The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1860-01-13
NEW SERIES-NO. 213

dine at one O'clock if they thought it desir-
able to cat at that hour? Or, dining then,
how many would not try to hide the fact,
perhaps calling it luncheon. Heaven
help them You put nice furniture into
your houses who uses it? Bobson, and
Knibbe, and Newdel, who come to visit
you, who care nothing for you, for whom
you care less.
Yet they use your furniture and then
you cover it up again when they are gone,
and exile yourself to mtre ordinary domes-
tic appliances You like the old better?
Then why did you buy the new? Because
Mrs. Grundy tod you to do it, and you
were afraid of her sneer. Marriages, in
deed Some of your marriages are pleasant
things, arn't they? Bride-tO-be and bride
to-be's parents work themselves nearly to
death for long time beforehand. Bride
to- be inks her fingers in addressing envel-
opes to thousand people-friends Friends
send presents, trumpery. Brde-to-be, kisses
the friends when she sees them, and thanks
them for the beautiful gifts. Hubbub, more
envelopes, mere presents. A tardy hard
days work, and then the friends come. They
don't bring opera g classes, for there's no need
of them. But they have the same interest
in the show as they would have at the
theatre. Enter the parties to the contract,
pale, .jaded, used up. Love, honor, obey
o, yes, of course, and all that. Hurry along
priest this is not what the friends have
come to hear. Tramp, tramp, three hours
OF people always saying the same thing
three hours OF the sensation the Slamesc
twins might feel when on exhibition. Only,
l,o1 L., 4bo, ~ 10
when they travelled. AS soon as they did
understood it they stopped lest they should
be bored to death. Bride is picked to
pieces by her female friends. Brides cake
is picked to pieces by her male friends, and
much of it falls on brides mothers carpet.
An excellent way to begin life, truly. Yet
you wouldn't dare not to do so, or as much
like it as your means afford. This wedding
is the key note of your whole life. There's
mother-in-law IN every house. Mrs.
Grandy is her name.
You go to church. Well, you do 60 to
church with some regularity here, have
noticed it. What hour do you go? You
go in a state of perpetual strab,Smus-with
one eye turned to Saturday and the other
towards Monday. Sunday to you is sew
enth day refrigerator, and when you 60 to
your business again you are as cold as if
you had sent your hearts to be repaired and
they had not been brought back. l have
much enjoyed seeing you when you wish to
do something about which your trouble
some conscience growls. You begin to look
very grave and solemn, and to take the name
Of duty in vain, and to make yourself think
you are obeying her in the deed. Then
your economy is amusing, exquisitely anus
ing. Most Of it is stinginess, and you brag
of it. Once in while you practice real
economy, and then you are mostly ashamed
OF it, and pretended that you did no such
thing. Your benevolence is rich too. You
give a few dollars to the treasurer of some
remote charity, and then you write over
your cash book, the free list is entirely
suspended, remembering that as you have
the poor with you always, you can attend
to their case next year. You "only give
to we'll known charities" That is entirely
satisfactory to the miserable woman who
just now went out of your presence. She
might live on that for day at least I've
seen few Of you, very few, 60 quietly into
pestilent nests up tumble down stair-cases,
down into damp cellars, and there throw a
little sunshine into some dreary lives. will
say that have seen this, and have made
note thereof. But I've had no surfeit of the
sight. I've sometimes thought you lacking
in veneration, but | must take back the
thought. You do have reverence for
money. You do not speak aloud in pres
ence of it. You never enter bank with
out in heart putting Oft your shoes. think
most of you would swoon with awe if you
found yourself in bank parlor. You talk
with friend chattingly, good humoredly,
and even with mirth, so long as your con-
versation runs on the order of the day. But
the moment you touch upon money, each
man of you puts on his pontifcial robes
and bows down. IT'S we'll. Cultivate this
feeling, and then you will scrape together
wealth, and when you die you will leave it
all behind you and 60 somewhere else.
My time is almost out. hear the steps
of my successor. Shortly you will be clink-
ing your glasses, dancing on my grave, and
hailing the newly born. l wish him joy of
you! And tomorrow morning you will
make good resolutions. o, yes If they be
only kept, all the traders will do a cash
business next year. Well, I'm tired of you.
And yet, there's some good among you;
some true hearts, some -"
Just then the clock awoke to sense of
duty and struck. 1t was clumsy exeeu-
toner, and took twelve blows to STAY the
old year. He died like man who has too
long put off making his will, and the legacy
of his good word was lost. 1t is pleasant
to think, though, that he would have said
something kind had there been time.