The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1850-02-07
Success and Failure.


We are often induced to pause and turn
! away with sorrow ifnot indignation at the
cold, selfish, and cruel spirit. which is gen.
orally manifested by mankind at the down.
fall of a fellow creature. Let and inidivId-
usl engage in an enterprise, however wild,
hazardous, uni ust and immoral and let
| eminent success crown his efforts, and he
will Immediately find thousands of para
sites and eulogists. 1.-The end," with
them, "sanctifies the means" The sac
cess renders them forgetful of the immo-
rality, and hence it so frequently happens
| that a rich man, who may have attained
| his wealth by system utterly vile and
profIgate, is regarded by the ,houghtless
many with far more favor and respect,
than poor man wh o has toiled in an
honest, honorable calling, but who has
ever been among the unfortu nate in
pecuniary sense. Success is thus made
| to sanctify vice, and the lnfam Gus doctrine
is endorsed-"Make money, my son. hon.
estly if you can, but by all means make
money!" The worship of Mammon is
prevailing passion in this country. The
desire to attain wealth is so strong, that
purity and integrity are often disregarded
or lost sight of. How frequently, when
a young lady is spoken of as possessing
all the qualifications that are calculated to
grace and adorn the female, sex, do we
hear the question put by some anxious
mercenery inquirer-''Is she rich?" And
SO again with a gentleman under similar
circumstances. The anxiety is not as 10
worth, virtue. probty or intelligence, but
as to worldly means! A false system Is
nd IL h
ters grow up with the impression that m
ney is the great object, the all-poweriul le-
yer; and that with money every thing
else must follow. The consequences of
such doctrine are truly deplorable. So
| ciety is rendered selfish, corrupt and mer-
cenary-the greater virtues are over =
! looked and undervalued while the noble r
impulses of our nature, command little res
pect paratively y speaking. Only few
! days since we were panied and shocked,
by an expression from the lipes ola youth
whose education and sense of propriety
should have taught him better. Abiding
to an individual, he said-"he is quite
wealthy, and therefore highly respect
able" But this was possibly the creed
inculcated by his mental and moral advl-
sers, and he was unconscious, or appear
ed TO be of, having committed an error.
Let US not be misunderstood. The man
who by long life and toil or who by fair,
honorable and successful enterprise be-
comes enriched, even to the amount ol
| hundreds of thousands, should not be less
respected on tha. account. Far from it
| The rewards of industry are every way
| honorable. Our children should be d
rected 10 such as an exaple; and the pru
| dence of such citiZen-his tegrity, his
| activity and his success, should be held
up in every way worthy of emulation and
imitation. But we mean to say that if the
successful merchant, mechanic, or man
uEacturer, have a neighbor every way b.:
equal in intelligence, in integrity and i,
all that is calcu lated TO ennoble ard bright
en- human nature-and who nevertheless
is miserably y poor-he-the poor, the just
the good, but unfortunate, is not entitled
to less consideration, than the rich am
the prosperous. On the contrary, becaus,
of his misfortune, we should deal witt
him more kindly, more generously. w
should travel out of the ordinary way tc
manifest our respect akd regard for him
We should prove that the man, his char
acter and his principles, are the real O
iects of esteem and consideration, withou
the slightest reference 20 his pecunia ry
condition.