Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1872-02-23
The Spirit of Discomfort.

the man who would say, II am contented.
/ Go where you will, among the rich or tn
poor, the man Of competence or the NAL
who earns his bread by the sweat of hi
brow you hear the sound of muttering. thu
voice Of complaint.
The other day we saw cooper who wa:
playing merry tune with his adze rouno
his cask
"Ah," said he, "mine is a hard lot =
forever trotting like dog driving hoop y
..Higho!" sighed the blacksmith, on a
hot summer day, as he wiped the perspira.
ton from his brow, while the red iron
glowed on The anvil, this is life with ven.
geance, melting and frying ones self stiff
over fire."
''Oh that were carpenter" CALCULATED
a shoemaker, as be bent over his lapstone.
"Here I am day after day wearing my soul
away making soles for others, cooped up in
this little seven-by-nine room-hi no hum. "
''I'm sick of this outdoor work. exclaim-
ed the bricklayer, "boiling under swelrer-
ing sun, or exposed to the inclemency Of the
weather. wish was tailor"
This is too bad" perpetually cried the
tailor, to be compelled to sit perched up
here plying the needle all the time. Would
that mine were a more active life"
''Last day of grace-banks won't dis
count customers won't pay-what shall I
do? grumbles the merchant
II had rather be truck.horse, dog, or
any thing else"
"Happy fellows ' groans the lawyer,
as he scratched bis hesd over some dry,
musty record, "happy fellows, | had rather
hammer stone all day than puzzle my head
on this vexatious tedious question"
And through all the ramifcations Of socie-
ty, all are complaining of their condition.
finding fault with their calling. eff it
were this, or that, or the other, I should be
content" is the universal cry-'any thing
but what I am" So wags the world, SO
has it wagged, and SO will it wag.
Paternal Duty.
The father who plunges into business so
deeply that he has no leisure fer domestic
duties and pleasures, and whose only inter-
course with his children consists in brief
word of authority, or a surly lamentation
over their intolerable expensiveness, is
equally to be pitied and to be blamed
What right has he to devote to other pur-
suits the time which God has allotted to his
children Nor is it an excuse to say that
be cannot support his family in their pres
eut style of living without this effort. What
right can bis family demand to live in a
manner which requires him to neglect his
most solemn and important duties ? Nor is
it an excuse to say that he wishes to leave
them a competence. Is he under obliga-
tons to leave them that competence which
he desires? 1t is an advantage to be relieved
from the necessity of lanor7 Besides Is mon
ey the only desirable bequest which father
can leave to his children ? Surely, we'll Gull
tivated intellects; hearts sensible to domes-
tic affection the love of parents, and brcth-
rem, and sisters a taste for home pleasures;
habits of order, regularity and industry )
hatred of vice and vicious men, and lively
sensibility to their excellence Of virtue-are
as valuable a legacy as an inheritance of
property-simple proverty, purchased by
the loss of every habit which would render
that property blessing.