The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1857-03-04
Public Life.

As q people We are inordiuately fond
OF Public life. In it We foolishly mag.
inc we can find honor, ease. wealth and
public esteem, but having experienced
for time the toi, and anxiety of Office
we are convinced of the painful fact that
we have surrendered all our private com.
forts and domestic happiness in order TO
rartake of the public troubles aud vsxa'
tiors Of society.
Kind reader, have you ever engaged in
public life-have you ever aspired to q
seat in Congress-or been active in mu-
nicipal affairs, or advanced the interests
of our candidate for public favors in one
of our rural distric ? Have you ever
worked hard on election days or addressed
your fellow citizens on State affairs or
sought popular applause and the votes of
sturdy yeoman2 If you bavc--and if
your hair is now grey and your judgment
mstutcd by time and experience are you
not convinced thai folly marked your
early manhood, that your energies aud
means were wasted in striving after the
unattainable, and that he who engages in
public affairs loses his distinct individu.
oil existence and manly indspendcncy-
Sacrifices truth and justice on the altar of
expediency and becomes the slave of par.
ty and circumstances If you thiuk diff
fereptly-if you disregard the comforts
of homo and the charms of refined and
educated private circles you are the very
man to serve your party aud deceive
your followers and elevate yoarself a, the
expense of honor, truth aud integrity.
William Pitt. surrounded by Aatterers
and placemen, and welding the power Of
England, said TO a friend Il would glad
ly exchange my station and my syco
plants for an humble cottage and one
true friend
Tallyrand once observed, "tbe persons
who approach me are gilded serpsnts, ond
if would preserve my life / must ex-
tract their fangs"
WheE President Tyler called Daniel
Webster to the Department of, State the
Sage of Marsh6eld compiled, but dcclar-
ed that his farm and fishing rod had moro
charms for him than any public honors
that could be conferred upon him; aud it
is well known that the great and good
Silas Wright would rather hold the plow
and swing the scythe than WELD the peu
or command the applause of listening
Senators.
And thus it has ever been with the tru.
ly wise and great They know that high
official station is attended by many cares
and great labor, and therefore prefer the
snnobling pursuits which can be found
only in private life. Men of great ambi,
tion aud little ability labor hard for high
position, and when it is attained their
incapacity mortifies their friends and sup.
plies their enemies with food for wit aud
ridcule.
Jenkins is sent to Congress, and after
becoming notorious for ignorance and
stupidity, is compelled TO betake himself
to his bench, awl and his leather.
Smithers, by some singular turn of the
politica! wheel, becomes a Senator or
Governor before this he could as a phys.
ician, amputate limb Secundum arten.,
or a third rate lawyer conduct a case of
assault and battery with somo credit; but
Us q statesman and politician, be becomes
d tit subject for the satire Of Punch, and
his portrait is secured to embcllish tho
gallery of knaveA and fools
Real worth, true wisdom and profound
learning are modest and retiring; igno-
rance and vanity arc brazen- facsd and as.
piring, and,
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread