Year: 1869

- BY HENRY WARD BEECHER.


We have received from "Down
East,S a note, from which we make
the following extract. The writer
saws that there is but little ''preach-
ing'' in his neighborhOOd, and that
what there is relates rather to the met
aphysical quality of sin than to the
actual forms which it usually takes.
He therefore sends for a little bit OF
preaching the followings Il


"My neighbor will not make his
part of his fence sufficiently strong,
and his stock will therefore break
over and damage my crops. He
heedlessly sets fire SO that the fire
spreads and burns up my part of. the
fence. He does not build the fence so
destroyed, as he is in duty bound to
do; yet lets his stock run in the OppO-
site field, and they are every now and
then trespassing on my fields. Now
the laws provide for a remedy by
compelling him, if bring suit, to
make legal fence, and rebuild the
part he so carelessly burnt. Now, if
I compel him by suit at law to do his
duty, make an enemy. My proper
ty is not safe, and in the end 1 would
probably be the sufferer. I consider
a dollars worth of peace and good
feeling with my neighbOrs worth a
dollar, and a dollars worth of justice
obtained by compulsion, by and
through the law, is generally dearly
obtained, costing two and often ten,
to get one, besides bad feelings, lasting
sometimes through life. Is it my du-
ty to bring suit for right when it will
perhaps beget malicious retaliation?
What course does the Scripture indi-
cate?"


Oh, sir, you could not have touched
a topic that would thrill more hearts
than this of fences! How simple the
topic seems! How little would an in
nocent stranger, riding through a ru-
raj district, imagine that fences. are
instruments of injustice, engines of
oppression, causes of quarrel! Fences !
not only separate estates, but divide !
families; they keep out cattle, but in
trOduce feuds; they protect land, but
squander money in bitter IitigatiOns. |


To fill up the whole subject of fen !
ces, with appropriate preaching, would |
require a sermon as long as an old !
fashioned Puritan discourse. In this |
particular case we do, not see that |
much is left for US. The writer has
argued his case, and decided it rightly. |
Peace is more precious than gold |
among neighbors. Don't go to La1C, If |
yO1t cum h6Lp IT.!


Some men take medicine for every
pinch and qualm, and are never well. |
Some men take law for every little |
spite or right, and they never have
any comfort of their lives.


What! Shall man give up his
rights? In a free country, native
born American, and be afraid to stand !
up for his rights?


1t is true, that men ought to ascer
tain clearly what are their rights;
and that they should see to it that, in
the main, they are respected. But |
even this relates rather to such rights |
as involve a mans moral and civil !
standing. Cases may arise in which
one should sacrifice his property, and |
his very life, rather than yield a just
and important right. But in every |
such case there must be a clear and |
unquestiOnable reason for such outlay. |


On the other hand, many of our
rights are not to be selfishly main |
tained-they are to be waived, yield |
ed, given away, for the benefit of
others. A man who keeps all his
rights for his own use is selfish and
unloveIy.


Define and authenticate your rights,
and then: if you can make men haPpi-
er, use them generously, and even
foregO them! A mothers whole life
is made up of a series of giving up
her rights for the benefit of her chill
dren. Is any other name more noble
among men than that of mother?


Yet, there mag be cases in which a
little Law will be useful to a neigh
bOrhOod.


If some strong and arrogant. man
dOmineers until, by yielding to him,
| he has come to think that he can have
everything his own way, it will be
good for him and for the whole neigh
borhOod if some smart, stiff necked
farmer will teach him a lesson at law.


If there be a mean and selfish ma
ture in neighborhoOd, who makes
it rule to go just as far as people will
allow, and to filch and grasp whatev-
er he can, it may be duty to put up
a fence of the law around him.


But, if a man is only careless and
slow and negligent, and yet really
does not intend any harm, I think
that 1 should mend the fence myself
before going to law. Coax him, talk
to him as plainly as you write to me.
1t is difficult to manage a man who
has the right on his side; but where all
the right is on your side, you ought
to be able TO manage any man.


Keep out of law! 1t will squander
more money than it will save. 1t
breaks down more fences than it puts
in order. No better citizens live than
lawyers; but going to Lal0 is next
to going to a grOg shop. When a
man begins, you never know when
/ he will end.


! ATTENTION, YOUNG IADIEs.-The