The eastern clarion. [volume] (Paulding, Miss.) 1837-1863, 1860-05-02
Old Times and New

In recent article on the change Of the
last thirty years, we cited what we defined
sufficient proofs Of a marked deteriora-
ton in the popular character from the
standard of that period. The most inn
portant testimony to this effect which we
adduced was the depletion of the rural
districts and the growth of the cities and
manufacturing towns; the much greater
contrasts of wealth and poverty than
were known; the lower tone of public
morals, evinced by the demand for pub
lications devoted expressly to the record
of crime, the universal prevalence of
sham and work in almost every species OF
manufacture. In asserting that the ma
tional character has deterioated, however,
we would by no means be understood as
| saying that we suppose the elements of
| New England character have materially
| changed, but only that the circumstan-
! ces in which we have been placed (which
| circumstances have been chiefly the re-
! suit of II discoveries and improvements
in the machinery of life, which have been
! introduced within that time) have tend
! ed to the development of an unhealthy
| tone of public sentiment, and an under
mining of what were formerly considered
essential principles of morality. 1t may
not at the first glance be apparent, that
among the prominent evils induced by
these causes is the dislike of manual la
Dor and the dread of being thought poor,
yet it Is not difficult to prove the exis-
tence of these sentiments, and to trace
| them to their sources; and on the other
hand 1t is easy to perceive that host of
vices, crimes and consequent wretched-
ness must be their natural result.
Thirty years ago, as we have said, the
farms were for the most part cultivated
by their owners, who hired the help they
needed iIUtheir own neighborhood, the far.
mer and his laborers living together as one
family, the young men contented by year:
of patient toll to earn enough to buy
small farms for themselves, On which by
continued labor they could live, coarsely
perhaps independently and without sacrif
cling their self-respect by an acted lie
The hordes of Irish laborers introduced
to construct the public works have revolu
tionized this whole department. We
have more great farms owned by capital
lists and conducted on scientific principle:
than formerly, but the old patriarcha
character of the homestead farms of the
last generation, is almost unknown Irish
laborers may be made drudges of anC
kept on coarse fare, and the farmers hav,
therefore found it for their interest t
hire them; but Americans will not worl
with them, and have therefore abandoned
the tieldand sought other pursuits. Tn,
Irish, however, though often good labor
ers under directors eve, are deficient il
managing capacity. They do not inves
their earnings in farms, but buy perhap
enough land for potato patch, and liv,
in novels, continuing to labor for others
to the end OF their. days, boarding thei
earnings in saving banks-or old stock
ings. The young men who should hav,
remained to till the lands on which thei
l-.4A4..4staIs tnilad hnve left their pleasan
names, deluded by the story Of the 200
country boy who came to the city with
! quarter of a dollar in his pocket. an,
came to be the richest man within II
, walls which story (by the wayl has pro
: badly reached them through the column
/ of some one of the innumerable speci
mems of sham literature, styled "fanlil
newspapers, the moral being that sue
cess means growing rich, and nothing be
ing SAID in 1t of the thousands of othe
! country boys who have ventured in the
same lottery and lost every thing. even tC
their very souls.
Here we may pertinently put the ques,
ton, whetherit is more degrading to spend
: ones life hard working and coarse far
ing but independent farmer, as so many
used to do, or as quasi gentlemen who
dare not be poor, and are engaged in a life
long struggle TO work out the sum of life
alrebraicallv, as SO many now do, begin
, ming on credit, with an appearance which
! is to represent wealth till it serves the
purpose of arriving at real quantity. 1t
! is sad to think that any one can hesitate
in his reply to such a question, but the
! fact in this case keeps step with the music
to which we are marching. Wealth is
synonymous with responsibility, and
since all cannot have it the greater
part must content themselves with some
thing that looks like it. Hence comes a
miserable, cowardly fear of being thought
poor, as if poverty were a crime compared
to which dishonesty and lying were mere
trihes, and hence we see men all around
us with a settled look of anxiety in their
faces, the result of life long acted lie.
Individual independence is thus under
mined and destroyed, and hence it is that
we are notoriously the slaves of public
opinion, and dare not act out our own
opinions, even in the most trihing matters.
for fear of what people will say. To this
cause may be traced the growth of va
rious popularisms. which of late wears
have been so rampant throughout the
land for cowardice, bigotry and fapati-
cism go hand in hand, and when indi-
yidual independence is gone, it is not diff
hcult for cunning leaders to sway crowds
with momentum which is almost irresis-
tible. The multitudes who are working
for pittance in shops and factories are
easily excited to sympathy with the slrve,
byan artful representation Of what their