Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1906-08-03
yAIUE OF RECITATION.

Who sal estimate the cost of a
priceless sTeputation--that impress
which gives this human dross its cur
ency-without which we stand de
spised, debased, deprecated? Who
shall repair it injured? Who can re
deem it lost? Oh, well and truly
does the great philosopher of poetry
esteem the world s wealth as trash
in the comparison Without it, gold
has no value; birth, no distinction;
station, odignity; beauty, 40 charm;
age, no reverence: without it every
treasure impoverishes, every grace
deforms, every dignity degrades and
all the arts, the decorations, and &C
complishments of life stand like the
beacon blaze upon rock, warning
the world that its approach is dan
gerous; that its contact is death
The wretch without it is in eternal
quarantine; no friend to greet: no
home to harbor him. The voyage of
life becomes q JOY. ess peril; and in
the midst Of all ambition can achieve,
or ayalice amass, or rapacitY plum
der, he losses on the surge, a buoy
ant pestilence But let lis not de-
grade into seldshness of individual
safety or individual exposure this in
dividual principles; it testities high
er, a more ennobling origin.
It is this which, conseerating the
humble circle of the hearth, will at
times extend Itself to the circumfer-
ence of the horizon; which nerves the
arm of the patriot to save his coun-
try; which, if it does not inspire, viii
yet invigorate the martyr to merit
Immortality; which, when one worlds
agony is passed, and the glory OF
another is dawning, will prompt the
prophet even in chariot of fire, md
in his vision of Heaven, to bequeath
to mankind the mantle of his MEM
DRY!
Oh, divine: Oh; delightful legacy
OF a spotless reputation! Rich is the
inheritance it leaves; pious the ex-
ample it testifies, pure, precious and
imperishable, the hope which it in
spires Can there be conceived
more atrocious injury than to flch
from its posseseor this inestimable
bensfit-to rob society OF its charm,
the solitude of its solace; not only to
outlaw life, but to attain death, con
verting the very grave, the refuge Of
the sufferer, into the gate of infamy
and OF shame!
We can conceive few crimes beyond
it. He who plumbers our property,
takes from us that which can be re-
paired by time; but what period can
repair a ruined reputation? He who
lssaims our person. effects that which
medicine may remedy; but what herb
has Sovereignty owe" the wounds OF
SANDER? tfe who fidicues our pow
acTtyfstor reproaches our profession,
upbraitls MS with that which industry;
mayretliave end integrity may pilli-
'fy; Dat what riches shall redeem the
bankrupt fanle2 What power shall
hlanch the snliied snow OF character
There can be no injury more deadly
There can be no crime more cruel.
1t is without remedy. 1t is without
antidote. 1t is without evasion.
The reptile, calumny. is ever on
the watch From the destinations of
its eye no activity can escape; from
the venom of its fang no sanity can
recover. 1t has no enjoyment but
crime; it has no prey but virtue; it
has no interval but the rcstlessness
of its malice, save when bloated with
its victims. It grovels to disgorge
them at the withered shrine where
envy idolizes her own infirmitics