Smyrna times., 1857-10-21
Our Correspondence.
Written for the Smyrna Iinss.
HARD TIM ES.

For promoters of hard times, we have also
some of the sIOth kind. The animal SO called,
is rather noffensive, and probably does as much
work as is required of him then living, as he
does. in forests and feeding upon the leaves of
trees, he lays no tax upon the world. But peo-
pie of this sort must be fed and clOthed,-thus
adding to the burdens of the industrious. and
increasing the risk of various arrangements IN
the affairs of society. 1t has been said, more
ove-, that "the idle mans brain is the devlFs
Workshop and again, that
.Satan finds some mischief still
For idte hands TO do;
aud hence evil must come of it, whether per-
ceived or unperceived.
One may detect himself as OF this class, when
he finds at the close of the day, that neither
money nor thanks are due him for services to
his fellow men. To spend day in moderate
health, without having earned some kind oil
wages, should be Stunned as mark OF deep
and abiding dishonor. There is no excuse for
it, in any of the common circumstances of life.
There is good enough to be done in the world,
and power enough to do it,-so that any paIpa-
be neglect is really the mark of bad man.
For the slothful to reform is not so easy
Vigor of life, skill for useful tasks, desire to do
good, and conscience binding one to the dis
charge of duty, are not purchasable commodi-
ties, and are in no way easy of attainment for
those who have learned to live without them.
They have no sufficient apprehension as to
whose they are, and why they were created
Could they comprehend it,-that they were in
tended to be stewards of divine benc6cence to
men, and that they are really commissioned, by
the possession of various faculties of body and
mind. 10 act as the benefactors of their race,
they might be reclaimed from the paths of sin
and folly +; but so much is rarely accomplished
for them. Hard times will compel here aud
there, one to arouse himself, lf,-relgious nfiu-
ences may have this effect, (and otherwise a
mans religion is vain); but the most OF this
tribe leave the world without vacating any
place that requires new appointment to fill it.
The peacock tribe is also noticeable. Their
adornments are in part the occasion of insol-
gencies with individuals, and consequently with
Banks. Their vain shows lead to Indebtedness
at home and abroad. They require many diver.
sions of time and skill, and thought, and capi-
tai from their natural operations, and thus help
on various crisis in human affairs. They can
be maintained only by such expenditures of the
means vouchsafed for the supply Of real wants
as will tend, more or less, to derange all the
a II
Mrs. A. and the Misses and the Masters A. ex
pend too much on dress. This, by itself, NIGH
be no public calamity; but it is taking away q
brick or stone from a wall, and 1t may happen
that others so rest upon l., that the whole gives
way and becomes a mass of ruins. If, as is al
legged, the failure of Life and Trust company
was the beginning, and (by exciting a panic
partly the cause of our present straits, it ii
only going little farther down to trace this t
some single debtor, made so by an extravagan
family and what might possibly happen if thi
folly were but occasional. is likely enough T.
hapPea when it is almost universal.
1t Is not, however, in this shape alone tina
evil springs from the folly in question folly
this to heart, and not feel fattered). Thes
worse than useless expenditures often subtraC
from due appropriations to other and better OF
jects. Schools and religious societies are frt
quently crippled, in want of only SO much q
will over-dress half dozen of the gay tribe
she families looked to for support. The be-
influences of society are thus deprived of the
proper vantage ground, and the moral il
which they woGld counteract, are left to brin
US the multiplied common and physical suffe
ings which naturally follow in their wake
One thing drags down another, and all in Ii
line of final perdition.
Say not, good people, that this is taking Ii
matter too seriously. 1t is no whit more ser
GUS than the Providence of God, which SON
see aRd some do not, in the affairs of life. I'll
penalties of human folly are somewhat deepe
aud much more lasting than the qualification
that require them; and they who take noie
this beforehand will be more prudent than the
who "pass on and are punished" C.