Year: 1860




"Truth lies at the bottom of WE'LL" say,
the old adage and that may be the reason Sc
many people get distorted notions concerning
her appearance specially if they have seen
her through the refracting medium generally
found in wells This involuntary thought
leads me to speak of the Saturday Pross-the
organ, so some people contend, of Les Bo
hemienues. But whether or not this privi
legged class have made the Press their mouth
piece, it is certain that while it never affects
any vigorous morality, but rather favors free.
dom of speech in Walt Whitney and Ada
Clare, ii at the same time gets in some hits at
the moral and religious papers of our city.
And they need it. For instance, the Tribune
publishes at full length the letter of Mrs.
Gurney, the English lady who ran away
with her groom some months ago-the letter
sort of defense of her conduct-though
how it, being private letter, ever got into
print cannot see, The letter contains lust
that mixture of truth and error which feeds
SO many hearts only capable of extracting
the error Some friends of Mrs. Gurnev have
denied its authenticity. But whether au,
thentc or not, there it is in the Tribune, at
fall length, to have its bewildering effect
npon thousands of unstable minds, already
tempted to sin, and only waiting for some
shadow of justification in the conduct or
opinions of others. Yet the Tribunes edi
tor is full of holy horror at what he takes SO
much pains to place before the public. But
the Press takes it up not only upon this
ground, but upon an additional point, in true
Henry Clapp style. Let me quote:


Verify, the amount of disnterested virtue
and indignation exhibited by tie male human
being on certain occasions, is something re
heshing to contemplate.


In fact the male human being is very
solemn and sublime animal, and when he
gets chance to display his qualities, comes
out with them IN manner to dismay the
gods


Especially is the male human being in his
clement when he comes forth to spouse the
noble cause of eonjugal honor.


This is his great theme


The male human being travels on his de-
votion and fidelity to the marriage-bond.


Especially on his fidelity to it.


Hence his Indignation when it comes to be
violated by woman, and especially when.
after violating it, the woman runs away, as
in the case of Mrs. Gurney, and gets beyond
his reach


But, alas for the woman she must run
away.


If man violates the bond, he needn run
away unless he's a mind to.


Cases of Inconsistency on the part of his sex
are so rare-occurrng. as we all know, only
at millennial intervals-that socsety is char
table enough to tolerate the offender, while
if the wife interiors she simply makes herself
ridiculous.


Accordingly, the aduterous male human
being feels under no great concern of mind
on the subject, and, in truth, carefully avoids
it until some woman is found guilty of the
same offence, and then his love of virtue
overpowers all other considerations even
that of hi own guilt-and he joins with his
sex in hooting her if possible out Of the
world


In fact, the loudest hooters and howlers on
such occasions are generally males vi this
class


We don't complain of this state of things,
but merely call attention to it.


For ought we know, it may be all right


Mr.. Gurney, doubtless, doesn't think so;
but then Mrs Gurney is a woman, and when
she hears aduterous men denoucing her more
violently than any one else, she may, in the
weakness of her intellect, think it piece of
gross injustice"


There is an edge to Mr. Clapp's short par
agraphs; and it is also true of the Press that
whatever liberty its own clique may take of
thinking, acting, or writing, it does not COM
nit the blunder of blazoning forth to the
world the most revolving of crimes, or crini-
nal confessions. But Mrs Gurney is not the
only woman whom the Press has had occa-
sion to-if not exactly vndicate-at least to
entreat charity for, in its own peculiar way,
the second of its PrOtegcs in the last issue is
Lola Montez, who now lies at deaths door
from paralysis, in this city. OF course the
occasion did escape the Sunday papers, who
said some very ill judged and illtimed things
concerning the end of such women as Lola
Hear Mr.. Clapp on this question;


"We pretend to no special acquaintance
with the private life of that lady, nor have
we any right to discuss it. Indeed, we are
quite unable to perceive that any person has
that right. We are not so immaculate and
celestial as are the editors of the Sunday
papers; and that, perhaps, is the occasion Of
this blindness But to our less virtuous ap-
prehension, the article we have quoted seems
the disgusting offspring of coarse aud bru.
tai nature, intended for the delight Of a ures
equally coarse and brutal. Aud still further
such is is our vicious deluson-we may
add that we do not well see how the article
could have been written, unless by some per-
son entirely dead to every sense of manli-
ness, decency, taste, aad even common hu-
manity.


This may, perhaps, be considered rather a
severe estimate of the Sunday paper. We
cannot help that 1t is, at least, . sincere
one.


The virtue of those respectable and sooth-
ing sheets is as we have already remarked,
of a very peculiar order. 1t is that kind Of
virtue, which under thin and watery guise
of sorrow, violates at once the decencies and
the sanctities of life, hunts out and mourns
over the garbage of scandal, and pollutes
everything it touches with Shiny twaddle
of commonplace morality"


1t will be seen from these quotations that
the editor of the Press is something of a
thunder Clapp when he chooses to let loose
his lightnings.


The most curious case of scandal that has
come to light of late is one which happened
in Brooklyn recently. The offenders were
an old man of sixty and young girl of six
teen, his adopted daughter. This interesting
couple actually eloped together to Philadel-