National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-02-16
WatinuaI &epnbIifam.
AAKIyG EACH OTHER afLSERABLS.

AAKIYG EACH O14ER MISERABLE.
CIIenry Ward Beecher.I
As If there were not troubles enough I'm this
world that come upon men without human de-
sign, people set themselves to work to diminish
happiness and to increase misery. Phrcnolo-
gfsts tell us that there is in man an organ and
faculty Of destructiveness-that, when un-
regulated, It inspires cruelty; that it is the root
OF that horrible pleasure which the old Romano
nad' and their modern descendants still have,
In numerous gladiatorial shows, contests of
wild beasts, bullfghts, &C..
1ut there runs through modern civilized
society vein Of the same quality People who
would faint to zee Q g,lsh of blood, and who
think themselves Christians, have q lively en-
j0yment in witnessing pain, and cultivate thu
art of INJECTING 1t. The mention of q few of
the methods employed will make good my re-
marks:
The delight with which many report bad
news, the eagerness with which they report to
people evil sayings which cannot but lacerate
the feelings, show . morbid love Of suffering.
This is not the trait of villain0us natures. It
exists in people ofreal kindness Of disposition.
1t Is not anomalous, because it Is 30 widely ex-
tended as to seem normal.
Some people scatter pain producing elements
thoughtlessly, and are surprised and sorry
suSy WITNESS tuC buuSAh8 PAoNuSCu.
others do it for momentary pleasure, without
meaning any serious results. But now and
then we lind persons who love to torment .
vietm. They enjoy another's su6erings. 1t
Is their happiness to see some one made keenly
miserable BY their lance-like tongue. tThey
VIII smile, and talk IN low, sweet tones, and
shoot out qufvering sentences, oisoned-tipped,
and cast look sideways to see If they strike,
and at every sign of pain their face grows
bright.
In part this Is . latent ambition. People
thus assert their power over others. It raises
one In his own estimation to perceive that he
can control the moods of another.
Of the love of suffering. It il seen in the ig-
noble, but universal art of teasing.
We zee It in Its most unregulated form among
children, who nip and pinch each other, make
up mouths, twitch each others clothes, run of
with toys, push and "joggle," point with in
sulting fingers, and in . hundred ingenious
ways strive to make each other miserable. As
they grow up 1t often happens that young peO-
pie carry on q campaign Of teasing, each one
vieing with another which shall be the sharpest.
1t does not cease with youth. Grown folks,
go0d-natured, kind hearted, weIl-mesning and
full Of benevOlence, often show this perverse
spirit In the midst of all their kindness. By
sharp speech, by yelled sarcasm, by exciting
curiosity which they will not crafty, by mar
rating pretended facts, by sinister complaints,
by rallying one when circumstances forbid q
reply, by equivocal praise, by blunt telling OF
some truth that had been better LEFT unsaid,
and by hundreds of ingenious ways which time
would fail to tell, people infiict pain upon each
other.
Those who in the main are striving to make
| friends happy will have one black thread in
| the web of white. Those who really love each
other have q strange fondness for stirring each
other up.
There is an innocent and even pleasure-pr
ducing method of rallying which, if deity and
gracefully done, heightens the enjoyment Of
society. One may touch discord If it lspses
into true chord. Sometimes, when We have
good news to tell, we are bewitched with de-
sire to open the matter, Us if it were . great
trouble that we were about to break. There is
a gentle badinage, an innocent arrow shooting,
which datters and charms. But life is full Of
the other sort. If Darwin is right in thinking
that men ascended from monads by gradual
evolution, then II is very certain that some men
came up by the way of the mosquito, the flea
and the biting fly, and that their ancestral traits
still linger in the blood.