Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1875-07-08

informant was devoted, unselisi, faith.
full, and threw in his lot with you to
his own manifest disadvantage. For
this is the meaning of those blatant
boastings wherein the man who tells
Jon to your face what has been said be-
hind your back, takes credit to him.
self for the way in which he defended
/ Again, amethod Of annoyance well
known to polite rufiianism ID that
covert kind Of attack on your friends
which leaves nd dor open for de-
Tense, yet has all the evil effects of
assault. Every charlottesville belong-
ing to them is mentioned, perhaps com.
Passionatefye your polite ruffians often
affect compassion in their speech-as
if it was voluntary evil which little
moral force and high minded percep-
ton would have cured. Thus, consti-
tutional delicacy is spoken of with n
kind of shuddering blame, as you would
speak of criminal mania, or of crime
without the mania. Personal misfor-
tunes are set down as faults of man
agement, of temper, of principle, which
it is such pity, you know, they have
ividenced-but what can You say P
There the fact is, and no one can change
it Their wealth is marveled at as
extraordinary-the marvel meaning,
"Was it come by honestly z" and their
mode of expenditure is sneered at as
vulgar if their appointments are costly
and their entertainments magnificent,
as mean if they are simple. Are they
poor? Then their poverty is the ira
ditional crime; and it might be thought
that a mans merits had no other scale
Of measurement than his means, to
hear these polite rutfians talk of those
friends Of yours who are known TO be
in bad circumstances, and who ought,
they say with emphasis, to have done
so much better. You defend your alb
sent friends, and assert THAR good man
aEement but their bad fortune;. the po-
lite rufiian looks incredulous: "Con-
duct is fate" he says, with that dam
aging force of only half truth; land
had your friend been wise"-he puts it
mildly YOU see, he will not say correct,
honest, or any anything else involving
the moral blame he feels-''these mis-
fortunes would not have happened, and
all would have gone we'll" Here again
What can you say! ) man has the right
to his opinion; and that opinion happens
to be adverse to.folks of your acquain-
lance, be has the right still.
artists are subject to.a special form
OF ruffianism. Under cover Of discus
sing your work with you, these smilingS
polite assassins who go about the
world like moral Mohawks, social ga
rotters disguised as refined and civilized
persons. open their fire on you with ef-
feet. They begin by protesting their
admiration, they end by not leaving
YOU one shred of merit Your picture,
which was introduced as full of charm
ing harmonies" and sweet suggestive
ness" leaves their hands reduced to a
sickly daub wherein neither tone nor
treatment, subject nor art, was true
Wheuy you put together all the objections
made and faults found, you wonder ON
what pins point of excellence was based
the opening generality of praise which
heralded all these details of conIem-
nation. 1t is pins point so small that
no searching of yours can discover it !.
So with your book-your literary work
in the mass. Your power is uudoubt-
ed, your standing beyond question:: but
YOUR first. middle, and last productions
are all failures, and if ANYTHING you
YOU have done deserves praise it is that
thing which is your tiimsiest and weak
est bit of all. and to which YOU were
sorry 10 have to atiix your name. There
is no field in which polite rutfanism
disports itself more ut its ease than on
the field of creative art; and were each
brain worker to detail his experiences,
it would make a strange collection Of
iusolence on the one hand, and of suf-
fering on the other, such as the unini-
tiatcd would be amazed to find possible
as passing from so-called gentle-folks
TO their equals. In fact, we want n
deeper kind of civilization than the
one We have vet. civilization that shall
90 all through. not lie only on the sur
face. The first best Gentleman that
ever lived has left us a few precepts
which would help that wsv if we We're
so disposeu; and we should find that
society which respected the feelings of
its members not only in externals, but
in reality, would be nearer 10 the Di-
vine Life than one which allows polite
rufhanism to exist unchecked in its
midst.