Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1861-09-28


and throbs TO the touch of the mountain
breeze, while on its bosom.
The black, duck with her glossy breast,
SITS swinging silently,
A little child whose head ia piled with
laces and ribbons, whose dress is n mass of
emorodary, aud who is booted and ployed
and otherwise oppressed by parental vanity
extravaganza, is notpicturesque, any fur.
ther than its fuce goes The portrait pain.
ter will cling to the face, and let the clothes
alone. All this trickery of art,
brought into comparison or contrast with
the simple beauty Of nature, is offensive
Yet little begger boy, with an old straw
hat on, aud with bare brown feet and 9
burnt shoulder which his torn shirt refuse.
to cover, would be painters joy. Here
would bc a drapery that he would delight
to palnt, simply because there would be nc
TO mality about it, 1t is impossible for us
to know how ridiculous drcss.coat is nm.
I'll we see it in statue. We are obliged
10 put all our modern sages and heroes into
togaS anti blankets and long cloaks in or
der TO make them presenlable TO posteri
ty.
We never find groups Of accordant. strik.
ing facts like these--aud their number
could be largely ucreased-without finding
that they are all strung together by an ul.
portant law. AL life damands room aud
freedom-freedom TO manifest itself in every
way, according to the law of its being and
the range OF its circumstances. All life is
individual and characteristic. and comes re-.
luctantly under the sway of outside forces.
1t is not natural TO be proper or to love
pToprlety. In saying this | simply mean
that 1t Is against nature to bring ones in
dlvlduaIiiy under the curbing and CONTROL.
ing oahdS oil 9th ers-to make the notions
OF the world the law and limit of ones Ib-
er'llty, and to square every word and every
act by arbitrary rules imposed by clioucs
and customs, A man who has been clipp
ed in all bis puttingS forth, and modelled by
outside hands and outside influences until
it is apparent that he is governed from
without rather than from within, is Just a,
unnatural an object as tree that has beer
clipped and tied and bent until It's
top has grown into the form of u curb
Thus the reason why Miss Nancy is not
popular, and why the women refuse 20 de.
light in him, is that he is not his own mas
ter-that he has, in himself no independent
life. 1t is not proper that he give utterance
to his impulses $50 lie suppresSes them.
Ii is not proper that he frankly reveal the
emotions of his heart SO be cOnceaIs them
1t is not proper that he enter enthu>iustical-
ly into any work or any pleasure so he is
a constant check to the enthusiasm of others.
1t is not proper that he speak the words
that spring to his lips when his weak scns,
biities are touched so he studies his Ian
guage, and shapes his phrases to the accept
cd models Thus is he shortened in on eve.
ry side, until his individuality is all gone,
aud the humanity in him becomes as charac-
terless as its expression. Every utterance
of his life is made with weIl-measured ref
erance to certain standards to which he is
an acknowledged slave.
A scrlpulousy proper man is often q
Seli-deceiVer, and not untrequently an inten.
| tional deceiyer of others. do not say that
he is necessarily a scoundrel or fool He
may be very little of either, and he may
be little of both. These two words, which
sound rather roughly, will give us, think,
q faithful ideX to his character. A man
who is puucliliously proper has usually be-
come so in consequence of an attempt to
cover up his mental deficiencies or his NOR
oil obliqUites. PunctiliOus propriety is al
ways prctentious, and pretentiousneSs is al
ways al attempt at fraud. A shallow mind
is very apt TO clothei itself with proprlety as
with a garment. A brain that cannot
handle large things very often undertakes
to mango multiplicity of little things, and
runs naturally into those minute proprietieS
of life which are snowy, and which appear
to the ignorant to indicate great powers
and acquisitions in reserve. Most proper
men are nothing but shell, although many
of them pass the world for more. Their life
is all on the outside, and is placed and kept
there for show. We approach them, and
very frequently fnd them so we'll guarded
that we do not get look into their empti-
ness for long time. We examine them as
we would hillside strewn with fragments
and planted with boulders of marble. We
are obliged TO dig to learn whether the
signs we see are from an outcropping ledge
or all Outsluo uCpOSlIIOu' OOlnOhiuiCS h"N
plunge of a single question will reveal the
whole story. A man with large brains ant
a large life in him has something to do be
sides attending to the notions of other peo
pie. He has at least no motive to deceive
the world by striving to appear to be more
than he is.
Ihave said that there are some men who
are punctilouSly proper for the purpose o
covering their moral obliquities. The vir
tue of prude is alwOysto to be suspected
80 you have been looking after the baC
words" was savage old Dr. Johnson'S reply
to the very proper women who found faul
with him for introducing so many indecen
words into his dictionary. There are few
men who have not frequently, during thei
lives, broken their way through crust o
punctlious propriety into hearts full OF al
The blackness of seHsuality and sin. Th'
world is full of hypocrisy, aud hypocrisy i
nothing more than appearing to be wha
one is not. Indeed, | believe that one o
the strongest motives operative in the worl'
to render men Scrupulously proper in thel
department and behavior is sin, and thei
desire to sin / make no hesitation in say
ing that shaIlowness aud sensuality are tn
leading ingredients in the majority OF tn
exceedingly proper characters with which
am acquainted.
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