True American. [volume] (Steubenville [Ohio]) 1855-1861, 1857-11-18
Hard Times.


BY breakage and then cry-'Hard Times.
They care nothing for the thousands OF
the sufferers upon whom they have
brought real hard times, nothing for the
laborers, nothing for widows and orphans
No! they have we'll feathered their nests
and shielded by the appalling cry, they
laugh at the hard times. !
Merchants lush into the most extensive
business, money rolls in upon them in
uncounted heaps, their wives and daugh'
ters flourish in the streets and at theatres
and balls, walking advertisements of their
parents wealth, mere rolls of costly silks
and exhibitors Of rare jewelry, and form
charitable societies in which figures the
aristocratic names of Mrs, De Goldfish and
Madame Won Mackerel-all for the holy
purpose of buying flannel shirts for the
natives of Boorighoola Cha in Central
Africa, and turn with virtuous horror
from the starved women and children
daily dying before their eyes. At last
the husbands and fathers wish to retire
from business, to rest through fat old
age, in winter in their splendid mansions
in the city, and in summer in their fine
country seats resting under their own
vine and fig tree. They gracefully close
their mercantile houses and when credi-
itors come forward 10 claim their dues,
and know the reason Of their closing,
they put on the saddest of countenances
and groau out "hard times"
When wheat and corn, have risen TO
enormous prices, far beyond what was
) considered good paying rates in former
years and farmers have grown rich and
change "comes Ger the spirit of their
DREAM" ard prices return to proper
level, those who have become wealthy
cry ou. in loudest tones of selfish grief,
"hard times"
This is now the universal cry, it is the
cloak 10 cover over deeds of rascality.--
Where were those hard times when in a
y past age men worked and women spun
> In former years our fathers labored to
procure food for their families, they titled
the earth and contracted no debts, they
wore the homespun woven by theiI
household, the women dressed in the la
~, Dor of their own hands, and she was tht
belle who made The most butter and the
b sweetest bread, whose spinning-whee
turned off the most cuts of fax or wool
and whose loom made the most yards
and whose closet contained the creates
number Of sheets and blankets. With tn
calico dress, which from prominence il
industry, she was entitled to wear, he
N appearance in the wooden seated church
was hailed by all and she was the "ob
!. served of all observers" The complain
of hard times was never then heard, 70
!, all, by honest industry, had enough an
were contented.
a But those times are gone and the richie
we have coveted, have not given content
le ment. The wives and daughters of th
I'd past prevented hard times by industry an
n. economy; the wives and daughters I
IN the present, produce them by waste an
&C. extravaganza. The lady of the beginnir
"a. of the century was contented in her hom
spun, and believed she had enough
e. wear. The lady of the middle of Il
70. century is disconnected in her gorgeol
nd silks and jewels, covering herself wi
yn enough 10 make the fortune Of a COUNT
ate merchant, aud yet complains that she h
of 'nothing to wear"
How can this stale cry be stfied :.
-. By retrenchmenl, by economy, by hone
.ge ty. So long as the mad spirit of spec
al lation continues; so long as men devc
,ry their whole energy 10 the accumulati
m of wealth without caring how, or inten
apo an ing it for no purpose beneficial to m;
.ral kind, so long will continue bankrupt
ted and financial distress, So long as
nee rage 10 ape foreign manners and introdu
as foreign luxuries, is the study Of the
,er. m who never are capable Of anything
ood mere imitation, just so long will we C
fel. tinue 10 tumble in the vortex OF h,
nee times. Americans should establish
,hpo, Tpt American arisIocracy and that should
he Of the noblest kind, not the aristocracy
e of ancestry, for but few of us know v
sap our ancestors were, nor of nobility,
oo' God only can make true nObleman,
an and of wealth, for crisis may come
sweep it all away; but the iruest and
ions of arislocracy which we can each
hey create for himsell-the aristocracy
. s.oI, honest industry. Let him be the grea
live among us who carves, by his labc
the competency either in wealth or talen
ve-- Let men be esteemed according to
d M true worth as producers, and wor
- . Ha az according to their capacity, to bee
IL worthy helpmeets and mothers,