FAST DAY SllRMON REVIEWED. 33 



to-day in the United States, — and others, of consequence 

 to the community and to humanity. Where was Mr. H. 

 upon all these important matters ? Had he no views on 

 any one or all of these for his expecting hearers on Fast 

 Day, when it was supposed he would with his eloquence 

 encourage the good and cause the wicked to tremble ? 



No ! He passed over all the " crying sins" of the age, 

 — all the flagrant acts of the statesmen and the rulers of 

 the country, — all the abuses of our political system, — all 

 the crimes of the nation and the people, — ^all the errors of 

 the great world at large, — and "came down," with a 

 tremendous force, upon the autobiography of a showman, 

 and the simple history of a hen fever ! He suffered my 

 friends President Pierce and Senator Douglas to escape his 

 censure, in order that he might the more completely 

 " crush out" Mr. Burnham and Mr. Barnum ! The rev- 

 erend speaker had no time to lash the dealers in men and 

 women, because he was bound to exterminate the trafiSckers 

 in " no-haired horses " and " pure-bred poultry " ! Every- 

 thing was made to give way to the great business of placing 

 under the moral ban men whose sias were of so enormous a 

 character that they amount to telling wnpleasant truths; 

 which was not what the Eev. Mr. Huntington did in his 

 Fast Day Sermon ; — for, whatever may have been his in- 

 tentions, it is certain that he made the same sort of blunders 

 that every man must make (no matter what may be his 

 native cleverness) who undertakes to instruct before he 

 has made himself conversant with the details of his subject. 



No one will question the reverend gentleman's scholar- 

 ship, his reading, his eloquence, his goodness of heart, or 



