The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-12-22
Heaping Goals of Fire.


little virtue seems able TO live and rear its |
head In rude times. and whenever socie |
ty is in "A chaotic condition, and law but an
imDOtent weakling, murder is the usualex-
preston of revenge. Among ourselves, |
with an avenger of blood not often sleep
inc at his post, and with social p0lity
less fierce if also more false, we employ
SANDER. We put private hindrances in the
way of a mans getting a good thing; we
break off profitable marriage by secret
insinuatiOns we unearth all the skeletons
belonging to the enemy and his family and
put them up for public inspection in the
market place; we betray the secrets in
trusted 10 us in the weakness of fond
moment; we hint at this and we insinuate
that, sometimes We make holder and
more concrete accusation; and when we
have dOae all we can to ruin the man by
whom We fancy ourselves aggrleved, we
feel that we have had our revenge, and are
content. This is revenge in the nineteenth
century, in countries where law in some
sort dominates passion. and impulses are
kept in check by fear of the policeman and
the prison var.
But there are other forms of taking re-
venge; and among the most ingenious Is
that of heaping Goals of fire on the head
of an offender-eXaggerati the virtues
of obedience, and patience, and forgive
ness till they become instruments of tor
ture instead of gracious gifts OF blessing,
and essentially vices if nOminally virtues
Yet it is difficult To complain of this exag
geration, because of the holy texts and
wise words wherewith it is defended If
however, YOU disregard this defence work,
and say that it is possible to be too good,
too virtuous, and that any quality, even of
those named specially Christian, If carried
out of the bounds OF common sense and
into the region of excess, becomes a vice,
YOU are set down as a heather outright
YOU must be content to bear the stigma of
irreligiOn because of your philOsOphic pas
sion for limitatiC. If on the other hand,
you give in without a struggle, YOU know
that hencefOrth your doom is sealed, and
that your tOrmentOr has the best of it, and
Will keep what he has; that all you have
to do now is to accept patiently the heap
ing up of burning Goals which will, to the
end OF time, DC piled on your devoted
head
This taking revenge by heaping mp
Goals of fire may be shown in many ways.
Let Us take One By no means uncommon
III certain kind of hCme-that of eXccS-
sive ana exaggerated patience during, and
long after, temporary attack OF ill-temper
on your part and Of an unrelenting ODE
dienc1 TO your transient wishes If they
have been petulantly expressed Most PEG
pie are at times afflicted with peevish hui
m0rs and YOU are not exempt from the
ordinary feelings of humanity. But your
humOr was temporary, and YOU are heartily
ashamed Of it, and sorry that you gave way
TO it as YOU dill and when it has passed
and You arc again in your right mind, you
wish for nothing So much as a candid cb
liviOn on both sides. You are ready to
make any apology that may he needed
and YOU would bear meekly even an un-
compromising rating, il only it might end
in frank forgiveness and forgetfulneSs
Bat your coal heaper does not forgive, and
cannot forget and takes good care that
neither shall YOU IfyOuplunge headiore-
most into an apology, you are stopped with
the lOftiest, the most intense expression Of
meekness aud fOrbearance. Ny dear,
deprecatingly. why say word about it I?
/ assure yod | bear no ill-will. L know
my duty, and | hope | shall have strength
given NE TO do it, SO pray say no more
Perhaps with the addition, smiling plain
lively, Am not accustomed to it,
This IS the revenge which your coal
neaper takes and it is a severe one. No
remOnstrance, no anger, no tit of sulks
even would be so bad as that sanity, stat
uesqUe, resigned patience, which makes
You feel a brute in your own eyes, and
shows you that you are past ali redemp-
tio.A - tl.o o<-os Of "thorS
Another form of coal heaping is an ex-
ageonted attention TO your hasty words
Say you have found fault with your wife
or hOusekeeper, for something that has
gone wrong in her special department say
even that, because of n temporary de-
rangement of health, with arrangement
OF temper TO correspond, the fault found
was dlsprOpOrtioned to the offence com
mltted; yet all YOU meant TO inculcate was
the necessity OF a reasonable reform in a
Sllght mlsde meanOr, and better ordering
IN an affair OF minor management. Your
heaper up of burning Goals is determined
that the reform shall not be reasonable.
and that its excess shall be your punish
ment- GU have committed the offence
OF demonstrating against wastefulneSs in
the home cOmmissariat something which
has been very wastcful, and beyond all
harmony with your means; your coal
heaper stints herself off from her fried
bacon at breakfast and her glass of wine
at dinner on the plea of not being able to
afford 1t; and If you demonstrate with
her, and tell her she is ridiculous, she
answers meekly that 'you told her
to keep down the bills, and she
does not know in what else to re-
trench-as she was sure no one can keen
house more economically than she does
she has begun with herself" At the same
time she makes your mess like Benjamin :
and redoubles your most expensive luxu-
ries, which are yours only She never
complains, remember; she only makes her
self Os,entatiously uncomfortable with O
patience a OstentatiOUs as her selfmartyr
dom.
If you think 10 O'Clock too late fo,
breakfast. and erowl at the delay and dis
comfort ensuing from the pOstpOnement OF
your Mathis asking why YOU capuo,
have things eaTlIcr2 the whole house i
alive and astir AT D; and Your wife gets III
TOR few mOrnings) at 6; and thinks She
has done her duty by you, and obeyed Won
III you say that lying on a sofa readino
French novels is not your idea of a oood
housekeeser, hencefOrth she plunges into
all kinds OF mental employmentS, zoe.
about in a rusty old gown with buster il
her hand; and when you want her To- take ,
walk, Is sure to lie in the kitchen, whenc,
she energies with dabs Of paste sticking tc
her fingers, or she comes in with her fac,
flushed by " standing over the fire." wher
rather stately visitors call, and you have
special reasons for wishing her to Ioob
nice But how can you complain OF hel
obedience, Has she not turned over ,
new leaf, as you desired she should
Granted but you did not ask her to turn
over half dozen at once, or to make 81
much fiutter in the process.
One great weapon Of woman in thi,
kind OF secret warfare, this heaping up ot
burning Goals, is to pretend to be afraid 81
her husband; and not only to carry to the
extreme any wish he may have expressed
but TO do 1t with a certain affectaton o.
fear, as if he were the ogre of whom she
was In mortal dread, though sweetly re
signed TO her fate all the same as if he
were tyrant, whose good will she seeks
n 49, IL &