Semi-weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1852-1853, 1853-06-11

HONEST PEOPLE.n


minor town in an adjoining State, . very pathetic
obituary notice Of gentleman lately deceased, o
whom it is said that, g born of poor but honest
parents he ever regarded with kindness, eeyen
| in the midst of unusual prosperity" the ''hum
blest of the people in the community around him,
&C. We doubt not from the description given
that he was very kind and worthy old gentle
man. and we trust he is now happy in the society
of his eccentric parents, who strangely blended
as the panegyrist assures u.s. the attribute of hon
esty with the circumstance of poverty.
| But we hear somewhat too much of this thing
and it is exceedingly illtimed in this nineteenth
century, and out Of place in this republican
try. 1t is time we had learned better things-that
poor men should very readily be deemed honest
and working men respectable.
| Poverty is an accident or incident that we would
advise all to get the better of as soon as they can
but, rich or poor he who is not in a.proper sense
working man is a burden upon the community
and disgrace to society. Ali good men are either
working men, invalids, or superannuated. Some
labor harder than Others the task of some is of
rougher character than that of others and some
get better paid than Others But just and rational
men hold all alike in their esteem, except as the
individual honors or dishonors the calling he pur-
sues. Distinctions based upon artificial rules of
European countries, but more especially of the
Celestial Empire, (where work is fortunately be-
coming very pressing just now,) are contemplate
abSurdities in this country. A greater degree of
prosperity may here attend one pursuit than is
realized in another, greater amount of infor-
nation may be essential to the practice of one
occupation than another but these things are
not hereditary and perpetual, the idea of the rec
ognition of castles only linger in the crania of
fools.
1t is a great thing to be an eminent lawyer, ply
sician divine or merchant, but it would be a very
little thing to despise in consequence ones own
kindred in the pursuit of less profitable duties.
The relatives now among US of WASHINGTON,
FRANKL1N, SHERMAN, and GREENE are no doubt
Justly proud of the fame of these men; but un-
less some of them, of whom we have never heard,
arc tenants of mad-houses or. candidates for adj
mission, we presume there would be no attront IN
telling them that WAsHINGToN was county sur
veyor, FRANKLIN printer, SHERMAN a shoemaker
and GREENE blacksmith. If it were otherwise,
it would but prove the tendency of families to de-
geDeracy in moral and intellectual stature under
the influence of worldly prosperity.
Who is he, no matter how exalted his position,
who has not relatives in the humblest? the wri-
ter has himself seen members of the immediate
families of two Presidents of this Republic toiIing
for their support in the seVerest of employments :;
and it is probable that no man has occupied the
White House who has not been aware that many
of his kindred, unless relieved by himself, Were
reckoned among the poor, if not the honest of the
land The only brother of the great CLAY was a
cabinet maker; WEBSTER, the giant of statesmen
and the ornament of his country, had brother-in
law who never learned to read until after compile
ting the period of three score und ten; and ma
iority of the first statesmen of the present time
are the energetic and ambitious of poor but
honest parents EVERETT (who will never blush
to hear it) was discovered in his younger days in
the pursuit of knowledge under difhculties-the !
difficulties of poverty, though they presented to
him but slight impediments on the road to re-
nown.
The web of social life in this country infalli-
bly, binds together in sympathy and interest the
whole people, that he who fances the possibility of
other distinctions than those arising from the pos
session of wealth. intelligence, and moral worth,
but betrays the folly and ignorance that darken
his own perceptions and expose him to the con-
tempt and derision of rational beings.
Whether in the rough scramble of those who !
are over-zealous for the accumulation of wealth,
the far more happy and tranquil pathway of such
as content with prompt and liberal response
to the petition of g onr daily Bread" the upright
the independent, and the nobe-sprited, rich and |
poor alike, dsdan to think of the existence of
puerile partitions in society, manifested either by
the exhibition of pride and hauteur the one
side, of envy, jealousy, and conscious inerioriy
On the other.
But it is not the wealthy who most frequently
Oetray CONSCIOUSNESS OF any dlnerence between
themselves and those who are less fortunate; nor
IS it those who, in the pursuit of the right MEANS
are likely to become wealthy. Both of these de-
'criptons of persons too buisily engaged, the
one enjoying and the other garnering up the means
IF independence. 1t is the poor in spirit as we'll
IS in purse whose weak resolutions and feeble ex-
ertons sufficiently evidence their inability to climb
md who would fain revile the possessor of that
which they unworthy to obtain. How we'll
would it prove for them and for society could they
out arouse from the lethargy of soul that over
powers them, and by industry and economy glo-
ousy. win the prize of success, the possession of
which by others casts a jaundiced hue upon every
hing they contemplate, and obliterates every just
md noble feeling of their nature. In the midst
If the prosperity around US, even the shadow of
'nvious thought should be repealed disgrace;
'ction should take the place of idle murmurs and
due regard to economy should Danish the vulgar
lesire of ostentation. Thus would happiness be
increased, prosperity secured, and every energy
md unworthy emotion subdued.
There was time in which demagogues could
nkindle these unworthy feelings for their own adj
antage; but we trust that it has forever departed,
nd that the self-respect of every citizen is ade-
uate to protect him from their pernicious inf1u-
nces. Wash. Republic.
PERSEVERANCE REWARDED. In February, 1912,
dr. John Thornton, of Oglethorpe county, had a
aluable negro girl and one of his most valuable
orses stolen from him, by John A. Woods, car 3
han in A III &c &Enol