Puslapio vaizdai
PDF
„ePub“

prey; he may employ his congenial bloodhounds, and exult in his successful game. But into Massachusetts he must not come! [Immense enthusiasm.] And yet again I say, I counsel no violence. I would not touch his person. Not with whips and thongs would I scourge him from the land. The contempt, the indignation, the abhorrence of the community, shall be our weapons of offence. Wherever he moves, he shall find no house to receive him-no table spread to nourish him-no welcome to cheer him. The dismal lot of the Roman exile shall be his. He shall be a wanderer, without roof, fire, or water. [Sensation.] Men shall point at him in the streets, and on the highways:

"Sleep shall neither night nor day

Hang upon his pent-house lid;

He shall live a man forbid.

Weary seven nights, nine times nine,

Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine.'

The villages, towns and cities shall refuse to receive the monster; they shall vomit him forth, never again to disturb the repose of our community." [Repeated rounds of applause.]

OGDEN HOFFMAN.

In this country newspaper notoriety is so easily obtained, printed compliments by the column-full being sold for a dollar or a dinner, it is not considered a difficult task to become immortal, nor very desirable to enter the prize list with such ambitious competitors for the laurel of fame. A quack who knows not the difference between the veins and the vertebræ, and a pettifogger who never read a page of law, can buy reputation for a shilling a line, go to bed an obscure ignoramus, and find himself famous in the morning. Now this state of society is so sickening to men of sterling talent and true genius, that few who have the ring of true metal in them care to tumble in such a promiscuous scramble for a great

name.

But there are men, who, like the oak king of the forest, stand firmly anchored in the soil, while saplings strew the vale or lean upon its branches, and look through its buds into the future, when the forests folded in its acorn cups shall be the pride and glory of the hills and plains.

Ogden Hoffman is such a man, and his name is as familiar in the Great Metropolis and the Empire State as household words.

He comes of good stock too, learned in the law. His father, Josiah Ogden Hoffman, being the contemporary of

[graphic]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors]
[graphic][merged small][merged small]
« AnkstesnisTęsti »