The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1865-07-31
PLEASE EVERYBODY.

i u0 ldDl9 I9llS Ol d man WhoI WIN hlo
boy, went to buy donkey, and who,
after the purchase, ON his way home, tried
to please everybody in his mode of going.
He mounted his boy and walked himself,
and the passers reprovsd the boy for rid
ing when his father went afoot. The
father mounted and let the boy walk, and
this shifted the censure to the father.
Both walked and led the donkey, and
the people hooted at them for fools; and
finally, as last resort, the man elevated
his beast on pole, and on getting home
he was sent TO the mad-house as lunatic.
This is good comment on the ways
Of the world and of those who try to
please everybody. A soft heart is too
often attributed to soft head. Those
who act from the purest motives are often
set down as rogues; and lack of that
hard quality in the character, called in~
dependence, is ascribed to want Of prin-
ciple. We are not about to mourn over
the wlckedness of men--it has lever been
proved that in point of morality men are
any better or any worse than they have
been at any period since Noah turned up
| his nose at the Ark. We are more civil.
lied, aud make more professions, but we
are not an inch nearer heaven.
| We wish to see things as they are, and
| never fall in with the bias OF the times.
Gen orally speaking, then, those who sue.
coed the best are those who have the
most conscience and shrewdness to spare.
1t will not do to part with the former
| without exercising the latter; praising
virtue where goodness is popular, or wink
ing at vice where morals are at dis
count; this, sooth and sad so say, is all
over the world, where worldly interest
CLEANS 10 the opposite balance. ...-
Mans organ of spirituality bears the
same relation to his inferior organs, in
point Of influence, as hens egg does to
hemisphere. Ask the great conquerors
if this is not So Ask any of the great
movers and rulers of men Which re-
ward, think you, would be more valued
by an army about to take city-the
noble privilege OF pardoning Its inhabi-
tants when conquered, or OF plundering,
and of gratifying passion without re-
slraint? Ask Caesar or Napoleon; or
even TAYLOR or Scott, who commanded as
virtuous set of invaders as ever raised
banner.
Such doctrine as this will make some
reformers uneasy, as it shows them more
obstacles than they are willing to ae-
knowledge. Dickens tells US of man
who excited the wrath and contempt Of
bis fellow voyagers because he predicted
rough passage But truth is truth and
it can't be any truer; aud sometimes it
gives good consolation to its utterer, even
though he Anglers lis fellow men by de-
stroying their hope. 1t is better to stick
to the truth at all times, even if OCCASION
ally unpopular, than to lie and lie in order
to shift with the times. Not merely be.
cause it is more moral, but because it is
more shrewd.
There is one virtue in this vicious
world which is always well spoken Of
1t is consistency. Indeed, the news
pa qers tell us every day that consistency
is jewel, which argues that they are very
unsel6sh, for they seldom seem anxious to
possess it) @.,...
We say it is more shrewd to be true
and consistent than to lie for popularity.
But we must qualify this, for it is too
splendid theory TO be unqualifsdly true.
We mean it only in reference to peace
here and prospects hereafter If man
expects to get more than these by being
honest, he knows very little of human
nature, business or politics, and would
not earn his salt as clerk in dry goods
store. But inasmuch as peace of mind is
better than pecuniary prosperity, and a
hope on high mole to be treasured than
all the honors of this world, SO far is i
better to be honest than hypocritical, and
no farther. So we advise those who try
to please verybody to consider, while they
try, how much of Gods favor they have
to spare in exchange for gains from the
devil such as gold, honor, influence, the
love of fools, the fear of knaves, newspaper
praise. and marble tombstone.
The devil is good paymaster. Serve
him with shrewdness, and you will get
these, his rewards. Bot "a never provides
FIR WORKOUT servants. When you are
flat on your back on your death-bed, and
can serve him no more, to him you will
be valueless, and his profits will be so to
you. You will then find that there was
Ooe you did not Please, and that the pill.
low of death is not always the pillow of
rest; you will then wish you had kept the
candor and poverty of youth to ward off
the compunctions of C 'wardly old age ;
or that your knavery had been hut the
simnliciky If tie old man with ihe don.