The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-04-06
"CLEAR GRIT

1 Chicago, by Robert Collyer, we cop
lsome Interesting paragraphs on a sui
lject well understood by most Of ou
readers:
( Clear grit is that noble hardness Q
grain in a man or a woman that cal
never give way except in true fash
ion and for a true reason: the pOwe
to walk barefoOted on the right line
rather than to go through green pas
lures and by still waters that defiec
from that. Give no single atom o
your nature TO what we have come t
call enjoyment, if by so doing yoI
are led away from duty. Never bar
ter a piece of comfort for q piece o
manhood or womanhOOd anywher,
or anyhow. Say No to what may
4 seem to be q multitude Of angels,
they want to take away from you +;
downright loyaltyto your instant duty
You will gather from this that thert
/ is a false and true grit in all great and
good things in creation. 1t is the
/ painters revelation of the true tina
men like Aaron Burr and Lord By
ron have made actual. In our lif,
/ there is nothing in this world so near
! ly like a splendid angel as a splendiC
devil. The Providence Gazette o
thirty-one years ago chronicles astOTy
of a rat caught in trap in that city
/ but cOntrived in some wonderful anC
mysterious manner to get out of the
trap by coming out Of its own skin.
Now, there was something like grit
in that. And now when you saw the
men squirming under the eOntempt
that was brought on them by the GOLD
transactions on Black Friday, I have
thought of it myself as another illus.
tration of the curious way in which
an intelligent animal sometimes imi-
tates human tricks. When he had
done all, he was only rat without a
skin.
Clear grit is always known. It is
easy TO Sc that the line between clear
grit and imitation comes at last 70
that fine edge that runs between mere
selfishness and a noble self-fOTgetful-
ness. When / care more for number
one than all the other numbers put
together / am on the division line ;
but when l am ready to do anything
I am set to do, then am on the right
side. and shall turn out every time
L
man ever came out with clear grit at
last whose object in life was to look
out for number one. He might have
all the virtues in "Webster's DictiOn-
ary," and all the graces in 'Chester-
field" but that one thing he cares
most Of all fOr-himself-kicks him
finally out of the ranks and ne breaks
down at that point where the true
man succeeds. A few months ago one
of the Western papers printed a story
about a black man, whose life was so
grand and good as to make me wish
sometimes that / was not so white.
This man was going from New York
to Boston on one of the Providence
steamers. There was no berth for
him. 1t was going to be wild night
and he was preparing to get as com
Portable place as possible. One of
officers noticed this man making the
best of it, and also noticed that he
was not so very black, and so hit up
on a plan of getting him berth.
There would be no trouble about a
berth for the noble red man, and as
the officer said, ~ will run him into
the cabin in that disguise ?'' He went
up to him and said, "Indian?" Mr..
Douglas saw the point instantly in
his kindly eye, and said, mo, mig
ger" Now, I presume the story is
true, for true it is 70 the whole spirit
and action of the noble fellow it is
told of, and it touches this great quail
ity have spoken of, namely, the
power to say No. I suppose it is a
rule without an exception that the
man vino cares a great deal for his
own comfort cares very little for any
thing besides. Every father and
mother with children about them, ev-
cry young man just starting in life,
every man of middle age dealing with
living things, must not doubt for one
moment that our tendency to what
we call good living, and our deter
minatiOn to be comfortable at any
rate, is one of the most dangerous and
deadly evils we have got TO encounter
in society to-day.
We say that we have in Chicago
800, 600 inhabitants-we have claimed
$4,000 before the census was taken.
Now among these there are not few
first-rate men, and a good many that
think they are, but amt. Now eY-
cry man in Chicago that is somebody
is a poor mans son. Every man who
is doing any sort of work in Chicago
to-day was raised a poor mans son
and had to fight to reach his place; not
one of them, as ] can ascertain, was
q boy, except that all boys should
grow as strong as a steel bar, fighting
their way to an education, and then,
when they are ready, plunging into
life with that traditional half-dollar
and a little bundle tied up in a red
handkerchief, as I have observed all
rich men start. 1 tell you that in five
and twenty years when most of us
that are now in our middle ages have
gone to our reward or retributiOn the
men of mark in this country will not
be the sons of those whose fathers can
give them all they wish for, and ten
times more than they ought TO have,
but will be those who are brought up in
farm houses and cottages, cutting
their way through thick-set hindranc-
es of every sort; and ell the brown
stone houses of this metropolis, and
all the White-stOne houses in our
metropolis, will be as nothing TO
bringing out the noble man. / do not
remem Der any preacher of command
ing power who was not the son OF
some man that had no fortune TO give
him, or verylittle. Taylor, Fox, Bun
van, Wesley, Parker, the great Beech
ers, BellOws-nOneO OF these were rich
mems sons. They had this fine hard
ness Of grain to begin with, and l tell
YOU the reason so many noble vessels
drift on lee shores is the want of COM
III will have clear grit and hold
nv own for all time, l must CON-
mence by eating my pOrridge. Frank
lin said, $50 long as can subsist on
sawdust pudding, you may stop your
subseription to my paper any time
The subscription was not stopped
Now this was true Of Sidney Smiths
noble and beautiful career. He weni
into the solitude of Salisbury plain;
and dined on potatoes day after day
{ Bnd week after week, rather than bar
: ter single atom Of his manhood. Fh'
| down-trOdden masses found in him
I champion to fight their battle, and hC
stands to-day as one of the noblesI
/ Engllshmen of the last generation be
7 cause, when he was a young man, be
coulu be content with his porridge
and this, as we can easily gather mus
l be thestrue reason why Mr.. Greeley
] long years ago, was able to establish
/ his great journal and bsoousa fbs