Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1859-08-05
GcnrraI 1HtscrIlanp.
THE HAPPIEST LIFE.

/ IL r. 1tAIIIf4ol LIZ T..
1t has often been a matter Of discussion
among thoughtful men what condition Of hu-
man life affords the greatest and most reason
able prospect of happiness. In general terms.
it may be answered. perhaps easily, in that
condition in which there is the most general
and uniform culture of the whole Of his ma
ture physical, intellectual and moral But
then the question recurs, what is that condi
tion In England, where rank is more mbi-
trarily defined than in most other countries,
and where the lines are more tightly drawn.
the question has often been considered by her
writers whether the higher or middle classes
enjoyed the most happiness. De Foe. in the
beginning Of his Robinson Crusoc, makes the
father of his hero expatate on the blessings
of being born in the middle ranks Of life
Dr. Priestlev, on his retirement from the po-
stion Of librarian to Lord Sheburne, makes
some sensible remarks on the same snbiect.
He considers the hereditary nobility of Eng-
land as "gepsraiy unhappy from the want of
necessary employment, and thinks the mid
die classes more happy who are above the
fear Of want, and yet have sufficient motive
to constant exertion. Here. he thinks, is 20
be found most virtue, most happiness, and
most poiteness.
If this reasoning be true and good then
it must follow that the more VIC can extend
those classes in which men are removed from
the fear Of want, and yet have sufficient mo-
tives for constant exertion, the more we shall
increase the sum Of human happiness. In
our own country, for instance, the life of a
farmer who lives upon and cultivates his own
acres, or Of a mechanic a little forohandcd
i
by frugality and industry, would appear 10
fulfil these conditions about well any
class of men on earth. In fact, there j, no
fear of actual want In any class Of sober,
honest, Industrious persons in this country,
who are willing to work, and not ashamed to
appear Just what they are. There are no
lower classes in our country such as there
are in England and all through Europe, ex-
cept the vicious classes who become such by
choice, and who have if they will. thousands
of opportunities to reform and to rise.
With US, however, happiness seems, as a
people, about as far off as ever. Our faces
are longer and paler and more careworn than
those of Englishmen, and all complain of the
unhappiness and restessness in the counte-
nances of all. Our Fifth Avenue men arc
far more unhappy not only than our mechan-
les, but than the milionaires, and certainly
than the nobility, of England; so that if un-
happiness be proof of aristocracy, we beat
the old world hollow We have a large and
increasing class who want the orderly and
steadying habits produced by necessary em-
ployment every day. The rich among us
have made their wealth suddenly, and if it all
goes tomorrow, they are only where their
parents we're twenty or thirty years ago. In
England a fortune has been the slow acretion
of generations Of industry, wisdom and econ
omy To lose it is to sink hopelessly, ,-
Hence, they toll more regularly and more
necessarily in taking care of what they have
than many of our folks do in making millions.
Even the nobility, many of them, do this.
The son of the late Prime Minister, Sir
Robert Peel. is one of the most systematic
workers in the kingdom, aud all the red
tape men" who rise are men of thorough ed
ucation and regularly trained habits of indus
try. And a very happy, if not brilliant,
class they arc. Not many of our young men
of fortune have the steady, quiet habits Of
business and method-the necessary employ
ment Of certain hours of each day in regular
work, that young men of double and treble
the work in England feel to be a necessity OF
their position in society
Our fashionable Watering places, and our
western steamboats, furnish clear proofs of a
rapidly increasing degeneracy among our
young men of fortune. All this is the result
of the absence Of that necessary employment
, from day to day which lies at the basis of all
that happiness and that virtue which is the
, growth Of good habits rather than the ebul-
| ltion Of sudden impulses. In England, there
t is a complicated machinery, but its complica-
, tions, after all, act as valuable and self
adjusting brakes in letting out the cable Of
, life. Our fashionable life lets it all run out
at too rapid pace. In England, if a mans
I head once gets under water he cannot get i
4 up again. With us-we are all good swim
mers, or fancy so, and many get out of oul
depth and sink to rise no more annually al
our watering places and fashionable resorts
-Phila, Ledger.