The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1873-05-28
Appearances.

uiS Il d luIuE, Us Relt US DuSN
age. Mankind are all more or les;
playing comedies. Indeed. there is
as much to laugh at as to cry about
if We will only be observant. See
the ludicrous efforts that men, wo
men and children are constantly max
ing to keep mp. what we will style
for: short, appearances. The rich
aping nobility, and the poor affecting
riches. The learned assuming in.
fallibtlity. and the ignorant. learning.
| Age exhausting itself in the arts OF
the toilet, and youth assuming the
airs and consequence Of maturity
in short, all struggling, shifting,
strutting to appear, not what they
are, but what they would like for
others to think they were. Yes all
this is ludicrous, however much we
may moralize on the evil, and to IL
lustrate further we might ramble
around amid society's varied circles,
among the professions and with
officials, and even among the churches
gathering facts as we go, to prove
human nature somewhat a humbug.
Now there is the deacon with his
solemn, Sunday prayer-meeting coun-
tenance, driving harsh bargain with
some poor devil whom he prays
for every Sunday. Then there's the
lawyer, apparently as innocent of
| preyarication as an infant, encourage
ing his client to $50 in lemons"
Then the Judge, with awful justice
gushing from the very pores of his
stern set face, while his pocket is
full of free passes" bonds and
other trifing things. Then the pub
lie official who actually weeps over
the wrongs of the people, who loses
sleep thinking how to promote the
felicity of the dear people-while
at the same time he is slyly but vir-
tuously helping himself to the dear
peoples money. Then there's the
christian statesman church lead
ers, temperance saints, young mems
christian association models slipping
quietly into Credit Mobilier swim
dies and Congressional salary grabs.
Then there's NJ. DIS looking as sol
emn as owls over a rich patient
struck down with "ennui'' and then
laughing jolly, light laugh over a
poor fellow knocked up with typhoid
fever. Then there's the lady who
goes to church in new silk, looks
solemn and attentive, while at the
same time she's thinking haven't
astOnished the natives?' and goes
home to discuss with her piously-
raised daughters the dresses, bon
nets, &c, &c, seen at church. Then
there is the devout christian that
can't go to preaching unless dressed
as costly as others, and another
whose nose is celestially tossed as
she sweeps into the house of God
past some plainly dressed, pale.
pinched-faced sister. Thus, vainly
endeavoring to deceive ones self
and imagining that the rest of the
world are deceived. Thus. full of
industrious!y cultivated sclf-conceit,
one assumes that all mankind are
profoundly impressed with ones i'm
measurable Importance. Thus in
fated with wealth, boasting of pedi-
grees and red blood, one affects to
be ignorant of the source, and com
fortably takes it for granted that
ones neighbors are also. In short,
knowing that ones self is. to a great
extent. an unmitigated humbug. the
sweet flattery is INDUCED. that every
body else is ignorant of that fact
And thus the world plays at the
child's game Of ''make-believe' and
offers truth as a sacrifice upon the
altar of appearances" However,
all is vanity, for each individual
actor or actress upon the worlds
stage, knows that every other one is
painted and strutting in borrowed !
fnery. and that nobody else is de
ceived, as a rule. but the unsophis-
ticated part of the audience and the
children.