The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-05-19


Am Kopf Won dieser Negerinn
Die Engele gegiesen Suckersass, .runen
Inseghen Fliege NIGHT mic trupen'
Auses ansesnen FIieee NIGHT mich truben,
Fur Ich bin an dem Companie Ut"
LIMP PEOPLE.
from the Saturday Review]
Vice is bad, and malignant wickedness ls
worse, but beyond either IN evil results 70
mankind is weakness; which, Indeed, Is the
nshnlum by which vice is fed, and the agents
6y which malignity works. II every one IN
this world had backbone, there would not oe
nearly as much misery or guilt as there is now;
for we must give each Individual of the "cruel
strong, q large following OF victims; and II
would be easy to demonstrate that tne pro-
press of nations has always been IN propor-
ton to the number OF stln y oachoones onss oSnmnd
to the detriment of society and to tneir own
certain sorrow; molluscs predestlned 10 oe tne
food Of the stronger, with no power OF ser ssl.-
defence or oes thew to be-
preserved at all; and perhaps when you nave
done all you can do, not safe even then, anu
most Iikely not worth the trouble taken about
them. Omen the gates for but one moment,
and they are swept up by the first passer-oy;
let them loose from your own SUSTAINING manu-,
and they fall abroad in mass OF naopy hsip-
lessness, unable to work, to resist, 10 retalnI
mere heaps Of moral Jelly, pitia6Ie as Wen
40 contemplate. See one OF these poor
creatures left widow, If q woman-tqrned
ont OF his office, If q man-and then Judge OF
the value of q backbone by the miserable con-
eeonences Of its absence. The WIDOW 1s SIMPLY
lost In the wilderness Of her domestic solitude;
as much so as child set IN the mlGsC OF "a
pathless moor with no one TO gude MIN 70
the safe highway. She may have money, ana
sbe NAV have relations, but she Is as poor as II
abe had nothing better than parish relief, anu
unless sCme one will take her up and manage
everything for her conscientloualy, as lonSiy
AS II she were an exile in strange land. She
has been 30 long used to lean on the strong
arm of her husband, that she cannot stand
upright now that her support has beep taken
from her. Her servants make her their prey;
her children tyrannize over her and utterly
ignore her authority; her boys go to the bad,
her girls get fast and loud: all her own meek
little ideas Of modesty and virtue are rudely
thrust to the wall: and she Is obliged TO SUD-
NIT to family disorder which she neither
likes nor encourages, but which she has not
the strength to oppose nor the wisdom to d.
rect. She may be the incarnation Of all saint
ly qualities In her own person, Dut Dy mere
want Of strength she 1s the occasion by Wmca
very pandemonium is Carried on; and the
worst house Of community is sure to oe
widow, without one single vicious proclivlty Sc
far as she herself is concerned, bot, without
the power to repress or even to rebuke vice IN
others. A molluscous man, too, suddenly
elected from his long accustomed groove;
where, like toad embedded In the rock, ne
had made his niche exactly fitting to his own
shape, presents just as wretched picture OF
- N
friends suggest this or that independent en-
deavor; he shakes bis head, and says he can't
1t won't do; what he wants is place where ne
is not obliged to depend on himself, where he
has to do 8 fixed amount Of work Tor hxed
amount Of salary, and where his fbreless plas-
ITCHY may find mould ready formed, Into
which 1t may run without the necessity oi
forging shapes for itself. Many o man OF re-
spectacle Intellectual powers has gone down
into ruin; and died miserably, because OF his
limbness; which made 1t impossible Tor MIN 70
break new ground or to work at anything
whatsoever with the stimulus OF hope only.
He must be bolstered up by certainty, support
ed by the walls Of his groove, else ne can 40
groove, he'll himself drift into destruction.
In no manner are limp people to be depend
ed on; theirvery central quality being nuldity,
which iS g bad thing to rest on. Take them In
their family quarfels-and they are always
quarrelling among themselves you think tney
must have broken with each other LOT ever,
that surely they can never forget OF forgive al
the insolent expressions, the hard words, the
full-nayored epithets which they have flung at
one another; but the next time you meet
they are quite good friends again, and going
on In the old fluid way as If no fiery storms
had lately troubled the domestic horizon. Per.
haps they have induced you to take sides; II
SO, you may look out tor yoa are certain n 20 Soe 9e
parties instead Of only one. They are much
given to this kind OF thing, and fond of max
Ing pellets for you to shoot; when. after the
shot, they disclaim and ais0wn you. They
speak against each other furiously, tell you oil
the family secrets, and make them worse and
greater than they really are; and II you are cred
ulous for your own part you take tnem literally.
accusations in a spirit Of ofrhadamanthine Justice,
and the absolute need of forwarding sin accord
ing to its sinfuIness. Beware, their accusations
are baseless as the wind, and acting on
them will lead to your certain dlscom-
fture. The only, safe way with limp people.
is never to believe what they, say; or; II
you are forced 10 believe, never to translate
youf flaith into deeds or even words; never to
commit yourself to partisanship In any form
whatever. They don't intend 1t, in all proba-
bility; but by very force Of their weakness limp
people are alnfsst invariably untruthfdl and
ueacherous. By the force, too, OF lhiS same
weakness, they are incapable of anything like
true. friendship, and In fact make the most
dangerous friends to be found. They are so
plastic that they take the shape Of every hand
which holds them; and If you do not know
them well, you may be deceived by their Sbfl
ness OF touch, and think them sympathetic be-
cause they are fluid. They leave you full Of
promises to hold all you have told them sa-
cred, and before an hour is out they have re-
peated to your greatest enemy every word
You have said. They had not the faintest in
tention Of doing so when they left you; but
they tsslop about" as the Americans say; and
sloppy tolks cannot hold secrets. The traitors
OF LIE are the limp, much more than the
wfcked-people VINO let things be Wormed
out of them rather than Intentionally betray
them. They repent likely enough; Judas
hanged himself; but of what good is their re
pentance when the mischief is done ? Not all
the tears in the world can put out the fire
when once lighted, and to hang oneself be.
cause one has betrayed another will make no
difference save in the number of victims
which ones own weakness has created.
Limp men are Invariably under petticoat
government, and 1t all depends on chance and
the run of circumstances whose pettlcoat Is
dominant. The mothers for long period;
then the sisters. If the wife's, there IS sure to
be war in the feminine camp belonging to the
invertebrate commander for such man
creates infinitely more jealousy among his
womankind than the most discursive and the
most unjust. He Is o power, not to act, but to