Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-04-24
The Grumbler, Sketched by "A Pen.
Artist.

THE grumbler-oh, who can describe
him? There is no language which can do
justice to him-no supernatural foresight
which can predict where his next thrust
will fall, from what unexpected corner he
Will send his next arrow. Like death, he
has all seasons for his own; his ingenuity
Is Internal. Whoever tries to fOrestal or
appease him might better be at work in
Augean stables, because, after all we must
admit that the facts of life are on his
side
1t is not intended that we shall be very
comfortable. There is a terrible amount
of local depravity in animate and mani
mate things. From morning till night
there is not an hour without its cross to
| carry. The weather thwarts US; servants,
landlords, drivers, washer-women, and
bosom friends misbchaye; clothes don't
fit; teeth ache stomachs get out Of order :;
newspapers are stupid, and children make
too much noise. If there are not big
troubles, there are little ones If they are
not in sight, they are hiding. have Won
dered whether the happiest mortal could
point to one single moment and say, cat
that moment therap,as nothing in my life
which | would have had changed" |
think not
In argument, therefore, the grumbler
has the best Of it. 1t is more than prOba-
bic that things are as he says. But why
say 1t? Why make four miseries out of
three? If the three be already unbearable,
so much the worse. If he is uncomforta-
able it is pity; we are sorry, but we can't
change the course Of nature. We shall
soon have our own little turn of torments,
and we do not want to be worn out before
it comes by having listened to his; proba-
bly,, too, the very things Of which he COM
plains are pressing just as heavily on us
a. on hlm-are just as unpleasant to every
body as to him.
Suppose every one did as he does. I'm
aglne, for instance, a course of grumbe
from ten people at a breakfast tablc-all
saying at once, or Immediately after each
other This coffee is not fit to drink"
"Rcally, the attendance at this house is in
sutlerably poor" | have sometimes wish
ed to try this homeopathic treatment in a
bad case of grumble. 1t seems as if it
might work a cure. If YOU lose your tenn
per with the grumbler, and turn upon
him, saying, "Oh, do not spoil all our
pleasure. Do make the best Of things, or
at least, keep quictm You do not, sure
ly suppose think you are responsible for
it, do you:' with a lofty air of astOni1h-
ment at your unreasonable sensitivcness
OF course, we do suppose he thinks we
are 10 blame; we do not take him to be a
fool as we'll as a grumbler. But he speaks
to us, at Us, before Us, about the cause Ofhis
discomfort, whatever it may be, precisely
as he would if we were to blame; and that
IS the one thing which makes his grum-
bling so insuff,erable. But this he never
can be made to see And the worst Of it
is that grumbling is contagious. If we
live with him, We shall, sooner or later,
in spite of our dislike for his ways, fall
into them. There is no help for this;
have seen it again and again. | have
caught it myself. One grumblcr in a fam
lily is as pestilent a thing as a diseased an
imal in a herd; if he is not shut up or
killed the herd is lost.