Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1872-06-13
THE RUTLAND HERALD.
Power of Prejudice.

the nina formed without que eAanlnd-
ton. The word is commonly used in an
unfavorable sense to denote proposes
ion against thing or person. The power
of prejudice is manifested in various
ways. 1t is almost universal From its
influence very few, perhaps none, are
entirely free.
Every considerate person desires to
avoid prejudice, he would judge impair
tally, decide correctly in matters of
opinion and behave with propriety to
all men. But no candid man viii ven
ture to pronounce himself wholly free
from prejudice. 1t rules in the ordinary
mind, it clings to the intelligent and
cautious
There are prejudices resulting from
education prejudices emanating in
our stations in life, in the society we
keep, the conversation we hear, and the
books we read. There are national pre-
JUDGES, provincial and sectional preju-
dices, and there are professional preju-
dices The English peasantry look up
on their neighbors of France as so many
horse-eating boosters while even the
polite Partisan regards John Bull as a
seH-suflicient blockhead. The sailor
deems a landsman but half man and
landsmen regard awkwardness, profane-
ness and prohigacy as characteristics of a
sailor Yet these several notions are ali
mere preiudices. Some men look with
contempt upon all that should be deemed
venerable for its antiquity, while others
are startled by whatever is new and con-
siler everything different from what
prevailed in the times of their fathers,
as an alarming innovation.
Thus prevailing among men of all
ranks and conditions, in all professions,
in every country, and in every age, pre-
JUDGE cannot but exert a powerful inf1u-
eAence on human society, for it is easily
and imperceptibly imbibed. 1t glides
into our minds in childhood, it springs
up like rank weed in the field of our
sweetest, best affections. That to which
from childhood we have beer Gccust0m-
cd and which, W, have loved. becomes
inpsrceptibly the standard of our judg-
ment for the becoming, the good, the
beautiful, the wise and the true and
we condemn almost unconsciously that
which to us is strange, as if it were
therefore necessarily uncouth, displeas-
ing or unwise Whatever the tenets we
hold or the system we may have adopted
in philosophy, religion or politics, against
contrary system, some degree of pre-
judice gradually creeps into the mind
the operation of which it is very difficult
to counterfeit. Let any one but watch
the movements of his own mind as he is
listening to arguments advanced in sup
port of opinions contrary to his own and
he will need no clearer evidence of the
fact that imperceptihly to himself,
prejudices have occupied his mind.
Who has not observed preposessions,
favorable or otherwise, that have sprung
up in his mind almost from the first mo-
ment of his introduction to a stranger.
There is often a something in the air,
the manner, the tenor of conversation,
the very tones of voice or the glance of
the eye, that, even in the first interview
predisposes us to judge fayorably or pos
sibly, awakens feeling of mistrust or
aversion. This first impression goes far
to determine our settled opinion of the
man, his sentiments and his reasonings,
so easily and imperceptibly do prejudi-
ces insinuate themselves into our feel
ings, coloring our whole being.
Prejudice once formed, is tenacious
of its hold, and gains strength with adj
yancing time. An impression which is
recent, it is not difficult to counteract
and overcome but let that impression
remain on the mind for some time, and
it beromes fixed and ineradicable. The
tender seeding just sproutiug from the
soil may be easily extracted, but when
it has stood for years. and is beheld tow
ering in md-heayen hardy tree, it
withstands the fiercest onsets of the
tempest, firm as the rocks through whose
deep clefts it has thrust its rugged roots.
In like manner an opinion long enter
tanned through prejudice though it may
be, has become connected by associa-
ton, with so many feelings and with so
many other opinions on which doubt
cannot rest, that it is at length rooted
and grounded, as in the very texture of
the soul; and to assail it seems to its
holder like attempting to shake the
foundations of everything certain and
everything sacred. His interests, his
passions and the deepest sensibilities of
his heart, are often closely connected
with the opinions man holds, and even
with the prejudices he entertains. Hence
the incomparatively greater difficulty of
producing conviction in the mind Of one
in advanced years, beyond that of con-
vincing one in youth. 1t is an easy
matter to alter the directions of the
mountain rill; if you only strike near
the source of the streamlet; but if you
wait until it has passed away from the
mountains and rolled far down through
deep valleys and over rich plains till il
mas Deen enlarged anu uccpcHcu ny Hun
dreds of tributary streams, the task OF
scooping out a new channel, and turn.
ing effectually the course of the broad
deep and rapid river becomes imprac-
ticable. So also does prejudice grow
with our growth and strengthen with
our strength, and become clearly more
difficult of mastery.
VERMONT ON THE NATIONAL COMMIT
TEE We are glad to notice that DR.
George Nichols, of Mortified, one Of
the delegates from this district, has beer
honored with the appointment as The
member of the Republican Nationa
Committee from Vermont. This is {
deserved compliment to an earnest
hn rvil