Peninsula Enterprise, February 20, 1892

Untitled

Transportation -- Road - Maintenance

MR EDITOR: -- It is with very great reluctance that I intrude once more upon the good nature of your readers and ask space in your columns for a brief reply to the following paragraph which appeared in your issue of January the 30th, over the signature of J. D. Parsons: "But I have written enough to show that this writer is not a safe guide in matters of taxation, any more than he is in matters of religion. Some years ago through the columns of the late Eastern Virginian, he charged upon the christian church, but he broke his lance without leaving a scratch upon the shield of Christianity." Without admitting the truth of this statement, I will first say that when a writer goes outside of the legitimate and proper line of argument, in a discussion of any question of a public character, and drags in matters that have no relation whatever to the question at issue, and altogether personal in its nature, it is not only a serious breach of the rules of debate, but is also at once an evidence either of the weakness of an individual, or of the cause he represents. I can discover no relation whatever, between roads and religion, unless good roads help one to keep it, and that bad roads may materially assist one to lose it. Thus far religion and good roads may go hand in hand, and bad roads, be the devil's hearty co-worker. This latter fact may explain the antagonism exhibited by certain talented individuals toward the proposed road reform -- who knows? These personal encounters in the newspaper, no matter what they may be about, can hardly serve any good purpose. The public may be amused for awhile, at the expense of the participants. This is about all. No profit will result therefrom, either to the individuals immediately concerned, or to the public generally. And it is from the fear only, that individuals unacquainted with my character, or "make up", might misconstrue my silence, that I pay any attention whatever to the Ex Honorable's little fling in your issue of the 30th. Of course the man's object in making it, is apparent to everyone. From the injustice of the position he assumed in the road discussion, and from the inherent weakness of the cause he advocated in extreme desperation, he was prompted to adopt this method in order to divert the attention of the public from the fairness of the propositions advocated by me, and to break if possible, the force of the arguments set forth in my circular letter in behalf of the taxpayers of the county. In other words, he sought to injure the cause by making an attack of a personal character upon the advocate. What effect this attack has had upon the fate of the road law is clearly shown by the vote of the delegates. If the Ex Honorable's moral character will not allow him to appreciate sincerity and honesty of purpose in an opponent and if his intelligence will not permit him to discern the difference between a principle and the individual, or between the advocate and his cause, or between roads and religion, he has but to refer to the verdict of the delegates recorded in the road meeting at Drummondtown, on the 3d of January last. There he will find instruction and safe guidance, if no comfort, for his weary soul.

We will now refer to his charges, and consider them seriatim. We will again shake the old bag that has already given us the dulcet tones and wonderful gifts in a late issue. I shake, "You are not a safe guide in taxation matters," it mutters. Comparisons are odious, it has been said, and I reckon the Ex Hon. can for once at least, appreciate the force of that saying. He started out with the idea of bonding the county for $50,000. Upon my motion in the first meeting of the road committee, this bonding clause was stricken out. When his pet scheme thus failed, he waxed hot, became red and white by turns, made a plunge for his coat and hat, and shot out of the room, declaring that road reform was dead. And he has been working like a beaver since by methods that will probably secure the fulfillment of his dire prophecy. Again, he started out with the proposition that property should bear the burden of road reform, save the insignificant sum of 50 cents, head road tax -- my proposition was, and is, that every man being benefitted by good roads, should contribute to his means, and benefits derived. The Ex. Hon. may reckon himself a safe guide and so may he be esteemed by his strong contingent, in the matters, but I reckon the tax payers of the land have shown that they think differently, unless their actions belie their thoughts. I shake the old bag again. This time it says, "you are not a safe guide in matters of religion." This is rather strange talk to come out of this particular bag. If this bag had been washed in the Jordan and blessed by St. Peter himself, it would even then be rather irrelevant and improper talk, considering the circumstances. But when we consider that this bag is of the earth, earthy, and of the world, worldly, and it has lost its mental equilibrium, or else it is playing the part of a hypocrite, and has totally forgotten the well known law of physics, that a missile when thrown, striking an object, may return and strike the one that threw it.

