The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1854-11-17
KEEPING UP APPEARANCES.

failure of Manchester, the owner of the "Peo
ple's Bank" in that city, puts in some whole
some reflections, which we copy below:
The present case of failure, and the disas
trous consequences following it, are not with
out their moral. The bane of Modern cit,
life is desire to make money and to live in
style beyond our legitimate means to afford
The old maxims of homebread prudence have
lost much of their force, and are rarely prac
tised. The desire to outshine our neighbors
or mt least to be equal with them in show
making and party-giying, and fine dresses anC
! furniture, and costly, yet useless ornaments
are among the fruitful causes of tight money
markets, bankruptcy, and domestic ruin. No
history has ever recorded the miseries which
the slavery of fashion and the arbitrary de.
mands of society inilict upon men--a slavery
more Calling than that of the servtude of the
Southern negro-the mady shifts that are
made to keep up appearances, to hide the
truth, and TO raise money to meet the notes
coming due. No wonder we have care-worn
faces, premature grey hairs, and efleminate
coEstitutions-th legitimate offsprings of a
passion to live beyond our means and keep
up appearances.
! We do not mean to say that failures in bu-
siness will not happen at times even when the
greatest amount of prudence has been OBJ
served. Misfortune is an incident to every
thing human. But we do mean to say that
there is more real poignant misery, more sleep
less nights and dreaded days occasoned BY
this mania for appearing to be better off than
we are, and supporting establishments beyond
that which we can legitimately afford, than
by any other thing The case of Mr.. Man
chester is a striking instance. The false APP
prarance, like false lights on the sea coast
held out bv wreckers and pirates to delude
the mariner, deceives and ruins many. The
poor people, who entrusted him with their
hard. won money, were deceived by the false
lights which he held out. Up to the moment
of his failure he was considered one of the
wealthest in the city; but when the lightning
struck, it left the tree bare of fruit and leaf
Nothing remained but the trunk, SCARED and
worthless. The poor have lost that which
they intrusted to him, and disappointment and
unavailing sorrow fill many hearts.
~ The New York Express closes a long
and interesting article on Sir John Frankin's
expedition as follows;
"Thus several years have rolled away since
that heroic band behelG "the last of earth"
Mankind should ever honor their memories,
as among the best and bravest of England's
dead. There is one, however, on whom this
final solution of Sir Johns fate, will fall with
crushing weight The widow of the unfor-
tunate navigator, through the long and weary
years he has been absent from that home, he
is now, alas! never destined to see more, has
never surrendered the hope that he would yet
return to England and to her. The doubts
and fears which took possession of all other
hearts, were never shared by hers. With
the constancy and devotion of n true woman,
she had exhausted her resources and the re-
sources of her friends, in the vain effort to
discover her lost husband, yet we are told she
still INDUCES in the most sanguine expecta-
tons that the expedition still absent, will not
come back without some tidings of her part
ner. For the agony Of such heroine, the
world has the tenderest ympathies-sympa-
thies we fear, she will sadly need when the
news that will 90 hence BY the next steamer
falls upon her then despairng heart"
~ The Clarksville Chronicle in speaking
of the Know Nothngs says:
The Know Nothing victories are too nu-
merous for us to mention separately; they are
spreading far and near all over the United
States, and thousands are added to this great
party every day. In our mind, it is destined
to be the great party of this nation, and all
true and good Americans will unite them
selves with it, unless it be some of the politi-
cal demagogues of both parties. Such party
hacks as stand aloof from this organization,
will receive the first blow, and feel the power
ful influence it brings to bare at the polls
Political demagogues and tricksters, be on
the LOOK out!
sB- The Irish differ from Germans as
much as if they belonged to different and dis
tinct races of animals An lrishman is never
so happy as when breaking heads with She
lalah. The German finds paradise in larger
beer, long pipes, and metaphysics. The Irish
man invites friend to dinner, for the pur-
pose of wrestling with him in the garret, af-
ter it's finished. The German seeks compa-
ny for very different purposes-to eat sausa-
ges and imbibe tobacco smoke. The Irish
man gets excited at the shortest notice, and
commonly without any reason, whatever.-
The German never loses his equanmity.-
Roo him of his wife, and all he will do will
be to buy a new clarionett, and double his al
lowance of sour crout.
css- Many burlesques have been perpetra-
ted at the expense of the Know Nothings but
the following oath, which is said to be of the
third degree, we think one of the best out,
and we give it for the benefit of those who
may wish to initiate in that degree:
OATH-"I, Solomon Swpes Cor Smokes
as may be,) hereby solemnly swear (hold up
your right handy this my oath, to endure for
ever and day after, (rase your right leg)
that if ] catch Roman Catholic (shut your
right eye) alone in the woods (bat your left
eye,) or some out-of.i .ihe.way place (open
your mou,h,) that will pound him into a jel.
", or chop him into sausages (swailow this
meat axe,) will eat him without pepper or
salt, (Music-'King of theCannibal lslands,D
and in this way endeavor to annihila;e the
whole tribe of worthless rascallons-so help
me teapot"
rSy- We find the following in an ex-
change.
Sawdust pills would efiectually cure many
of the diseases with which mankind are atilct-
ed, if every individual would only make his
own dust"
The man who wrote that, is slightly ac-
quanted with society. Two thirds of the i'll
health met with in this market, owes its ex-
istence, to the simple fact that people'"wont