Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1872-03-26

who never dares 10 be and 10 appear himself
who distrusis his own qualifications SO
much that he Is always anxious to present
himself in the garb of some one eise' ne
has at the very hottom his heart so pro,
found contempt for himself, his own soSlai
position, and his own proper character, INA.
he cannot venture to meet the eyes OF MS
fellow men save under the disguise OF as
sumed character, habits, ways, assoeiatlons.
Jones, the drysalter, has so loWly an
opinion OF drytalting, and OF himseli as
professor OF that craft, that he cannot en-
dure that Brown, the grocer, should ifraslhe
that he, Jones, on the occasion OF his excur-
sion up the river on Sunday, was In ine
company only Of drysalters ana gr0ceIs
like themselves. He must needs taik louu-
ly OF Captain Schwarizbein and Sir SPAWN
Hedger as having been members OF 'ns
company on that festive occasion. Anu
Jones, whom no amount Of native vulganlY
nor even any wants of probity in his dry-
sailing transactions, would have 1ustihed US
10 taxing with snobbery proper, stanos con-
fessed proper snob
1t is needless to multiply such case5, as,
OF course, might be done to inhnily. Ihe
diagnosis of true snobbery may be conslu-
cred to have been made sufficiently clear
or at least, in the language OF parliamentary
craftsmen, Of what shall be held 10 De snoD
berry for the purposes Of this article.
Well, then, is snobbery, thus defined,
British speciality? II will hardly be doubt.
ed by those who, like Ulysses, have known
| the manueTs aud cities of many nations,
that Il must be admitted to be 30.
And now let us see what this phenomenon
means, considered as an outcome and mani
| feslalion of national character
1t is remark as old as preachments about
tho golden mean, and ''meslo tutIssmns
i6is, =" that every vice is but the excess oil
virtue. Tue lai!ings, the iollies, The mean.
nesses Of men are but the seamy side ot
qualities often lovable, sometlms3 nob'e.
Now, is not this snObbery so much reViled,
so ridiculous always, so hateful sometimes
In truth the seamy side, the excess oil ten
dency 10 look up TO, 10 admire, to reverence
something OF somebody as better, greater
grander, or more beautiful than ourselvesl
Tie simple, genuine, Independent minded
man, estimating himself, his posluoni his
worth, at thir true value, neither more nor
less, will never be snob. Truel But
never will the man whose selfconcelt and
vanity are such as to make 1t impossible ior
him TO admire another more than himself.
Ridiculous, odi0us he may be In twenty
ways, bat he will never be 4 genuine snob.
Now, does this idea of the true quality
and genesis tally with other easily recogni
sable specialiIies Of English chaIacteiT
Surely ii does SO tally. Surely II is true
that we are q people prone to .look up TO an
ideal nobler than that which we considered
10 be incarcerated in out indyidualiIies-a
people capable of and with tendency to
reverence. That we are specially so will
not be doubted by those who are well ac-
quanled with tine ldosyncrlsies of their ma.
| tions-partlculerly those OF the 30 called
Laun race. The pestileulially false notion
that tho true dignity of human nature is.pro-
NOTED by the universal acceptance OF the
/ doctrine that every man Is equal 10 his tel-
| low has never found cnngenial soil on this
| island. But il must be remembered that
there are two ways In which this idea is apt
TO present itself TO minds Incapable ol rev
erence. It Is not only a habit OF mind to
think that, as has been phrased, every man
is as good as another and betlerl But the
thought often presents itself that every man
is as bad as every olher-and worsel Phases
of national character would not be far to
seek in which Que OF the most strongly mar.
ked and prominent characteristics is an In
capacity for reverence-an ever present ten-
dency, not tl exalt, to look up TO and 10 ad-
mire, but TO pull down, TO deny aud 10 de-
preeiate-a tendency, not to such belief in
excellence OF any kind as would compel the
believer IN q 10 erl il 20 he ha'ier fhar - -