The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1859-09-29
THE CURSE OF PROSPERITY.

|
prosperity. When smitten by misfortune,
man displaysa patient fortitude that makes
him an object Of admiration; but If his
course be unntcrruptedly prosperous, he
becomes clated and pulled up with naughty
pride. 1t is strange, too, that those who
have once endured the frowns Of fortune
are most easily spoiled by her iavors. 1t
might be supposed that their experience
would teach them mcckncss and humility ::
but is Is rarely SO. One who is suddenly
elevated from Il low estate drops his pa
tiencc, and often too many of his other
virtues, rs ha,lges oi his dcgradation and
puts on characteristics which he deems
more beiitting his new position. They are
like plants which, in the fryid zone, have
so conformcd Themselves to the climate
that they arc able to pass uniniurcd through
all its rigors but transferred to the tropics
they lose all their hardness, ard become
more delicate than the creeping annuals
that never knew Il chilling breath.
We every day see illustrations of this
strange feature in our constitution. Gee,
for instance, that man who bears himself
with such scornful pride, as if he thought
the world could not boast his peer. When
he moves amid a crowd Of his fclow-mcn
he holds his head as one might do who
walked amongtoads and all kinds Of disgust
| ing reptiles. You rea,l in lis countcnancc
plainly enough that he deems himself form
ed Of purcr clay than these common
mortals lie trcads rs if the ground wcro
too vile for his touch; he speaks and acts us
if there was fascinating cloquencc in all
he says; a peculiar majesty in all he does.
That man was once poor, and then none
could surpass him i'll complais;.nce and af-
faLility. lie had smile and pleasant
word for everybody, and with G,wninc
sycophancy, licked the boots Of some whom
he now deigns to patronize. But it was
his luck TO marry rich wife, and her gold
has so wrought upon his constition that he
finds it very unwho!csome to bow politely
to all whom ho meets Oh the streets, or to
stoop down and then 10 press the rough
hand Of IN honest laborer. When lie be-
comes candidate for Congress he
thinks his wile's money can carry lin there
he will perhaps DO these things; but
now he is cold and stiff, moving along as
mechanically as purpct skeleton strung
upon wires.
There is lady arraycd in splendid
attire Of silk and jcwclry, upon whose face
pride AM hauChtness are as plainly written
as if they were printed. She is now rich
and fashionable, and the best circle" is
| proud TO claim her us Il member. but it
was not always so. She was once an hum
| bic css-maker, and then AL admired tho
patient and honest industry with which
she toiled for her bread. Her conduct at
| home and abroad was, so far as an observer
could see, marked by most commenda-
bic propricty. But now all is changed
| She married rich man, and threw away
the little Instrument with which she had
kept want and suffering from her door,
See now associates with those, tho hens Of
whose garments she was net previously
worthy to touch. But where are those,
who, in her days Of poverty, gave her
work and encouragement? She knows
them not. They are not of her "sct," and
she passes them with cold stare that sends
the hot blood to the check, but forbids all
recognition. Prosperity has changed her
heart, as well as turned her head.
We might go on endlessy, enume'ating
the transformations for the worse which
prosperity produces but let these suffice.
In all such instances it is curse, and not a
blessing. The qualification which it af-
fords the individual is moro than balanced
by the changes which it makes in the
moral character. Better far it is to con-
tinue poor and honest, tlyan, by some
sudden turn of fortune, to he lifted above
poverty and honesty. Neither unexpected
adversely nor success are desirable. But
the effects arc widely diflernt. The former
seldom makes persons worse, but some
times makes them better; the latter often
takes away tho few virtues which they pos
scssed, and begets, in them wees to which
they were previously strangers. 1t is be.
yond all doubt, a blessing that "Life is a
mingled yarn-good and evil mixed to-
getbcr."
Musical Cdtechism.-We find the fol-
lowing alloat in the papers -
| 'What is q slur 7
almost any remark one singer makes
about another
what is.are ?" ........,.
Going out Of the choir to cat some re-
freshment during some ime.'sy :
WHAT'S called singing with an un-