As in matters of religion, the man is probably for once at least, right. I have never attempted nor aspired to guide men in their religious convictions. And here we might make another of the odious comparisons. How stands the Ex Hon. in this matter? A man should be sure that he is well grounded in the faith himself, before he ventures to attack a lack of faith in another. Is he a guide in these things, that he presumes to assail the course of others? First cast the beam out of thine own eye, that thou may'st more clearly see the mote that is in thy brothers.

The next shake of this interesting and loquacious old bag, reveals the assertion, "that you made a charge some years ago upon the christian church." This charge is as gratuitous as it is false. No man knows better than the man who makes it, that no word appeared from me in the "Eastern Virginian" in defense of the opinions that I held, until an unwarranted attack had been made by an article which appeared in that paper. Upon the appearance of that article, I wrote a protest, and gave my reasons for doing so. This protest brought forth from several writers, rejoinders. Against these opponents I defended my position as best I could. If I did not succeed it was from lack of ability and not from lack of disposition, and while I may regret much that was then said, which upon reflection in cooler moments, and in after years I am free to admit might well have been left unsaid -- at the same time I would say, that I have no apologies to make neither for the motive that actuated me in making my defense. And while I have never been too bigoted, nor too proud to acknowledge an error, yet my lips have never been base enough to confess a wrong, when my heart acknowledged no wrong. The charge of hypocrisy in religion or politics has never been laid at my door. I am known by my community for what I am, and for what I profess, and whatever confidence or trust, whether of a public or private character, has been bestowed upon me by the people has been done with a full knowledge of me in every respect. This confidence and this trust, however limited it might have been, has been gratefully accepted by me. I look upon it as an evidence of the great progress of the grand idea of the universal brotherhood of man, as well as an appreciation of their part of an independence of principle and integrity of purpose. If the man had a remote idea even, that in making his charge, he would tempt me into a general discussion of principles involved therein, he will find that he was "reckoning without his host." The charge must come from a higher source, and from a source untainted by hypocrisy before it will merit my attention in a general way. Besides, I have no disposition to enter into such a discussion, unless the provocation were great indeed. I would be an ingrate of the blackest dye besides, if I failed to acknowledge and appreciate the confidence and kindness, both of a public and private nature, bestowed upon me by the great hearted christians by whom I am surrounded. And while I may have no faith in the doctrines they profess, yet I would indeed be false, if unprovoked, I were to attempt to uproot the faith that has uplifted and carried them along through life, and upon which they lean for guidance and comfort, as time rapidly and relentlessly sweeps them along towards death's dark and shadowdy vale. I am almost through, one more shake of the old bag and I have done. So I shake. Hideous sounds are heard, ferocious growls greet the listening ear, sulphureous odors permeate the surrounding air and choke our breath, and with mingled fear and disgust, we behold an ugly and long forgotten demon drop to the floor. The forked tongue, forked tail and cloven feet are his. His eyes, long unused to the light of day, blinked awhile and then shot their fiery gleam athwart our vision. His coat was as black as midnight itself, and across his low and repulsive forehead, was blazoned the name, "Falsehood", and upon either side, deep sunk in the hide, were the words hypocrisy, cant, and deceit. When questioned, as to whence came ye and what came ye for? Opening its horrid mouth, and revealing its forked tongue and hideous fangs: with terrible voice, it muttered these ominous and significant words. "I had long slumbered in peace, and in oblivion to all the world, down deep in the infernal solitudes, and should have rested there, content but that my father, who is an Ex. Hon. rudely disturbed my happy existence, and bade me once more come on earth, to again engender hate, enmity and strife among men, to once again array friend against friend, father against mother, and sister against brother, in a pitiless persecution for opinions sake. On my bended knees, I begged him to leave me in peace and to spare me the misery of thus afflicting the creatures of earth, but he spurned both my entreaties and my tears, and rudely bade me go and do his bidding.

We will leave this monster and the readers' reflections together for an indefinite period and for the present dismiss the whole subject.

N. W. NOCK.