North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1869-06-16

Fussy Folk.
We AL know people who live in fuss; (;
not necessarily in real turmoil Of circum
stan ,es, hut in fume of their own brew
ing-in chains which they have woven out
of cohwebs. in tempests conjured up from
teapots. They arc people with whom any
thing serves for nm occasion of fus -pe"-
pie who can do nothing quietly and bear
nothing silently, but who must take the
whole world into their confidence. and dis
cuss in public, and with II loud voice, the
most intimate ~ well ~ the most trivial
events of cir lives. These are the peo-
pie who are forever dragging their friends
into the thorny intricacies Of their cease
when they have q grievance. which is very
nearly always, and demanding from them
attention, advocacy, aud judgment, as if
they were a court appointed to try causes,
and who. when thew have really any grave
family disturbance, leave no one in rest or
peace until the whole story is told and re.
told down to the most minute circuni>tan-
ces, aud sides are taken with passionate
partisanship. For fussy folk will not have
anything like impartial holding or an in
d fFsrent attitude they must have all, or
will have none; and anything like ''faults
on both Sides they stigmatise as half
heartedness, saying, in their exaggerated
way, that they ''would rather have an
open enemy than false friend.''
Fus~y folk are great, too, in illness. A
ANifing disposition sm ''ng them is serious
" regarded as another persons mortal
disease; and they have the habit Of an
ticipating fatal results from the most
trumpery little ailment of which others
would make no complaint ut all. Hence
they seem as if they are continually
knocking at deaths door, and making mi-
racuous grecoveries and you are being
continually taken aback by their appear
ing unexpectedly at an evening party say,
or fatiguing .fete. radiant and blooming.
when by the report you re ;eived of them
yesterday y u thought them at the least
in imminent peril of an untimely decease.
But they like these little surprises they
are half the charm of existence to them,
and give them An air Of movement aud
speciality of constitu ion, to say the least
of it, peculiar.
FuSsy folk are always apparently in
some tremendous cataclysm OF fortune. in
viii. b they expect their friends TO take
deep enduring interest. All the .ctive
forces of life seem to he concentrated in
their path. and where others can 20 on
for years j'g-trd qu'etness. your fussy
folk cannot live through week without u
catastrophe on hand. And no sooner has
one overwhelming event been safely got
over. and their much-eninriny circle & ,ia-
ed short breathing time Of peace, thaA
another overwhelming event crops out,
and the whole vital machinery If sympa-
thy and interest and conduence is put in
motion again. But seeing that this last
o erwhelmng event is as uninpOrtant as
the first the poor friends have busy time
of it rs well AS Il useless one TO unless
-lttc lus>y folk were absolutely denied all
free action. and all outside life wha hatsoever
they must of necessity come sometimes to
roughish places, and receive unc"nfurta>
ble knocks like the rest of the world. All
cannot lie made smooth for them, and
their roses must perlnrce have thorns.
And even if they were taken care of, aud
pnt under bell glasses, like rare plants, and
sheltered from every wind that blows, and
every accident of the gnrden-wel!, even
then they would make fuss about the
color Of their leaf mould, or the drops of
moisture inside the glass. and speak of
them as if they were the thunder showers
d-luging their unprotected neiShbors in
the open air.
FusSy folk may be happy or unhappy
in their lives; it is quite immaterl'
which they are, their condition in no wise
affecting their fuss. lf happy, then they
are to he classed as sentimental. gushing,
emotional if unhappy, they are gener.
ally passionate and DO sterous, and n lit
tie fer.ely inclined. Lave, which has SO
frequently claiming anu secretive effect
on others of the more ordinary kind,
makes fus<y folks even more demonstra-
tive. A woman If the fussy ra"e will ="
about the world talking of the pe rfecsions
of her husband. and her own intense love
for him, AZ if w,fe's love for her husband
was quite new experience in her genera
tion. When he comes to speak to her at
t.r dinner, as he and the other gentleman
lounge up into the drawing-room, she
either takes his hand in hers, or puts her
arm. round him still more expressively, or
she leans back in her chair and holds up
her face coaxingly, irresistibly suggesting
kissing to the onlo"kers grouped ah""s
the ROOM. Where other women keep their
love in hand, and throw it into the shadow
W zen in public, the woman of the fussy
race let's hers romp abroad, and is never
f0tlAueU uUtll sHe Gill seL ~ II TIC 'uii oi"A'
of the sunli sht for. all the world to study
and admire.
If the husband does anything in life
If be isa musician. artist. barri>ter, par
son. what nOt-the amount of fuss in
which the wife inwraps his commones,
productions. and even his failures, is some
thing marvellous to'hear. She has way
Of speaking Of his work ellipticaily, al!u