The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1870-06-02
SOCIABILITY.

SOCIABILITY.
The social principle, like the love of
the sexes, is an instinct Of our race, and
IS therefore constant. But the degrees
Of Sociability eqaalth number of indi-
viduals 1t is doctrine of Hobbies that
hostility is the natural state Of man.
Whether this be so or not, true it is,
civilization tends to bring the social prin-
ciple into ascendency over the malignant
forces of the human mind and thus as
Victor Hugo has it, "An immense APP
peasing Of hate" is effected
1t is hard to conceive of a person wholly
void of this principle. 1t must be re
membered that arctic ice has heat But,
dropping all lower grades. we use the
subject in the degree that is equal to the
average or more. @
Four aces are seldom found in a single
hand: so nature seldom unites all the
excellencies in one individual IF it
does, life is too short for the exercise Of
all, in the case that the highest results
are to be secured. We all know that
great men make less talk than little ones.
This is from the fact that life is too valu-
able TO waste in idle diffusion, when the
grand projects Of mind are in view.
There is class of persons of medium
ability, who have the faculty of delight
ing small people with their social tweedle
dunn and tweedle dee, and who pass
through life with hop and skip, and
then die. But it Is the silent philosopher
that creates the eternal possibilities Of
society. Newton revealed facts which,
operating through civilization, increased
wealth beyond computation: but he did
not realize gains equal to those of a petty
shopman. The thoughtless rabble know
not that they owe most of their. comforts
to the silent toll Of the secluded, but il
defatigabla, man Of science. It is quite
probable that common dancing master
could create more Of a social J1i-z than
aristotle or Bacon ever did.
In the outset we give some examples
contrary to the point that we urge. A
certain English nobleman whose name we
cannot recall, was represented as being
the soul of society and of letters. Sir
Philip Sidney is another, in whom, it is
said, more than the dreams Of cEivaliy
were realized. lie made himself i'm
mortal by one act Of magnanimity at the
battle of Zutphon. There is a maxim
Of Martin Luther
'IIs who does not love women, wine aud song
Lives fol al his life long"
It is a cause Of regret to literary men.
that Coleridge wasted his finest powers in
society.
But deep philosophic thought, ike the
productive pursuits which Political Econ
ony recognizes, is anti-social As ne
cessity, such thought prccludes garru
lous tongue Genius has no tine to deal
with anything save what is adequate TO
its great purposes. When urged by re-
munerative offers to give a series Of lee
lures, Agassiz gave an answer that de-
serves to be as immortal as his own name,
Gentlemen, [ have no time to make
money" But we all know there is
simple set who carry their heads aloft
and, with African pomposity, seek The
appreciation of the public by kind Of
social barbering. No wonder the social
hair needs shampooning by honest hands
after suffering for years from the acre
lion of horrid patent preparations.
Socrates, the Father of Greek philoso
ply, was at times so engaged in thought
that he would remain speeches., and
fixed in one position a whole day. Would
We not laugh to see such man playing
with lady's curl Phocion, whose in
tegrity surpassed that Of all his country
men was a oynic, and SO was Diogenes.
Archimedes. who for long time defend
ed his native city against the Roman
army by the inventions of his mighty
rnind, was so engrossed in his calculations
that he became aware of the entrance Of
the enemy only by his death wound, and
then he exclaimed, 30 not disturb my
diagrams. Joseph Scaiger, the most
learned man of his time, was so enamor-
ed with the study of Homer that, though
in Paris, he was not aware OF the mas
sacre of ST Bartholomew, till the day
subsequent to the catastrophe. Would
we not smile to see such man dang
ling on the green?' William of Orange,
who by his great deeds gained the title
of Father of his Country, was proverbially
silent: and so was William III, who was
regarded as a phlegmatic Dutchman and
50 was Luxembourg the gcncralissimo of
the French army. Yet In speaking of
the last two, Macaulay says all Europe
was ruled by a hunch-backed dwarf and
an asthmatic skeleton. The Spartan
gained his martial power, not by kissing
Ionian maids and looking into their Ian
gushing eyes, but By submitting himself
to the bloody scourge and kindred exer-
cises. And SO the Spartan went forth to
die upon his shield or return it to his