Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1867-05-18

the great moral law of nature that only
CPS performing his duty can he look for
3S ueseut aud future happiness. The ten
SHfncy of our present philosophy of society
IDR' to assist in making men virtuous and
lndappy, by making them comfortable; to
ENsep them eqnitably governed, and to hit
lup the miserable. 1t is noble, nay, di.
Pine philosophy; and upon the press Of
he country, fur more than upon either the
Li4lpit or rostrum, rests the task OF its sue
\ss. Pardon me, gentlemen, when. in
t,w of the grand mission of the press,
h M,gest that your individuality should be
5s porged in its work.
10. We have made, and are making prog
49, than. in the useful things OF life. Blu.
have we made equal progress in manners
Have We progressed in the agreeable!
! Man is naturally monoganist.- Though
he have fifty wives he will love one better
than the others; so that in this matter we
4 have improved upon some of the ancients
only by making municipal correspond with
I, natural law. Husbands and wives love no
more tenderly, or quarrel no more fierce
ly than they ever did. Servants are ser.
wants still-it has always been hard to
find one faithful. Children meet pretty
much the same old treatment, II do not
mean for their little bodily ailments,) and
every mother still thinks hers the prettiest
and best 1t is true, some mothers used
to throw their children into the fire. or in
to the Ganges to the crocodiles, but they
loved them just as tenderly as she who
now casts her darling into vortex Of dis
sipation in which it is destroyed-both
act rs they think best for their dear ones
and work to their own credit. Friendship
did not die with Damon and Pythias, Da-
yid and Jonathan. The Graces still clasp
each other around the waist and look for
admiration. The MUSES. are cultivated
still though they have changed their in
struments to suit the spirit of the age
the soft Tyre for furious piano the grace
ful, gliding dance for the full gallop-polka
and the double shuttle lancers the great
epic for machine doggercl, and gilt
| edged album.
Owing to suspenders and tight breeches-
legs, dandies do not bow so low now as
good manners required in the time OF
Abraham. wonder if the fop nowadays
knows that when he martyrs the letter
ar" in calling for the waitaw," or de
scanting upon the "supewiau pewforw-
nance at the opewa," he is positively
classic; that the fops Of Athens hated it
and changed it to an "l," and those of the
time of Louis XIV, and of the ".ieusesse
dores prescribed it altogether? Does he
not knew that torturing the hair to tht
front and twirling the moustache are only
fashions first cousin to the old Roman
dandiacal custom of scratching the head
The an Edh of fashion would have
been as much horror-struck at finding him
self in public with any other than his
broidered 1'yrian shoes on, as would the
modern to find himself at the opera with
out his white kids. And as for still higher
flights of good manners, the Egyptian gen
tleman of three thousand years ago could
swear as roundly by the sacred cat or the
immaculate puppy. and the Greek had
thirty thousand gods to swear by, and Us ed
oaths of such Learned length and thun
dering sound that those of the present
day are mere penny whistles beside
them. Pericles was fop; so was Julius
Cesar-but they were fops from policy.
for it imposed upon the people. The
sncbs of the present day are not srobs
from greatness of wisdom, for they impose
upon nc one unless it be their tailors.
The ancients had institutions, like
those of the present day, called clubs, for
the exclusive cultivation of brotherly love
where they paid large subscriptions for
the inestimable privilege of gossippng. or
gambling or getting roaring drunk vi h a
select crowd of warranted gentlemen. The
bar room and grog shops are inventions of
more modern date, improvements, in fact,
upon the old aristocra;ic, exclusive sys-
TEN; for in this age of equality the gen
tlemen can't have all the good things to
| themselves.
The old times were great times for os-
tentation. Superstition and ostentation
have always been two chief instruments
by which power has been gained and kept
over an ignorant people. knowledge Of
cnd power with the invisible gods. an af
fectation of great sanctity, glittering pro
cessions, the mysteries of the altar, and
the solemn sacrifice. have, through the
abuse of the nest noble faculties of their
souls, bowed mems bodies in civil bon
dace. Separation from the people, fine
equipage, liveried retainers, rich dress
and lofty words, have ever been means by
which encroachm:nts have been made upon
the rights of the people; and when their
rights were all gone they have looked on
in awe and admiration, and wed with Others
in initiating their masters. General os
tentation is sign not only OF wealth and
peace, but also of decaying nationality
Had VIC the wealth and the peace, as mat
tiers stand, we would be the most ostenta
tious people on earth. Shoddy could new
er vie with us, for the reason that our os
tentations should be elegant.
Though in this country society is based
upon the natural equality and individual
sovereignty of man, man is essentially 9
comparing animal; and human vanity ant
pride are very subtle things. The little
child will clap lis hand at some fancieC
superiority it has discovered in its toy, an6
n when he grows up, his Imagination vii
clothe him and his with superior halo
Dress, equipage, ainusements. and all tht
little elegancies of life are charming anc
proper in their place but suppose that il
this representative democracy, as 1t is still
called, we were to see people who think
themselves as nigh my Lud and ny
Lady," as people can be in this odiousl.
vulgar country--try to adopt manners ant
marks to distinguish them from thei
neighbors It would be. like seeing some
burIy savage upon the coast OF Africa
struttiug about to the envy and admira
: ton OF the girls aud little children in al
old red coat he has stolen from a Britist
=