The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-10-07
BIRMECIDES.
From the Lon Ion Graphic.l


There are few of us who have not had the
experience of Barmecide feast some time in
our lives; who have not known what it was to
be invited to an apparently substantial repast,
to find when the covers were removed that
the thing was a mere sham-that no strong
meats smoked on the cold and empty board,
no fruits gave sweetness and pleasantness and
the perfection of finish to the nobler and more
important food, no wine gladdened the heart
and frightened the eye, but that it was all
only name, o pretence, make-belleve, a
Barmecide teast, feeding and refreshing no
one.
How many marriages are Barmecide feasts,
think you? Promises of love and loveliness
and tender sympathies that are never fulfilled;
promises of sweetness and good temper that
fade away into nothing, like a golden cloud
and ecstatic Joy that are as real as the spark
ling wine, the luxurious fruits, of the Barme.
cide's table. She has fair hair and blue eyes,
a trim waist and arched lnstep, small hands,
and half-moons to her flbert-snaped nails. she
smiles when you speak to her, and has ready
blush; and she looks shametaced and pretty
when she bushes. She Is not opinionated.
and she glances continually at mamma when
she talks, and seldom looks you full in the
face. She Is Just eighteen, and you adore ner.
You see in her the outline OF every nobleness,
Of every virtue, that woman can possess.
You grant that as yet, by reason OF her youth,
all these graces are only potential, not ac.
tive: but you believe, nevertheless, and belief
for the time does as well as proof; and you
marry your angel, never thinking that she will
prove your Barmeclde. Time goes on. The
bride becomes the wife, the girl the woman.
The nature which was no more set or consoll-
dated when you concluded that 1t held the
Germ of every virtue under heaven, than Is a
hazel nut in June, slowly develops Itself In Its
own way. The virgin timidity which 80 en-
chanted you, becomes malronly indecision,
and a mental weakness of will bordering on
imbecility; or it crystallizes into narrow posi-
tiveness, so that You might as we'll try to melt
the SHOWS Of Mont Blanc as bend or mellow 1t.
The ready blush which once betokened such
sweet sensibility hardens into callous opposi-
tion, or deepens into passionate irritationi the
girl you loved and the woman you have mar
ried, are as different as is the Olympian Hebe
from an apple-woman In the street; the prom
ise by which you were taken prisoner was but
Barmecide feast, and you sit at the banquet
Of your marriage with empty dishes and long
ing eyes, pondering and regretting.
You make new friend. You have had good
friends in your lifetime, but you have never
had one equal to this for fervor OF affection,
lavishness of demonstration, affluence olprom-
ise. You have been 4 self.sustaining kind Of
person hitherto, but perhaps you have been
hardly hit OF late, wounded In the light, wrung
in the withers, and your new friend with MS
offers of help comes IN opportunely. Rest on
me, he says, with Infinite generosity and an
expansive manner; and you take him at his
word You do rest on him. Perhaps 1t Is no
great favor after all that you ask OF him; be
that as 1t may, you ask something. your
friend, who has offered all and promised every
thing, proves OF the Barmecide class when put
10 the proof. He fails you utterly IN the SIM
plest as In the most Important matter. He in-
vited you 10 sit at his table and nourish your
self on the strong meats he had in store; but
when you lifted the covers you beheld nothlns-
ness, and you were fain to content yourself
with empty dishes and unsatisfed desires. he
can do nothing for you. 1t may be will, or 1t
NAV be power. that fails him; either he has
mlscaculated his Influence with others, or he
has exaggerated his unsel6sh interest In you
Whatever the cause, there Is the result; the
staff you lent on is broken reed, and the rich
badquet of active friendship to which your host
invited you is sham wherein lies no crumb
OF comfort or support.
Barmec:dal, too, are many books. They
open with fine flourish, promising instruc-
tion or entertainment according to the plan on
which they are construed. You sit down TO
your intellectual banquet full OF cheerful hope;
but you hnd nothing set forth for your SUSIE
nance. Your spirit-stirring melody turns out
to be meaningless word echoipg through a
deserted palace "a feast OF empty covers CIV
ed and made strong. The entertaining story
that began with the sparkle Of well-packed
rocket, ends In the dreary descent Of charred
stick. The treatise that prefaces Its essential
remarks by asweeping assertion respecting the
utter worthlessness Of every other work that
has hitherto been published on the subject,
prepares you for new lights on dark matter,
and straight cut out Of tangled Jungle.
But you find as you 60 deeper and fare Iurther
that your author knows no more of the matter
In hand than the most antiquated OF his prede-
cessors. He has no new light; he makes no
new cut, short or long; he Is the Snowman OF
dlss0lving view, the Amphytrion of Barme-
eide feast; and you are really the poorer for
your lost faith, and the time wasted In hope
that had no fulflment for Its answer.
And as with books, so with certain natures.
You are acquainted with people who, you are
sure, would exactly suit such and such posi-
lions, do such and such work, perform such
and such lLties. You use all your influence,
and you place them where you think them just
pegs In round holes But here, too. your feast
has been Barmecidal, and your protegeS, from
whorl while still untried you hoped so much,
are quite empty dishes when disclosed. The
power of mind, the quickness of perception,
the business faculty, the very moral rectltude
on which you had counted, and for which you
had refused others, are myths; and you realize
a disappointment where others suffer as we'll
as Yourself. How many failures of this kind
the world has 10 count! How many lost lead
eIs OF thought and progress, 30 brilliant in
their promise, so disappointing IN their result,
have been just Barmecides, with whom Is no
food Of life, no sustaining element! Again, how
often We find our own work, our so.called good
fortune, Barmecidal. We have something given
us that we fondly believe will make man ofus,
now on the spot. We have long been IN
troubled waters; surely the tide will turn now
the currents run smooth-and our tossed
and damaged ship come into safe haroor at
lasl surely our hunger will be appeased at the
banquet to which We are hidden, and we shall
know the meaning and the SAVIOUR Of good
things! We accept The situation offered, and
we find it richer in promise than fulflment.
1t Is Barmecldal feast. aud we starve at the
table which assumed to be a table OF plenty.
The editorship which was to be such insgnih-
cant work and such princely pay-well, that
editershlp! The adlectlves and nouns have
been strangely jumbled somehow, and we find
1t on the trial to be such very poor pay and
such very great deal of work, that we can
neither make up by supplement- nor
live on the original. That station out in
Africa-it was to have all sorts Of valu-
able contingencies, and the climate was
exceptionally healthy. When we get there
We find swamp where the population is deci-
tingencles resolve themselves into native
trading-buying ivory, for which there is no
market, By consgnments of secondhand
which the noble savage will not wear.
All sorts of appointments are In like manner
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