Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1862-07-31
THE WORLDS OPINION.

We all know that there are great and impor-
tant things in which the world thinks wrongly;
take issue there with the world, if you like;
but it is not worth while to do so in small mat
ters of dress and behavior 1t is not worth
while to take a beard into the pulpit where it
will interfere with the congregations attention
to the sermon nor to appear in the same
place in lavender gloves in country where
lavender gloves, in such locality are unknown.
1t is wise to give in to the little requirements
on which the worlds opinion has been plainly
expressed. If you are resolved to take part
of opp siton TO all the world, do so in the be-
half of things which worth the trouble OF
the strife Let it not be engraved on your
tomb stone Here lies the man who confront
ed the human race on the question Of the wide
awake hat. Stand up for truth and right, if
you are fond of fighting: you will have many
opportunities in this life. Smite the hunkey,
pierce the humbrg, violently kick the aristo
cratic liar and seducer, and probably you will
find abundant occupation. But though you
know it is pleasant and enjoyable thing for
Yourself and your children to sit on the steps
of your country house in the sunshine after
breakfast YOU will Tot gain the approval OF
wise men by doing the like on the steps of
your town house, in much trequented street:
say, for example, in Prince Street Edinburgh.
And though you often roll on the grass with
your little boy in the country, do not attempt
the like on the pavement of such public way.
For in that case ii is conceivable that you may
he jeered at by the passers-by and be appre-
by the police. And while you are being con-
veyed to the staton-house, instead being es-
teomed as philosopher and revered as mar
tyr, it is not impossible that you may be laugh
ed at as fool.
1--WE sat on the bridge and swung our legs
over the - with these words an eloquent
writer lately began an essay OF course, that
bridge was quiet rural spot If the writer
and his friend had done the like on London
bridge the small boys would have hallooed at
them, and the constable would have moved
them on Yet the merits of the deed are the
same in either case. Only in the one case the
world says, You may in the other case, it says,
You must not And the human being who
resists the worlds judgment in these little mat
ters, shows, not strength, but weakness.
Where principle is involved, it is noble to
swing your legs, but not otherwise But doubt
! less YOU have remarked that it is common
thing to find great obstinacy in a man who has
no real tirmness. You will find people who
are squeezabe and facile in the great affairs OF
| life, and in their larger opinions have not a
mind of their own, but adopt the opinion OF the
last person they heard express one; yet who
persistentlv stick to some little absurd or bad
| habit. which they have often been entreated to
leave off, which annoys then friends, and makes
them ridiculous. You will find a man whom
YOU might turn round with straw, in his belief
on any question political, moral, or literary,
vet who having taken up the ground that once
one is three, would go to the stake rather than
to give in to the worlds way of thinking on
that pont.-Colmtry ParsoR.