Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-06-29
ROASTING AND IT'S CURE.

ROASTING AND IT'S CURE.
All self-assertion is not Boosting, and
much therefore often goes by this name
that really does not deserve it. Some
times a man is accused Of this fault where
he says what is simply true-a truth ne
cessary to make other actions rightly un-
derstood. BE may be even thought guilty
simply because, without his knowing II,
what he asserts quite unconsciously is
better than what others could truly and
.unconsciously say OF themselves. Napo-
leon l. could and did say many things OF
himself and his achievements, both as a
General and a statesman, that were both
true and just to himself to say, yet that
no other man Of his age could have said.
Even Saint Paul felt himself compelled to
assert his own labors at times. Most per-
sons consider that the great fault of this
unseemly failing consists in the thing
asserted not being true. No doubt most
boosters are not to be fully believed when
trumpe,ing their own praise. But this lie
not uniformly or necessarily the case. A
gentleman once remarkedpf one whom all
considered q great boaster, True, and yet
I never heard him say one word Of himself
that was not strictly and literally true"
It is seldom this can be said, but it can
sufficiently often to show that what we
dislike in this "last infrmity" Of many
good and noble persons is not any essen
tial falsehood.
Shall we then say that Boosting is speak
ing in u W praise, whether truly or
falsely But this would be very defective.
It rather depends upon the motire. If we
speak in our own praise not chiefly for
the sake Of Applause, but Of obtaining some
other outward end or object, this may be
true or false, wise or unwise, but 1t is not
the error we are trying to define. Napo-
leon would issue a flaming bulletin
Of q victory not yet won, to keep up the
funds in Paris aud preserve quiet or de-
ceive an enemy, and thus enable himself
to be successful in other ways. Merchants
speak Of their gains to sustain their credit.
But the boaster is generally one whose
object il self-praise is simply applause.
Yet the desire for the appreciation Of the
wise and good is natural and proper.
Where, then. is the evil or weakness of
this mode of securing it, If a man knows
that which is true and good Of himself,
aud wishes to secure our good opinion,
why must his mouth be shutf Perhaps
we may say in part that it is because Of
the constant danger there must ever be of
such an one going beyond the truth, or
performing m~eritorious actions simply for
the sake Of the applause. In such case
we know that it is not the good Of others,
but of himself, which forms the real mo-
tive; and injury, not good, results.
The boaster seldom tells the tohoL truth.
He relates his successes. but not his draw
backs-the~ good points Of his character
and conduct but not the bad acts, which
all else would at once perceive. He may,
therefore, be perfectly sincere, and yet
lead you on that account into the greatest
mistakes.
Self.praise more often injuries than ben
rfits those addicted to il. It is always
unconscious excellence, arising from the
love Of a good thing for IL, oton sake, that
wins our highest admiration. He, there
fore, who tells his own power or praise,
by preventing u hearing it frst from
others robs himself Of most Of the benefit
and estimation Of our discovery of the
fact. Besides, he who boasts Of his
wealth, or power, or knowledge, or fame,
shows that hs thinks what he boasts Of
something very great. IL am worth
twenty thousand dollars" says the rising
young man, perhaps truly, but with a
strong sense Of merit and greatness in
having reached thus far. If he had kept
quiet. the man Of $4,000 would have re.
spected him, but now he has taken the
extreme measure Of his man, and when
that man comes to be worth $500. 900,
nothing will lower him so much in his
W esteem as that he should ever have
thought a 1.-THE Of the sum anything but a
poverty. 1t is so with knowledge and
everything else. Those who possess mort
boast least, because they have the largest
conceptions. And Boosting should be
curbed and cured by this, if no other con.
sideraeon, that it shows how little our
idea Of greatness is.
And yet it is a very common failing,
ever among men otherwise the best, if not
the wisest. I. is a failing that requires
ever more charity than a censorious world
generally comedies to it. Franklin thinks.
indeed, the vanity from which it proceeds
so useful a quality in most cases that he
'never fails to pay homage to it where he
meets It." That is an amiable turn oil
philosophy, but the truly wise man will
increasingly feel it to be such a common
and dangerous weakness that the highest
minds take the greatest pains to overcome
it, while yet avoiding the opposite error
a want of natural and proper self-asser.
ton.