Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-06-18
The s. Good Fellow"


mistrusts his goodness, or realizes how
selfish, how weak, how unprincipled and
how bad fellow he truly is. He never
regards the consequences Of his acts as
they relate to others, and especially those
of his family friends. Little fits of gen
erosity toward them are supposed to
atone for all his Inisdeeds, while he in
flicts upon them the disgraces, the incon-
veniences and burdens which attend a
seltishly dissolute life. The invitation of
a friend, the taunts Of good-natured boon
companions, the temptations OF jolly fel-
lOwship, these are enough to overcome all
his Scruples, if he has any scruples, and
to lead him TO ignore all the possible re-
suits to those who love him best and who
must care for him in sickness and all the
unhappy phases Of his selfish life.
The Good Fellow is VIGOROUSLY careless
of his family. Any outside friend can
lead him whithersoever he will-intO de-
bauchery, idleness, vagabondage. He can
ask favor and it is done. He can invite
him into disgrace and he goes. He can
direct him into q job Of dirty work and
he straightwav undertakes it. He can
tempt him into any indulgence which
may suit his vicious Whims, and, regard
less of wife, mother, sister, who may be
shortened in their resources so as legiti-
mately to claim his protecting hand-re-
CARELESS of honorable father and brother
he will spend his money, waste his
time, and make himself a subject Of con-
slant and painful anxiety, or an unmiti-
gated nuisance, TO those alone who care a
straw for him. What pay does he receive
for this shameful sacrifice? The honor of
being considered a "GOOd Fellow" with
a set of men who would not spend cent
for him if they should see him starving,
and who would laugh over his calamities.
When he dies in the ditch, as he is most
likely to die, they breathe sigh over the
swill they drink, and say, LATTER all, he
was Good Fellow"
The feature of the Good Fellows case
which makes it well-nigh hopeless is,
that he thinks he is a Good Fellow. He
thinks that his pliable disposition, his
readiness to do other good fellows a serv-
ice, and his jolly ways atone for all his
faults His love Of praise is fed by his
companions, and thus his self-cOmpla-
cency is nursed. Quite unaware that his
good fellowship is the result of his weak
ness; quite unaware that his sacrifice of
honor, and the honor and peace OF his
family, for the sake Of outside praise, or
the OuSDI1Dg vi ZIG D1OSJ uCol IlSSS SCIl1S11
ness; quite unaware that his disregard OF
the interests and feelings of those who are
bound to him by the closest ties of blood
is the demonstration Of his utterly IN
principled character, he carries an I'M
ruff1ed or a jovial front, while hearts
| bleed or break around him. Of all the
scamps society knows, the traditional
good fellow is the most despicable. A
! man who for the sake of his own selfish
| delights, or the sake of the praise of care
less or unprincipled friends, makes his
home q scene Of anxiety and torture, and
| degrades and disgraces all who are
| associated with him in his home
! life, is, whether he knows it or
not, a brute If man cannot be loyal
to his home, and to those who love him,
then he cannot be loyal to anything that
| is good There is something mean be-
yOnd description in any man who cares
more for anything n this world than the
honor, the confidence and love Of his fam
| lily. There is something radically wrong
in SUCH man, and the quicker and the
more thoroughly he realizes it in humil-
iatiOn which bends him to the earth in
shame and confusion, the better for him.
The traditional good fellow is q bad fellow
from the crown of his head to the sole OF
his foot He is as weak as a baby, vain
as peacock, selfish as a pig and as IN
principled as thief. He has not one re-
deeming trait upon which reasonable
self-respect can be built and braced.
Give US the bad fellow, who stands by
his personal and family honor, who sticks
to his own, who does not "treat" his
friends while his home is in need of the
money he wastes, and who gives himself
no indulgence of good fellowship at the
expense of duty! A man with whom the
approving smile Of wife, or mother, or
sister does not weigh more than a thou
sand crazy braves of boon companions is
! Just no man at all-Dr. j. @. Holland, 5n
| ScrGbn6r'S for June