Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1857-04-16
Written for the Yorkville Enquirer.
EnOT,Sf

FOOLSi
Shakespeare advanced the idea that some men
are s'born great" Would he have uttered less
pregnant truth if he had said that some are 'born
fools ?" The assertion contains "more truth than
poetry" we admit; but certainly it is important
in taking philosophic view Of human nature, to
give an equal share Of attention to class SO nu-
merous and so highly respectable withal. But it
| is our purpose to dwell particularly upon that
class of fools who achiere folly; inasmuch as the
born-foos are, of course, remedless. And we
cannot do more now, than touch upon one or two
instances. ~ s-.'..'
In this special category, is included large
class of men with abilities Of high order who,
from Incidence, the follics of youth, or the pres
sure of business, have neglected to foster and cul
tivate the talents bestowed by nature. Under the
pressure of natural vgor, their minds so neglect
ed, have become deeply rooted in the soil Of Err
ror and have sent out tendrils to clasp at random
and cling to truth or falsehood as chance might
decide Thus, where wemight have found intelli-
gence, refinement, and that courteous respect for
the opinion Of others which is the concomtant
of generous education, we meet with ignorance,
the manners of brute, and utterly ntolerant pre-
judices One individual of this class, for instance
will insist on your taking a-"morning dram" he
has "used it for the last twenty years and 1t has
never hurt him! We sa,0 his son one day sacag-
gering about "gsntlemanly tight" OF course, we
refused the ''dram;' and were fattered with the
insinuation that "erery honest mgn drinks openly,
and those who do not, have secret hole in the
wall" The most charitable opinion to be enter
tanned of that selfsame individual is, that in good
old Saxon parlance, he's fool.
Again. You may at some time hear another of
this class revng education and particularly ''col-
lege learning" upon the ground that he "has lived
to be fifty years old and has always got ON very
well without it." He means, of course, that he
has lived on cow-peas; situated the growth Of his
children at least six inches each, by over-work
and penurious habits; sent to q premature grave
he doesn't believe in Doctors) the wife of his bo-
som, who slowed not wisely but too we'll y and, f.
nally, by hook and crook-to wit, by cheating, ly-
ing, illicit traffic and every other species of rast
cality-has boarded up the hard fortune Of thirty
or forty thousand dull-ringing dollars. And SO,
he has '.got on very we'll without it." Of course,
he repudates the idea of any one teaching him
how to improve his lands; how to raise his fami-
| ly how to live and how to die; how to take o
newspaper, read and pay for it; and from his in
ability to appreciate the "Merchant of Venice
and appropriate the lessons Of tue great dramst-
ist, after having lived like hog, he dies unre-
gretted and goes finally and justly to-the -.
He 'got on very we'll" but nevertheless the in
telligen reader will perceive that he OF last pro-
we'd himself to be a-fool
Another inhabtant of fool-dom is, probably,
merchant reared under the old regime, when
barrel of whiskey was the attraction and dry goods
were put up at shooting-matches. He will not un-
derstand the decent improvement Of advertising;
and 80 he stands behind counter burdened, per.
haps by fine stock of wares, waiting for the rnea-
gre custom ofkis country cousins until some old
friend accidentally stumbles by that way. As he