New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-09-08


perhaps Of superior business qualifications,
who yet live along nobody knows how, and
obtain their supplies nobody knows where;
who have made up their mind to be any
thing, do anything, rather than hard labor,
and who are much more familiar with bar
rooms and the rendezvous of the idle than
with places of business. We think it would
not be difficult either to find others Of the or
posite sex who lived before the war with the
same advantages or disadvantages (for an &C.
complishment in one station is positive mis-
fortune in another) who have either already
settled down to a disreputahle mode of life,
or who will allow themselves sooner or later
to be brought to it. The trouble with both
classes is obvious. They are not willing to
labor at oallings which they regard as de-
grading-that is, at hard, downright toll; and
until they gradually die out or sink from the
knowledge of their former friends, by their
Incidence, .intoxication and vice, they will be-
liere themselves justified in resorting to any
shifts to escape such degradation.
There is much more excuse for old men
who have been extensive property holders,
and who, having been acoustic med to one way
of living all of their lives find it impossible to
grow Teconciled to another. 1t is natural that
tir ideas should not be on level with the
times, and when we find that they feel Them
selves destitute of property, influence and
consideration, that they believe themselves no
longer Of any use in country which has I'M
dergone such radical changes, and that they
grow suddenly oldo decrepit, we can only
feel for them the !prefoundest pity Failure
at that time of life is most apt to be ruin, and
is accepted as decree of destiny. Whether
it should be so or not, instances of old men
who have died from sorrow and humiliation
since the war are not rare.
We know ofno more melancholy study than
that of the decay Of great families, whether
made SO by custom or hereditary right, as in
many countries Of Europe, or whether they
have proved themselves great by their virtues
and services to the public. name that, like
Montmorency, has furnished general
in every generation since the Crusades, we
like to see survive the injuries of time, and
there are many living who would divide their
last morsel with any of the blood of Washing
ton, Lee or jackson.
Republicanisn does not eradicate our res
peet fer hereditary talent; and whether fami-
lies go to the dogs from their generous quail
ties Or vices, or through general widespread
desolation and disaster, we never cease to re
gard with interest the successors of those
who have ever stood forward at any
time as representatives of the hon
esty, honor and intelligence of the
country. We naturally respect men of high
strung temperament, who are ready to sacri-
fee their lives rather than incur the breath
of reproach. But this class must be of the
kind that show their character by actions and
not loud-mouthed words; and who are much
more willing to work on the streets OF levee
than to do nothing or live upon their friends,
or what is perhaps still worse, to occupy easy
sinecure places at the sacrifice Of their con
science and self-respect