Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1857-07-22


"NoN-GrNPIIoUs" PEoPLE-our readers will
please excuse this seemingly undignified head
ing, for gumption although very common word,
used BY every body in all kinds of ways, is
nevertheless a very proper word and a very ex-
pressive one. 1t is moreover orthodox die
tionary word of good:.old Saxon origin, and means
what some people understand by capacity
what others mean by the word "Shrcwdness"-
and others, the term address" Combining
the three definitions, we would render it
man who looks before he leaps, and who thinks
at least opce before hc speaks. These remarks
were called out by an article in the Boston Even
ing G,tsette, which We have just finished reading.
The editor speaking of the silly, stereotyped
custom, which people have Of asking for and
giving letters Of Introduction, says that gentle
man in that city received the following letter
from friend introducing a gentleman to him:
81 have given Mr. letter of introduce
ton to you, simply because was obliged to do
so. His family are clients of mine. He will
fasten himself on to you; and expects you to
show him round the city on the 4th of July
Knowing that you will have other engagements,
it is my legal opinion that you will be perfectly
justified in losing him in the first crowd you get
into-and no action for damages viii lie brought
by. Yours truly,
This letter, whatever else VIC may say of it, is
at least neritorous for its originality and forts
entire freedom from the stale old conventional
ism Of the day What business has every man
to run to one merely because he has passing
acquaintance, and ask for "letters of introduce
tion?" The practice is clearly indecorous and
nvu-vr,,iy..'. rhs cr,etic in the course of its
comments about this and other non. gumptious
practices, goes to remark that
Perhaps gumption can be acquired by avoiding
the example of the nOn-gumptiouS. Politicians
might learn, from the nisIortunes Of those who
have preceded them, that it is dangerous TO
write letters on the eve ef election: warm.
hearted republicans might learn, that TO assist
foreign nation in obtaining the blessings OF re-
pubicaniSm, it is not essential to purchase
bonds-eSpecially Hungarian. Capitalists might
learn that when large dividends ars promised
large risks arc implied, and that copper mines
which offer golden return sometimes prove
heavy as lead at the brokers board. Amateur
farmers might learn that fancy farming, and
standing By to some one else hold the plough,
don't result in large bank account. Railroad
men might learn that the profit from way-travei
cannot be very large when two-thirds Of their
route lies through an unsettled country. School
masters might learn that 1t is waste of time
and patience to attempt TO make dull boy
smart by the application of the hirch--we mean
mentally smart housewives lnlSht learn lliaL
too much interest in public affairs, to the neg
lect of home duties, does not tend directly to
that economy in the kitchen which is agreeable
to the pockets of their husbands; and young
ladies might learn that the miss who devotes
her earlier years to the adornment Of her per-
son, finds later in life, that she lacks those
mental adornments which give charm to their
possessor long after the bloom of youth has
passed away.
very amusing chapter might be written
upon the humor Of nongumpuon Many nt
the hearticst laughs We enjoy caused by the
lack Of gunption which we see in others. In
childhood when we revelled in Mother GnoSe's
Melodies, did we not laugh VIC read Of TINT
nOn.gumptiOuS gentleman who called for pot
of beer, and when asked for his money replied
that il was i'll his pocket and that he had for
got that indispensable repository OF coin. As
we progressed in years, what story charmed ms
more than the adventures OF that non. gumPtious
youth who exchanged his lump Of gold till he
reduced il to a milestone, which he lost III the
Fiver2 The non-gumptious letters Of our Irish
neighbors are constantly quoted and laughed at
and the newspaper reporter is ever keenly alive
To the hunors Of this species We read but
re emily in paper ali instance Of this kind
A man was about TO be buried when his friends,
while at the grave, thought they discovered evil
dences of life, and he was carried home, and
every effort made to restore him TO animation.
The anxious friends at once repaired to DIR.
snow, VINO llteuueu luG ucsiu il'sli ia ~" '4A''
illness, and requested him to come ut once and
lend his assistance. DIR. Snow listened incredu-
lousIy, but at last seemed 70 believe the story
of his informant. but" said he, u hope you
wont be able to restore him-I really hope you
wort" "Whyf" asked the visitor in amaze
luent. ''Well,h said the doctor, 81 don't see
hcn he would be able TO get along: it would be
awkward for him. for his liver and heart are in
that lar on the shelf" They had lost their
oumption in their fright, and had forgotten the
sost morteln examination at which they assisted.
m Micawber, in david COppertield, " whose
misfortuncs were oil owing to his being pecu-
iiaFiy non-gunptious 1.-THE art of getting mo-
nov might come under this head, for he is Ger
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