Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1874-06-11
The Good Fellow.
DR.. J. c. Holland, in scribners for June.

ever mistrusts his goodness, or real
ICES how selfish, how weak, how I'M
priIcipled, and how bad fellow he
really is He never regards the con-
sequences of his acts as they relate
to others, especially those of his
family friends. Little fits of gener-
osity towards them are supposed to
atone for all his misdeeds, while he
inflicts upon them the disgrace, in
conveniences, and burdens which at
tend selishly dissolute life. The
invitation of friend, the taunts of
good natured boon companions, the
temptations of jolly fellowship, these
are enough to overcome all his scru-
Piles, if he has any scruples, and lead
him to ignore all the possible results
to those who love him best, and who
must care for him in sickness and all
the unhappy phases of hi, selfish
life.
The Good Fellow is VIGOROUSLY
careless of his family. Any outside
friend can lead him whithersoever he
will-into debauchery, idleness, vag-
abondage. He can ask favor and
it is done. He can invite him into
disgrace and be goes. He can direct
him into job of dirty work, and he
straightway undertakes it. He can
tempt him into any indulgence
which may suit his vicious whims,
and, regardless of wife, mother, sis
ter, who may be shortened in their
resources so as iegitlmately % claim
his protecting Undergraduates of
honorable father and brother,-he
will spend his money, waste his time,
and make himself subject of con-
slant and painful anxiety, or an un-
mitigated nuisance to those alone
who care straw for him. What
pay does he receive for his shameful
sacrifice The honor of being con-
sidered Good Fellow" with set
of men who would not spend cent
for him if they should see him starv-
ing, and who would laugh over his
calamities. When he diesin the ditch,
as he is most likely to die, they
breathe sigh over the swill they
drink, and say, latter all, he was a
Good Fellow"
The feature of Good Fellows's
case which makes it we'll nigh hope
less, is that he thinks he is a Good
Fellow. He thinks that his pliable
disposition, his readiness to do other
Good Fellows a service, and his Jolly
ways, atone for all his faults. His
love of praise is fed by his compan-
ions, and thus his selfcomplacency is
nursed. Quite unaware that his
sacrifice OF honor, and the homer and
peace of his family, for the sake of
outside praise is the offspring of the
most heartless selishness, quite una
ware that his disregard of the inter
ests and feelings of those who are
bound to him by the closest ties of
blood, is the demonstration of his
utterly unprincipled character; be
carries an unrufled, or jovial front,
while hearts bleed or break around
him. Of all the scamps society
knows, the tratlitionable good fellow
is the most despicable. A man who
for the sake of his own selfish de-
lights, or the sake of the praise of
careless or unprincipled friends,
makes his home scene Of anxiety
and torture, and disgraces all who
are associated with him in his home
life, is, whether he know it or not,
brute. If a man cannot be loyal to
his home and to those who love him,
then be cannot be loyal to anything
that is good. There is something
mean beyond description in any man
who cares more for anything in this
world than the honor, the confidence,
and love of his family. There is
something radically wrong in such a
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 BIN. The traditional good fellow
is bad fellow from the top of his
head to the sole of his foot. He is
as weak as a baby, vain as a pea
cock, selfish as q pig, and as unprin-
cipled as a thief. lie has not one
redeemabie trait upon which q reas-
enable 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" 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
dutyl A man with whom the ap-
proving smile of a wife, or mother,
or sister, does not weigh more than |
o thousand crazy braves of boon
companions, is just no man at all.