Smyrna times., 1873-04-16
The Grunbler.

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 tall-from what unsupported
corner he will send his next arrow. Like death,
he has all seasons for his own; his ingenuity Is
Internal. Whoever tries to tOrestall 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 q
terrible amount of total depravity in animate
and inanimate things. From morning till night
there is not an hour without its cross to carry
| The weather thwarts US; servants, landlords,
drivers, washerwomen and bosom friends mis-
behave; clothes don 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, ''At that mo-
ment there was nothing in my life which /
would have changed" | think not. In argu-
ment, therefore, the grumbler has the best of
it. 1t is no more than probable that things are
as he says. But why say it? Why make four
miseries out of three? If the three be already
unbearable, so much the worse. If he is
uncomfortable, it is pity; we are sorry, but
we cant 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 II
{ comes by having listened to his. Probably
too the very things Of which he complains arc
pressing just as heavily on US as on him-art
i Just as unpleasant to everybody as to him
Z Suppose everybody did as he does Imagine
y for instance, q chorus of grumble from tel
. people at breakfast table, all saying at once
or Immediately after each other, This coffee
g not Gt to drink. Really the attendance il
L this house is insufierably poor" have some
y :. times wished 10 Try this homeopathic treat
y ment in bad case of grumble. Ii sounds as
u it might work cure. If you lose your tempe
y with the grumbler, and turn upon him sue
III denly, saying, "Oh do not spoil all our plea
I; sure Do make the best Of things; or,
~ % least, keep quiet" then how aggrieved he il
how ust he thinks you are to make a pc
"' sonal matter Of i'll"
{, You do not, surely, suppose | think yC
o are responsible for it, do your he says, VII
~, hu a lofty air of astonishmcnt at your unreasonab
nc sensitivenesS. OF course, we do not snppo
hu he thinks we are 10 blame; we do not take hi
nlH TO be a fool as well as a grumbler. But
Dn. speaks TO rs, at us. before us, about the eau
aS' of his discomfort, whstever it may be, precise
elS as he would if we were TO blame; and that
IN one thing which makes his grumbling so
u sufferable. But this he can never be made
: sce And the worst of it is that grumbling
contagious If we live with him, we sh;
sooner or later, in spite of our dislike of
ways, fall into them. There is no help for h
have seen it again and again. Ihave eaus
it myself One grumbler in family is as p
teu tilent thing as diseased animal in herd
@ @eo he is not shut up or killed, the herd is lost
tue Grace Greenwood.