American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-04-26
The Grumbler, Sketched by q rem
Artist.

THE "rumbler-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 forestall or
appease him might better be at work in
Augean stables, because, after all, we must
admit that the facts of life are OH 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 misbehave; 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. l have won
dered whether the haPpiest mortal could
point to one single moment and say, AT
that moment there was nothing In my HE
which / would have had changed"
think not.
In argument, therefore, the grumbler
has the best of it. 1t is more than proba-
BILE that things are as he says. But why
saw it2 Why make four miseries out OF
three2 If the three be already unbearable,
so much the worse. If lie is uncomforta-
able, it is pity; we are sorry, put we can't
change the course of nature we snail
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
is on him-are just as unpleasant to every
body as to him.
Suppose every one did as he does. I'M
lgine, for instance, course OF grulhpiG
rom ten people at Il breakfast tabie-ail
,aying at once or immediately after each
,ther. This coffee is not fit to drink"
Really. the attendance at this house is in
ufferably poor" | have sometimes WISH
ID to try this homeopathic treatment IN u
rad case of grumblc. 1t seems as IL IL
night work a cure. If you lose your tenn
,er with the grumbler, and turn upon
i'm, saying, ooh, DO not spoil all our
pleasure Do make the best of things, or
t least, keep quiet!" You do not, sure
Y, suppose think you are responsible Tor
!, do yUup" with lofty air of astoniah-
lcnt at your unreasonable constituencies.
Of course, we do suppose he thinks we
re to blame; we do not take him to be a
Dol as well as "A grumbler. But he speaks
us, at us before us, about the cause Oh MS
iscomfort, whatever it may be, precisely
5 he would if we were to blame; and that
the one thing which makes his grum-
ling so insufferabIe But this he never
m be made to see. And the worst of it
that grumblng is contagious. If we
We with him, we shall, sooner or later,
| spite of our dislike for his ways, fall
ITO them. There is no help for this;
ave seen it again and again. L have
lught it myself One grumbler in Il tam
V is as pestilent thing as diseased an
nal in herd; if he is not shut up or
HID tho bnrI iS Lost