The southern enterprise. [volume] (Greenville, S.C.) 1854-1870, 1858-04-29


ply" lie sent his ,aiGest son 10 college, and
ran into debt TO keep him there, not that he
saw any good in Greek and Latin, but he
was AS proud Of my sons friend, Lord Fid-
dlefaddle" as if he had great deal of non.
sense about bin. In Tue domestic circle he
was at once harsh and feeble, elf:willed and
viacllIating. He ate, drank, slept and suored,
with robust energy bnt, on the whole he
did not strike me as being wholly without
nonsense. ~ = -. ~ sH' 8 ~.
Other people besides MARBLE 1 have met.
who bore the, same proud character, but
found them all belonging TO one of.two class.
'es-either they were free and easy people
who W, conceived that taking every possible
!!!y !"!oef!y "%;ii,ui, you, your name, your books.
your horses, and your friends, was proof of
Their having no nonsense about them; or
else they were coarse, rude people, who Jar,
red upon your senSibiIiiies, and made virtues
OF their very Deficiencies. s.,f, -, EN-,
The best men have known have been
more generous than prudent, more imsgina,
tive than Ren;ham, less virtuous than Cato.
They have been fond of children, of animals.
OF poetry, Of art, of sentiment, of Joking, of
buftoonery, ,of extravagance, of good society,
of honors, of picnics, of dances, of private
theatIicals--in short, men with no inconsid
cradle amount of nonsense mingled in their
daily lives; but one form of nonsense they
were entirely free from, and that is the pre-
tension of having no nonsense about them.
TIE NAN wHosEwoRD Is AS aoop AS HIS BOND.
This also is a type which would seem to
be abundant. il wetrusted to the unpruven
statements of lax admirers. But have new
er met with il. Observe do not say the
man whose word is as good as his bond Is
altogether myth far from it, Men of no.
ble integrity have met, and men of in
tegrity not so noble--men who would BLUSH
at the thought of an injustice, would be slow
TO act it. But even the noblest Of these men
may die, and be succeeded by son or
nephew of less scrupulous conscience: and
in this case the "word j. unsubstantial vac
por, whereas the bond is solid litigabie
document, admitting Of no equivocation ex.
cept among lawyers, who, am Informed
would detect a flaw in the title deeds of the
universe and argue az diibi for the son Al
noon. The bond, then, has prodigous
superiority over the word, even of the honest.
est Of men. -.'- 10 '.-'' .."
There are other men / have met, whose
word or five pounds would be as good a.
their bond for that sum, even allowing for
al casualties but, il, instead of five pounds,
the sum ~ question be FIVE thousand, what
wondrous Possibility is opened How
easily the force of some small subterfage
may assall the integrity-how greedily some
irregularity, which in the case of a small
sum would never be noticed, is seized upon
as pretext for non fulfillment of the agree.
mentl Such is the temper of the mass of
men who can only be kept to their engage.
ments by their bonds Thus taking into
consideration the casualties of life, which
may render the word Of the strictly honest
man mere vapor, and the sophistica,ions Of
self interest, which may render the word of
one less scrupulous in conscience no better,
it is clear that the frequent boast Of such
ones word being as good as his bond, can
only be accepted with a grain Of salt.
Nevertheless; must do mankind the jus.
lice to confess that. from time to time, have
met with man whose word was absolutely
rs good as his bond--but his bond was good
for nothing. -