Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1859-11-01
For the Spectator.

4 ,Messrs Editors Now that the smoke of wa
has blown over, and we have seen what twenty
/ FIVE determined fanatics can do in the way q
conquering Virginia town and taking Unitet
States Arsenal, let us turn to the more peaceful
occup ations of our Stanton beaux. In doiD
so we do not feel that we wrest the minds O
your readers too forcibly by drawing them from
war and bloodshed to courtshp and marriage
because, however different the two kinds of worl
may appear at first sight, when you come to ex
anime them closely, you will find not few
points of resemblance. What's the dfferenc,
between storming town and stormipg heart
or laying sege to one or the other2 Are mo-
the same qualities called into requisition Il
not the same nerve required to approach the
woman you intend to marry, that is needed to
carry masked battery2 You walk up to both
means of defence, and it is only when you have
gone too far to retreat that you find out its
strength, and your heart or your body accord
ing to the kind of fortress you stormy is shat
tered.
But it may be said, beau who has figured In
a great many f1rtatons, approaches his ade
which betokens victory. Does not the hero OF
that fear and trepidation which they felt when
they first smelt powder or hearts.
Having, as fatter myself justified what I'm
about to do proceed to give specimen of the
Stanton beau, with many fears as to my power
Of delineatiDg the character, even with the as
sistance of Addison, from whom intend to draw
little. That great writer, in one of his essays,
says, there are claas of people who depend up.
on tho first person they meet for their converse
ton during the day, and IL is grave or gay as they
hear of marriage or death. This language is
rather too strong to describe our Stanton beau,
for while he is human and allows himself to be
swayed in the least degree imaginable by what
he hears, yet he is too much of philosopher to
waste much of his time in discussing any very
grave subject.
To him We sre indebted for that noble philos
ephY which teaches Us to be satisfied with lit
tle-I mistake, Diogenes was the inventor, he
| the perfeetor; the former was content with q
tub and the sun, the latter with fine clothes
and gas. We do not know much about the
table Of Diogenes, though nothing more natu-
raj than to think he made up for the hard
time he had in the tub by q good dinner, at
least that's the way the perfectQr Of his SOL
ence argues, and he discusses the eatables with
! the air of oonnoisseur. In fact it is by con.
fning his mind to the necessaries of lite, such
as dress and eatables, that he shows his phi
losophy. Why, says be, should we puzzle our
heads about distractions 2-"enough for the day
is the evil thereof" if my coat don't ft me
or my dinner amt COOKED to turn, its enough
to distress me- without thinking about Har-
| per's Ferry riots, 60. Our friend is loud 10 his
praises of the inventor of thermometers TO- he
says be can now discuss every shade of weather,
a pleasure from which men of our turn of mind
were debarred before his time. But ! have
taken too much of your space already, and
will have to defer analysing this curious ami
NAL to another issue. P.