Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1875-07-24
RESP ECTABTLITY.

before UHere Will DE q pfOpdBdVes1 clan
of American gentlemen of leisure
At present, in our great cities, there
are many men Of wealth who do no
thing, but they are not yet cohesive
enough as a distinct feature of our
society to be singled out and adhere
together. In fact, we very sincerely
believe that the individuals Of this
kind are too much Impressed with
the cheerful, busting activity of the
average American, feel their singu-
larity in this respect too keenly and
too heartily dcspise the men of their
own following, to even get congenial
enough for class uses. A man, or say
the hundreds of men, in this country
who start ont in life with small i'm
come do sowith the desire and intent
to increase it /; many leave the nest
egg" intact, and breast the world at
first emfty handed, but by far the
greater majority take the patrimony,
or whatever form of acquisition it is,
right unto the market, and trade on
it nsome way or another. But our
cousins in the old, conservative coun-
tries, have quite a different style of
doing things, preferri,ag to call lazi-
ness, Incidence and ennui at sufiic-
lent income to cover expenses, re-
spectability, gentility and-save the
rark-nobility. Custom used to open
the gates of the army, navy and
church to the accommodating energies
of the day, but that custom has got
Unto disfavor, and the exclusive,
chivalric development ands employ
ment of time being denied them they
9sjest set around and do nothing,o
from day to year. Maybe that kind
of life is fulfillment of the grea6
idea of creation, and maybe it is not,
at all events we, in America, believe
work, thought, action to be the high
est good, and it will take long time
to eradicate so well established and
thoroughly proven an opinion.
OF course the possibilities of Anne
rican life, politically, commercially,
and socially, have much to do with
the restless activity of the people, land
our advantages being dissolved or
circlfmscribed, that small moneyed
class might get their elbows together
and march in the line of their proto-
types across seas; might come to
look on labor as low and mean, and
only accord the highest manhood to
men who do nothing to prove the pos
session of a single commendable at
tribute of humanity. 1t is surprising
how quick this train of thought leads
one to look about him for signs and
evidences of facts that will make the
speculation, an accomplishment
Only two sources of anxiety in that
direction are yet prominently appar-
ent; first, the inheritance of corpor-
alton or monopoly ease and revenue;
and, second, the aristocracy OF office,
which indicates that the one should
be rendered costly and the other re-
stricted. There is considerable crop
ping out of family pride, tendency
to get up Ancestral Trees and hawk
pedigrees about, but it is an almost
harmless indulgence, while it is a
fact, indisputable, that little re-
Elected glory goes great ways and
seldom hurts. Yet the experience of
America has demonstrated that ma
ny and many a man in an humble
walk of life, who could not indicate
his grandfather, has turned out to be
better, nobler and Of more use to
himself, his family, and his country,
than dozen descendants from the
Mayhower or Lord Baltimore gath
ering; or, as Erskine once said, ''bet-
ter than the Towards, with blood
enough TO inoculate half the king
DOM" Up to this date success, in
dustry and behaviour have been the
standards of American gentility and
for practical, everyday purposes they
are much preferable to the most an
cient of traditions, descents and in
heritances.