Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1871-11-23
tFor the REPUBLICAN,
The Evils Of the Times.
III,
Frivolity-o OF the Age.

Frivolity-oI the Age.
| BY EDWARD D. CLAIMING.
Our nation has increased in wealth
and favor; her products and manu-
facturers secure her commerce witt
the remotest parts of the world
Her people, happy under the benigr
influences of equitable government
enjoy sufficiency and often times op
ulence;the common lot. of all i:
higher than other standards among
nations, and very few among oul
number are reduced to beggary or
objects of poverty. But with the
increase Of wealth and resources
has sprung up a spirit of prodigali
ty; a desire to excel our neighbors
whether our means warrant or not
and multitudes disregarding theil
Interests and advantages, plunge
madly into the strife for rank an(
position, to which they are wholly
unequal; careIessly squandering the
inherited earnings of hours of toi
and labor.
The day when each one carved
his way to honor and fame by thu
strength of his own right arm, i:
is not myth of the past; it is one
of the most unyielding realities Of
the present. tcorroborated by the his
tory of the eminent of our owl
times. Most frequently from the
lowest ranks, encountering every
difficulty that poverty could throw
in their way, they toiled nobly, stead
lily, upward, with firm and self reli
ant hearts, until they attained tt
their present position. Labor jara
omnia. Wealth cannot buy thu
laurel on the poets brow, or secure
the wisdom of the cultivated mind
1t may place the means within oul
reach, but without unremitting ex
ertions the prize still eludes oul
grasp.
The frivolity of the age is mani
tested in the fickleness of the gen
eral mind. The desire for change
is constantly uppermost, and The
taste for the new and novel need.
frequently to be satisfied. 1t is no
confined to style and dress, but ii
found in every service and position
Congregations tire of the old-fogy
Idoctrinal sermons of their aged pas
tors, prefering the diffuse, ,and wordy
modern rhetoric; while the genera
tendancy, is, to be unmindful of the
customs of our forefathers, and tt
leave the good old fashioned ways
for new and untried expedients
But in hardly any manner is the
frivolity of the age more noticeable
or injurious than in the thoughtless
careless waste of time. By al
means improve your leisure if you
would improve your fortune. The
golden sands of time run swiftly, 81
lently; merrily as the rippling stream
they glide along; unnoticed by many
by many unimproved or unthough
of, until the great vista of Eternity
opens before them; then their tru'
importance is felt, when the soul ii
about to appear before Its Maker, tt
account for the manner in which
each one of these unheeded moment.
we're spent and improved.
The truant boy, unlearned as te
what is his true advantage ,and seek
ing the painted butterfly of pleas
ure near shady streams, and mos:
covered stones,is not the only spend
thrift of his time. Many are th'
persons, and many are the ways o
wasting our leisure moments, an(
some who consider the time between
one scene of festivity and the next;
dreary waste, dull almost unbear
able blank in existence, sedelousl,
employ all arts and artifces for kill
ing time.
Reading is considered, at once al
interesting and profitable way o
spending our leisure, and this WI
hold is eminently true, where its sub
ject is one of merit and Importance
But literature has sadly degeneratet
in this its day of plenitude, it has
exerted great power for good, bu
it may be perverted to exert cor
respondingly great and mighty in
fluence for evil. The mass of liter.
ature, though there may be many
bright and illustrious exceptions, is
most corrupt, its tendency down
ward, its influence evil. Many peo
pie lose great deal of time by read
ing, for they read frivolous and idle
works; such as absurd romances ant
novels, where characters that nevel
existed are insipidly displayed; th'
oriental raving of fthe Arabian Nights
and the fimsey yellow-backet
pamplets of fairy tales or blood an(
thunder stories of the border; ani
all this sort of idle, hurtful matter
Publications gratifying the vicious
tastes of new, and Sunday issues
eagerly perused for their animad
version ofreligious things are alarm
ingly increasing; while all classes
and ranks of newspapers and peri
odicals,ar filled with senseless stor
les of love and romance. These
, light and frivolous, nay, harmful ant
injurious articles are sought for by
all the lighter part of the popula
tion,excite deplorably morbid STATE
of the mind.
But let it not be understood that VIZ
pass censure without distinction, OF
all works of fiction. Many are the
deserving works of this class, which
includes SHAKESPEARE and Byron, as
well as the bold imageries of Milton
Dante and Bickersteth. Some Of
the most striking and beautiful de
scriptions were penned by Walter
Scott. some of the most plaintive
passages and accurately drawn char
acters by the genius of Dickens;
and these will ever be models es-
teemed by true lovers of the beauty
and purity of the English Ian
lguage.
| But the generally poor, and vaga-
bond loafers, who spend the most OF
their time on store boxes, ,meditative-
ly whiting the corners, or frequent
ing snug lounging places, are the
most unmitigated, irreclaimable