None are so blind as those who can see but will not see.

One of the unwritten but most effective and rigid laws of our section,--which everyone respects and never violates,--is that a man's private and domestic life must never be made the subject of political or public discussion or newspaper notoriety.

The man, who at any time or under any provocation will so far forget himself as to say or do anything that can be construed into a violation of that unwritten law, will be likely to pay the penalty with his own life and that, too, without court, judge, or jury; and the one by whom the penalty may be inflicted will stand acquitted and justified before the bar of public opinion.

If, then, this able and brilliant young man,--whose bread and meat you now have at your disposal,--had lived in concubinage with the mother of his children, no law against custom and tradition would have been violated, and no one would suggest that he be punished for what he had done.

Knowing these facts as you do, you ought to rise to the dignity of the occasion and protect this good and innocent man from the cruel, unjust, and unreasonable demands that are now being made upon you to dispense with his valuable services.