Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1871-05-18
CONTENTIOUS PEOPLE.

OON GA /
The spirit of contradiction and DIS
sent seems to be in some persons the
life of their lives. They have hardly
patience to hear before they contradict
or to understand n proposition before
they express their denial. TheSe
marked and obtrusive people are disa-
preeable, or, when not positively dis
agreeable, amusing. Everybody-in-
Guiding the equally pugnactous-is
ready to condemn the habitual dis
infant as a nuisance. But when we
look a little closer at the matter, it
will probably be conceded that these
prominent combatants do not W
their significance to the fact that they
have characters different in essentials
from other people. They differ only
in degree. 1t is human nature to dis
pute and thus: to establish ones own
identity. Schools in politics, in science,
in theology, in everything about which
men dispute, are kept alive, not so
much by the defense of principles rs
by the assertion Of the individuality,
the natural prominence which many
able men give to the personal prononn
/. Every man, to n greater or less
degree, whether he is conscious or not,
regards himself as the representative
of the opinions Of the party to which
he Is attached. He is battling, not
SO much for principles, however he
may delude himself into thinking so,
as for himself. Mere distractions never
spurred anybody to dispute. fla mar
struggles for air, it Is that he may
breathe ; for, except for breath and
life, air would be to him tho lOast OF
airy trifles. If a man wrestles with
words, and disputes about theories 1t
is not the abstract truth that lie is
arguing for. That might be proved.
d~isproved, recorded or forgotten, and
the most earnest advocate or opponent
would DO profoundly indifferent, if 1t
were not that the mind Is struggling
for lite and development, as the body
does for bodily aliment. 1t is the ~"
supreme in every human being and
overshadowing all other "Ts," that
gives confidence to assertion and CO.
gency to argument. And when II
happens that actual bread and butter
depend, or seem to depend upon the
issue of Il dispute. then the ordinary
human being Is o dosmatie than
ever. Theirs are men to be sure, the
exaggerated specimens OF contradic-
ton, who sacrifice all things tangible
to q verbal triumph, and forfeit all the
desirable things of life to the victory
in an argument. They battle COLI
stantly with all the world and rejoice
in self-estimated triumphs, which more
practical men regard rs defeats. Their
victories have the one feature of defeat
for which no nominal success can cont
p~emsatc. They arc left poor anu
pluckcd, and weary-stripped by con-
t~ention when they might have clad
themselves by the mere concession that
other people have some right tc
thoughts aud opinions rs we'll rs them
selves. No force In mechanics or IN
metaphysics which cannot be used fol
evil can be used for good. Power Il
power, and Is good or evil, according
to the method in which it is employed,
and the extent to which it Is pushed,
The spirit of egotism is the primal
force in all human progress ; and to
the fact that man is Il contrary" ami
NAL, he owes his elevation. While
eager disputes so on in the subjects
which concern human interests, those
interests will be enlarged and pro-
NOTED. StaSnation is inevitably retro
erosion and decay. The life OF Il free
government is in free thought and its
free expression, and tile careful thinker
never "despairs of the republic"
Neither does he doubt the ultimate
triumph of truth in science, soundness
In morals, and solvency in business.
What men will not do for principle,
they will do for selilshncss; and, rs
the right is always the best and the
safest, 1t can never be entirely lost
sight of. So, common sense and calm
philosophy can quietly look oil and
confidently hope, though, from the
jars aud contentious in the world, it
might seem that chaos is coming again.