bul
lets to assassinate the characters @
its yet living conductors. He is no
capable of knowing it, but such con
duct is a prediction of his own disas
trous fate. He has never been accept
ed at his own estimate of himself, no
can he ever be if he ends his caree
with his heart filled with rancor an,
spite and his minds eye turned in
ward upon the blackneSs and disap
pointments that are there.
Loose libels ought to be passed b.
in silence and contempt, even in TIL
face of great provocation, but thi
latest effort of Daniels cannot be ut
terly disregarded without an implie'
self-depreciation that would i'll be
come me. The present libel is of tn
same stuff as his libels Of the past
They derive no Importance from tn
source Of their emanation nor from
the characte- OF the sheet in which
they are uttered, for the violation o
his own canons of editorial courtes,
and manly morality is one of the pri
vileges that Mcdonald frequently ex
ercises, and it is for this reason tina
l decline his jurisdiction as judg
upon my career of half century an,
refuse to abide by his judgment.
Let me tell my senile censor that i
does not lie in his mouth to CRITICS
the editorial management of any othe
paper on the score Of veracity, decenc,
or loyalty to country. His offense