Our Representative did exactly right, and his people will commend him highly for it. The beauty of the proceeding is that it was accomplished while the galleries had not yet emptied — while many of Sumner's constituents were there to look upon the deed. An act in good season.
Original passage & context
"For our own part, we feel that our Representative did exactly right; and we are sure his people will commend him highly for it. [...] The beauty and propriety of the proceeding consists, to no small extent, in the fact that it was accomplished while yet the galleries had not emptied themselves, and while many of Sumner's constituents were probably there to look upon the deed. [...] We have often heard of a word in good season, but this is an act in good season."
Brooks's own home-district paper — 'our Representative' is Brooks himself — celebrating not just the caning but its theatricality before Sumner's constituents. Fragments joined with [...].
Read it in the original — Furman Secession Era Editorials transcription ↗