The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1867-05-05

l. the evils Incident TO poverty aud Ignorance
: Fariifo, though II appear u vain show, Is q
: aolemn, active, important reality. Thii
q reality does not consist In the ileetine
4 events which compose life, but in the effect
those events have upon tho rational soul
which u Immortal aud there Is q vast aud
: an eternal difference between folly and
. wisdom, virtue and vice. Let any man
look into his heart, and let memory perform
her office. Let him take some wrong he has
! cVmmitted--the first which starts up. You
: vince, but hold II steadily before YOU look
well at the stain. Now argue to yourself
IL happened long time ago. / was young
ana inexperienced the damage has been
: repaired my neighbor has been satisfied ID
ana little injury, and the world goes on as
: well as before. Aye, make excuses Argue
away 81" Out damned spot But
: 10 yours, yours forever and ever.
You cannot get rid of it. Fly, and 1t clings
. to you; sleep and forget, but wake. aud you
SEQ IT,. 90 crazed, but when your senses re-
turn, IN this world or tho next, II Is with
you 30, too, good action, though but your
duty, and imperfecrly performed, perhaps,
gives you delight, and the pleasure Is your
own forever. Ii. then, tho elect of one, per-
1
more important is the effect Of all the acts of
life taken together. The whole duty which
man owes to himself and to society il love,
which embraces-every virtue, manifests it.
sell Dy beneyolence, and is the very soul of
justice. Aud it is the great moral law of ma
ture that only by performing his duty can
he look for present and future happiness
Inc tendency of our present philosophy Of
society Is to assist in making men vir-
tnous and happy, by making them comfort
ablei to keep them equitably governed and
to lift up the miserable. 1t lisa noble, nay,
advlne philosophy; and upon the press OF
the country, far more than upon either the
pulpit or rostrum, rests the task Of its sue
cess Pardon me, gentlemen, when, In view
OF the grand mission of the press, suggest
that your individually should be merged in
its work.
We havelnade, aud are making progress,
then' IN the useful things of life But have
we made equal progress in manners2 Have
we progressed in the agreeable2
/ Man Is naturally monoganist. Though
he have fifty wives he will love one better
than the others SO that in this matter we
nave improved upon some of the ancients
only by making municipal correspond with
natural law. Husbands and wives love no
more tenderly, or quarrel no more liercely
than they ever did, Servants are servants
still-lt has always been hard to find one
faithful. Children meet pretty much the
same old treatment, Il do not mean for their
| little bodily ailments,) and every mother
still thinks hers the prettiest and best 1t is
trne, some mothers used to throw their chill
dren into the fire, or into the Ganges to the
crocodiles, but they loved them just as ten
derry as she who now casts her darling into
q vortex of dissipation in which it is des-
troyed-botl act as they think best for their
dear ones and work to their own credit
Friendship did not die with Damon and
Pythias, David and Jonathan. The Graces
still clasp each other around the waist and
look for admiration. The MUSES. are cnlti.
waited still; though they have changed their
instruments to suit the spirit of the age
| the soft Tyre for furious piano; the grace
| full, gliding dance for the full gallop.polka,
and the double-shuffle lancers the great
epic for machine doggerel, and giltedged
album.
| Owing to stispenders and tight breeches-
| legs, handles 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 "r" in calling for
the "waitaw," or descanting upon the "supe-
wiau pewforwmance at the opewa,n he is
positively classic; that the tops Of Athens
hated it, and changed it to an a." and those
of the time of Louis XIV. and of the "jetpesse
doree" prescribed it altogether9 Does he not
know that torturing the hair to the front |
and twirling the moustache arc only fash
ions first cousin to thelold Roman dandiacal
custom of scratching the head with the lit
tie fnger2
The ancient man Of fashion would have
been as much horror-struck at finding him.
self in public with any other than his broid-
cred Tyrian shoes on, as would the modern
to find himself at the opera without his
white kids. And as for still higher flights
ofgood manners, the Egyptian gentlemen of
three Thousand years ago could swear as
roundly by the sacred cat or the immacu-
late puppy, and the Greek had thirty thou
sand gods to swear by, and used oaths of
such LEARNED length and laundering sound'
that those of the present day are mere PEN
ney whistles beside them. Pericles was
fop; so was Julius Cesar--but they were
tops from policy, for it imposed upon the
people. The snobs of the present day are
not snobs from greatness of wisdom, for they |
impose upon no one-lnless it be their |
tailors.
The ancients bad institutions, like those of |
the present day, called clubs, for the excu-
sive cultivation of brotherly love, where
they paid large subscriptions for the inesti-
mable privilege of gossipping, or gambling,
or getting roaring drunk with select crowd |
grog shops are inventions Of more modern
date, j ! proyements, in fact upon the old
aristocratic, exclusive system; for in this age
of equality the gentlemen can't have all the /
good things to themselves
The old times were great times for osten-
tation. Superstition and ostentation have
always been two chief instruments by which
power has been gained and kept over an ig-
norant people. knowledge of, and power
fbo tVaxr IL 10 a.. ri
great sanctity, glittering PROFESSIONS, the
mysteries of the altar, and the solemn sacri-
flee, have, through the abuse of the most no.
bic faculties of their souls, bowed mems bod
les in civil bondage. Separation from the
people, fine equippage, iveried retainers,
rich dress, and lofty words, have ever been
means by which entertainments 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 We'd
with each other in initiating their masters
General ostentation is sign not only of
wealth and peace, but also of decayiDg ma
iionalty. Had we the wealth and the peace
rs matters stand, we would be the most os-
people on earth. Shoddy could |
never vie with us, for the reason that our os- 6
tentations should be elegant
Though in this country society is based l
lpon the natural equality and individual )
overeignty of man, man is essentially !
animal; and human vanity and
ride aravery subtle things. The little child {
will clap its hands at some fancied superior .
ty it has discovered in its toy, and when
le grows up, his imagination will clothe 8
lin and his with superior halo. Dress, =
quipage, amusements, and all the little I
legancies OF life are charming and proper .
II their place; but suppose that in this D
representative democracy, as it is still call !
d, we were to see people who think them >
elves as nigh my Lud and my Lady" as 7
eople can be in this odiously vulgar coun- G
ry-tTy to adopt manners and marks to dis
inguish them from their neighbors. 1t
yonld be like seeing some burly savage
pom the coast Of Africa, strutting about to
be envy and admiration of tho girls and
title children in an old red coat be has
tolen from British offlcer-it is so different