Weekly Calaveras chronicle., 1867-11-02
CALAVERAS CHRONICLE.
MOKELUMNE HILL:
SATURDAY, -: NOVEMBER Q, 1867.
Old Fogies.

Every community has its old fogies. From
days immemorial, if we had time and spac,
10 spare, could we trace the existence ant
record the actions of these fossilated speci
mems of humanity. The old fogy is beins
by himself, breathing an atmosphere neon.
liarly his own and revolving in a sphere O
which he Is the centre and clrcumfer.
ence. Socially, mentally, and politically, he
is far behind the ages. In fact, he to-
tally ignores everything modern and con-
slders all that is good, talented and worthy,
to be buried in the past. The old fogy OF
to-day "pohed" at the idea of telegraph
and steam engine, and jeered at the notion
that sewing could be done by machinery or
weaving otherwise than by hand. He thinks
that potatoes, unless they are baked in the
ashes, are unwholesome; that no diet is so
conducive to health as mush and milk that
the only liquor which can be drank without
committing an objectionable sin, is "black-
strap" and that no garment is so beftting as
the old-fashioned swallow-tail with its gilt
tering appendages. He scouts the idea that
the age is progressive, and casts himself be-
meath the wheels of the car of progress, like
Buddhist before juggernaut. He is con-
stantly bewailing the degeneracy of the
present, looks at the future through a re-
versed telescope but views the past through
the medium of powerful lens. The old
fogy is simply living, breathing epitome of
the manners, customs and ideas of the last
century. Like one of those old. crumbling,
ivy-clad ruins, relics of the feudal days, he
appears to have been created for no higher
purpose than serving as memento of former
times-a landmark to denote the rapid flight
of years. Narrow minded, bigoted and OBJ
stinate; self-willed, opinionated and stubborn
In his ignorance, possessing only the moiety
of ideas which were spanked into him in his
infancy; cropping blindly amid the obsolete
fallacies and exploded theories of the past,
he regards every step forward in the rapid
progress which the world with gigantic
strides is making in the arts and sciences,
and civil and religious liberty, as an innova-
ton upon the good old days of lang syne.
The old fogy never originates an idea and it
takes him forever to grasp those of others,
and then he probably regards them with
suspicion and distrust. His mind-if what
he has can be called such-wrapped up in
the rusty habiliments of the past, is like
plant excluded from the light of the sun
slchly, weak and stunted. If it possesses
any life and moves at all, it is only in the
narrow groves of prejudice, blgoty and I'M
Teasonableness. 1t has no breadth no vital
ity, and the old fogy is as devoid of real
intelligence as resurrected Egyptian num-
my. Politically, the old fogy never changes.
He is as firm in his belief in the doctrines
taught him by his ancestors, as the rock of
ages. Every new move on the political
chess board is heresy. If his father were
a Wing, then there never was nor never will
be another man like Henry Clay; if, on the
other hand, he were a Democrat, Andrew
Jackson is the only name which he rever-
ences. The rebellion was ''poser'' to the
old fogies. They could not believe that
there was war, because it did not occur in
the days of Jackson and Clay. At last they
became convinced that there was something
wrong, and although peace has been de-
clared these two years, they are still fighting
Everyone who does not look at the present
situation of affairs through the same jaun-
diced medium which they do, and who be-
ieves that hostilities have ceased. is rebel,
cut-throat and more than likely implicated
in the ASSASSINATION of President Lincoln.
The ossifed, fossilated old fogy, mantled il
the Shiny, dripping impervious cerements
which denote his exhumation from the tomb
OF the past, although he IS not to be found
among the curiosities which adorn the
cabinet of the naturalist, forms a splendid
subject for those who delight in the relics of
antiquity.