Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1841-12-25

A mans a man, for A. that,
My hearers-in travelling about upon this
dirty terraqueous hall, you come in contact
with great variety ofndviduals belonging to
The human race; some white in skin but black
at heart and others all the way through of
color, like frkin of June butter. Now the
question is, how do you Judge of the moral
WORTH goodness and nobleness of your fellow
man! Is it by his duds or by his deeds
When you make your obeisance, do you bow
to the dry goods upon his back or to the ami
mated MACS Of sin AMI syccphancy beneath
them' know that in too many instances,
you pay your respects to former, while the dirt
of depravity may be found under his dickey,
and his heart is covered with thick coat of
corruption.-whie, at the same time you would
scoru to grasp the hand that mas grown hard in
honest toll, especially if the homespun habi-
ments Of humility were hung upon the corporc-
al frame. This is wrong, my friends. 1t shows
a spirit of weakness, foolishness and vanity on
your part, contemplate in the sight of your
Makes, and ridiculous in the eyes of all good
and intelligent people. rtcll You man is a
man---whether his coat comports with the
cleanliness ofhis character, or his vest with the
value of his virtues; just much as potato is
a potato, whether it be washed white and
clean or covered with the dust of its native soil
For my part, had rather associate with the
person whose good and noble qualities are par
TALLY oblterated by a shabby exterior, than
whose rotten reputation is patched up with
broadcloth and buckram.
Ny friends-there was a time when n gen.
tleman and man were SYNONYMOUS terms;
but that period is past, forever. The moral ma
terial that then composed the one was cmbo-
died in the other; but nowadays there is as
much difference between them as there is be-
tween bone and ivory. A MAN is now made
purity and plainncss ofapparel; but GENTLE
MAN is a compound of vanity, deceit hypocricy,
gold, silver, shinplasters and brass. the truth
is, my worthy friends, ole Time has taken in
| to his capacous NAV our whole lump of pri.
meval virtue, which has soured upon his stom-
ach and he now vomts vice over the land, to
soil the footsteps of the innocent and would be
virtuous; and he that has bedaubed himself,
Immediately assumes the air, the attitude and
the attire of a gentleman, in order that he may
walk into respectable society, unsuspected of
the moral filth that would otherwise cause his
| fame, if not his feet, to stink worse than pot
of bears-grease savored with the essence OF
pole cat.
My respected hcarcrs-the difference that
exists between men of the present day is not
so great as that between men and monkeys,
by long chalk. consider that man TO be a
gentleman who has in his heart the true prin-
ciples and integrity-I don't care whether or
not he be shod, shaved, shorn, or shirted; ard |
consider that gentleman to be a MAN, whose in
terror recommendations correspond with the
niceness of his outside arrangements But viz
tue, vice. conceit, corruption, integrity and con-
firmed rascaliy, have, of late, become so con
founded together, under the garb of pretended
piety and a whole pair Of breeches that it is
difficult to determine the man from the mon
ster. Ancient Esau, the favorite of his blind
father, was hairy man; yet his cunning and
jealous brother contrived, by dressing himself
in coon skins, to pass for Esau in the presence
of the unsusxpecting old Lentleman but, let me
tell you, my friends, that fa scourndrel thinks
a suit of good clothes and false collar of re.i-
gion are going to pass Kim safely within the
| walls of sal aton he will !, ,d himself as much
deceived as the philosopher who undertook to
amalgamate moonshine with metaphysics.
My dear friends-when | see man Drawing
the bitter blasts Of poverty, with christanike
fortitude and without murmur-who had ra
ther pick his precarious food from among the
thorns of penury, and subject himsetto the
: contumely of the proud, than dishonesty tres
pass upon the fields of wealth and plenty
say, that mans a man for all that and wher
| see an individu,l, rolling in affiuence, revel
ling in the sweets of luxury, and at the sam,
time robbing the widow of her mite, and snatch
ing the bread from the mouth Of poor orphans
! say, that gentleman's no gentleman, anyhow
you can fix it. The world, dear friends, i
growing corrupt and more corrupt, as each re
volving year rolls round. Vice and venalit.
are progressing with the march of intellect an
, refinement; and you might as well undertak
, TO extinguish the fires of endless torment wit
/, schoolboy's squirt gun as to prevent their raw
3 ages. Everybody is a gentleman who has me
ney at eontrol-cverybody sa man who wi