The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1872-09-05
THE WAY TO BEAR UNJUST CRIT
ICISM.
"Swear not at all, since by thy curse
Thine enemy is none the worse
BY e. s. NADAL.

Clough thus wittily paraphrases the
third commandment This consideration,
if not the highest, is at least very sem
sible one. Not only is your enemy none
the worse, but you yourself are none the
better. You are certainly letting him
get TOO much the best of you, when be-
sides being unable to revenge the injuries
you have received at his hands, you con
sign yourself of ysur own volition to
pucgatory of hate and pain. Your enemy,
far apart, does not hear your bitter curses
and imprecations; if he did, perhaps
they would afford him much pleasure.
When we think of how great this uni
verse is, of how many things there are to
look at, and think about, What folly it
seems that man should converge his
whole attention upon single enemy sole
~ that he may make himself miserable !!
But it is easy enough to demonstrate on
paper the folly of any passion. Reason
is the preservative element in man; pas
siou the destructive. And it is famil-
lar thing for people to prefer destruction,
though their copy-books told them in
childhood, and they themselves very well
know that they are choosing the worst
part. know one man who has two
moods SO dissimilar that they seem to be
tenants alternately occupying the frame
Of his body. One is a spirit lovable, gen.
tie and human the other, mean, envious,
bitterly vindictive, despicabie. And so
distinct are these two spirits that when
one comes IN the other seems to move out.
The countenance which at one time in
vites and pleases becomes sinister, the
eyes are like loop holes of perdition, his
spirit seems to lubricate and saturate it.
self with some liquid like the sweat of
vampires wing. confess to feeling #
disappointment often in visiting menage-
ries. I wonder that the corrugations in
the countenancs Of Bengal tiger, when
"poked up" by his keeper, express so lit
tie In the face of no angry animal will
you see the same intensity OF rage, the
same odious accuracy as in the counte-
nance of an enraged man Or woman. My
acquaintance knew full we'll the impol-
icy of all his RACES. II every imprecation
had sent soul to perdition one fails to
see what advantage it would have been
to him. AS it was, however, not a man
that ever heard him curse was one whit
the worse for it, while he succeeded eff
fectually in turning a spirit amia51e and
companionable into one bitter, vindictiye
and unlovely. AS all men who fail il
character do, he preferred the destructive
element in his nature for his guide an6
ruler. Swift's bitterness and misaNthro
by was of an exactly similar kind. Il
was not the result of any conclusions o
bis intellect; it existed directly in spite
of these What augmented his bitterne
was the sense that he had of his own vo
lition chosen the worse part. But Ill
! treatment had supplanted reason by rage
1t became necessity of his nature t.
concentrate his VISION upon the evil an(
the ,ansightly. What was ugly s&n(
Emean in life canae to have toI him re
pellant hut irresistible fascination
: He know that Celia loved her brothe
and loved her sweetheart, bat he coult
not for the life of him keep his eyes OF
i: the pimples on her face. 81
Meu who woald think it weak to re
pine or lose their self control unde
= sickness OF, any accidental reverse fee
: themselves at liberty to angrily resen
!. and quarrel with injustice. They foi
a get that injustice is one Of the ineVitabl
s human ills, just like earthquake or pes
j thence. They should expect it, take
). into account and make room for it, w
d see it is very unwise to meet it bitterl
or to allow ourselves to be diverted from
3: other aims to make business OF pun
Ii fishing our prosecutors. But as am no,
d looking at the question from what al
j. good people would agree to call inierie
or ground. / wish to inquire what is tn
or most polite method of behavior whe
" uniustly accused? Especially, what
Of the best way to meet the particular acc'
sation. ,,r.s.a .-r ~,.
n ''Who excuses himself accuses himself"
I'll . .
,o the French, say A wise man once sal
. to me Never explain" Another wi
! man put down in his note, book, "Nev
= sorry not to have written" or, in 9th
.. words, that he had often made fool
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