Elizabeth-Town gazette., 1819-01-12
MISCELLANY.
From the Connecticut Courant.
THE BRIEF REMARKER.
=" Man needs but little here below,
Nn,. nands fhaf IittI. Innnr .,


AND yet TO possess but little, though ii
be fully enough for the real want OF ma
ture, Is deemed wretchedness. Poverty
is, to many a delicate ear, one of the most
frightful words in the whole vocabulary of
our language; but it should be remem.
bered that the word has several degrees OF
Specification, and is really frighlfui in the
extreme degree only.
True enough, the rags and filth, and
the corresponding ignorance and deprayity
SO common in the ahodes of squalid pow
Ierty, are objects of disgust aud horror {;
as they exhibit human nature in its utmost
deformity, without sught to shade the
,iciure. The lazy poor, the vicious and
profligate poor, compose mass Of wretch
edness that is frightful indeed, and not
only frightful, but loathsome and but
little pity can be felt for the sufferings
which they bring upon themselves by their
IDLE and vicious habits.
This is not however, simple poverty
hut poverty and the grossness Of vice in
alliance, and ii is the latter that gives the
former its hideous colouring. Virtuous
poverty, on the other hand, how much SO
ever disrespected by scornful world, is,
in sober truth, respectable. 1t has NOR
Il graceln!ness that is peculiarly its own.
1t is not in the splendour of wealth or
IN the lap of ease that man, considered as
a moral being, usually exhibits the finest
features of character. For the highest
order of virtues can be developed only in
condition of considerable hardship and
suffering namely, the virtues Of forti-
tude, self-deniaI, patience, humility aud
quiet resignation. A family, that once
had seen better days, struggling with mis-
fortune, suffering 6 the rich mans con-
umely," and the neglect and scorn OF
former familiars, but suffering with forti-
tude and pious submission family al
ways poor and accustomed to endure
hardships, but of pureness of morals, in.
'iustrious, honest, unrepining, contented,
laiiy offering up thanks to God for that
tile which it enjoys; a father, q mother,
pprest with poverty, yet striving, with
Ill the little means in their power, to
school their children, and at the same time,
both by prccept and example, training
them up in the way they should go -
these, to the moral ken, are among the
most lively spectacles that ever were ex-
hibited 10 this fallen world. True, these
humble virtues are like the flowers that
" blush unseen" They are scarcely no.
ticed, aud much less admired {; while
thousands greet, with admiration and ap-
plause, whatever of shining virtue the eye
can descry in the ranks of wealth aud
grandeur.
The Rev. G. Crabbe, " the poet of re-
ality, and of reality in low life" !" has por-
rayed, with mastery powers of descrip-
ion. both vicious and virtuous poverty
not from fancy, but from what he saw
and knew. If the images of depravity, in
his poem, The Borough, be too coarse,
too naked, and too hideous, to excite
other emotions than those of disgust, the
images of virtue, which, also were taken
from the deepest shades Of poverty, pos
sesses almost unriyaled charms. The
Tale, for instance, the Sad Girl, poor
maid of the borough, who, after waiting
long time in anxious expectation OF the
return of the young sailor that had prom
ised to marry her, at length received him
emaciated aud mortally sick, aud nursed
him by day and night with the utmost
tenderness till he breathed his last-this
tale, in point Of heart-moving interest, per-
haps has scarcely rival 10 the history
even Of romance and fiction.
The following few lines of it show how
venerable, how sacred, how lovely, is the
cottage of the poor when adorned with
virtue and pure religion.
&C Still long she nursd him tender thoughts mean
time
Were interchange, and hopes and views sublime.
To her he came to die, and every day
She took some portion of the dread away;
With him she pray'd, to him his bible read,
Sooth'd the faint heart, and held the aching head
She came with smiles the hour of pain to cheer;
Apart she sigh'd; alone she shed the tear;
Then, as if breaking from the cloud, she gave
Fresh light, and gilt the prospect of the grave"
Blessed indeed are such poor! and Of
such, the number is 10 all probability
far greater than is generally imagined /:
the virtuous deeds and heavenly disposi-
tions Of the obscure children of poverty
being very little known or noticed, save
by the Omniscient Eye:
1t is great error and sure sign OF vul-
gariiy, to appear to be ashamed Of an
employment from which we derive sub
silence; for
60 Honour and shame from no condition rise.