Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1846-07-02

ceTnlng ana qulZZlcai! 10 tHey tdik
of their strength you would fancy
they could heave mountains. Of their
swiftness of foot' they could vie with
the mountain roe. Of their talents?
you feel that you have the honorto sit
side by side with another Milton or
another Locke. Of their wealth. they
are match for the Rothschilds. OF
their connexions? who ever heard of
such prosperous mortals? They are
all people of fashion and fortune-all
above dependence-all shining in the
upper circles-their carriage just left
the door as you entered-of course you
have heard of the immense accession
to their income they got t'other day!
Addison somewhere remarks, that if
there be anything which makes human
nature appear ridiculous to beings of
superior faculties, it must be pride, well
aware as they are of the vanity of those
little supernumerary advantages on
which men plume themselves. But
one does not need to be an angel to be
astonished and diverted at the silly self
conceit, so fruitful in falSehood, which
has been described. The violation Of
truth, too, in this instance, is all the
worse that it panders to another vice,
namely, extravagant self-appreciation.
1t is wicked daughter feeding bad
mother.
The auaricious falsifers are anything
but few in number. 1t seems they were
not unknown in the days of Solomon.
The wise man sketches them thus,
with his graphic pen: sit is naught, it
is naught, saith the buyer; but when
he Is gone his way, then he boasteth. "
They are plentiful in our times too.-
They sacrifice truth at the shine Of
worldly ACKNOWLEDGEMENT; they tell lies
to fill their pockets; contract heavy
guilt, that, like Whang the miller, they
may have the exquisite pleasure of
thrusting their hands into a heap Of
gold up to the elbow. There were,
in the time Of the king, we have nam
ed, the seller, who, when disposing of
his goods, greatly overpraised them;
and the purchaser, who, to get them at
a lower price, did exactly the reverse.
Thus falsehood went on, out in the
market, and on both sides Of the
counter-and so it does still. Oh! but
the maxim is current in the world. that
a man wont thrive nowadays if he be
sternly honest and answering IN his
regard to truth. Now, there is no use
in making the world worse than it is.
Rich knaves there are, no doubt: they
are the exception, not the rule, howev-
er; and were there window in
their bosoms, and were you, gentle
reader, allowed to look through it, you
would pity them, and call them "poor
indeed" The shortest and easiest
road to wealth is clearly that pointed
out by honesty and worth. Is there
merchant in your community who is
known to give his candid opinion of
the quality of his goods known nei-
Their to ove:-praise nor over-charge--
who gives the same article at the same
price to the injudicious and skiIful
alike? Be sure, other things being
equal, that man is thriving man; his
shop is frequented by all who wish to
deal fairly; his reputation is his bank.
And so is it in every department of life.
There is, if man would believe it, no
need for lying; the arrangements of
Providence are not such, that if a man
be truthful and honest he must needs
starve, and that the deepest rogue will
infalibly be the most prosperous.
But of all kinds of falsifers the ma
Heious is the most detestable. "A poet
of our own day has designed SANDER
the ''foullest whelp of SIM" A mali
falsiger-that is, one who invents and
propoga.es lies, with the view of iniu-
ring the peace, prosperity, or honor of
! anotber-the biggest reproach to his
species we know of. He looks with
jaundiced eye oHall around him; his
veal is the wo of others; che sleeps
not except he has done mischief" he
lives upon the calamities and misfor-
tunes of mankind; worth, fame, talent,
ifpossessed by those around him, only
serve to provoke his resentment to-
ward them, and call forth his ISLANDERS.
He is moral assassin; and, if charac-
ter be more sacred than life, the ma
lign traducer Of it is every way as loath-
some being as he who sheds the
blood of the innocent. We stop not
to enlarge this picture. II is a sicken-
ing thing to investigate deformity.-