New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-06-02
him hereafter. When Sypher u called, some
other statesman will answer.
I" ROHEMTANISM.1


When a man of letters wants money, raj
ment, roof, and something to eat and to drink.
and feels that he lacks all these and even the
hope of them, because Of his own egregious
folly he finds but little consolation In the
prospect of handsome monument, and or
many mortuary nOtices-ten lines each Oh
"agate closer-in the newspapers. Your true
lax-liying writer would prefer cash payment
His unwise ways, which leave him something
of his taste, his talent, his dexterity, his mis-
cellaneous abilities, reduce almost to nothing
his love of appreciation, his self-respect, and
his desire for posthumous remembrance. lie
likes his cellar, his chat over the beers, his
pipe, and reasonable certainty Of bed and
breakfast Responsibility, which is the lead
ing idea of monument, irritatcs one who Is
in bad repute with sober people, as they usu-
ally are with him. Steady study no is incapa-
BILE of; and so he is of persistent work;
but he can at a pinch, and under the
spur of an empty stomach and pocket,
crowd great deal Of study and
general toll into few hours. One who has
sometimes plenty of money, and during long
intervals none at all, grows imprOvident out
of the very uncertainty of his income, until at
last, though opportunity should present. he can
no longer take kindly to fixed financial ways.
Sensitive possibly to the last degree, he uses
no precaution against words and deeds which
are sure to wound him sharply. He accepts the
character of o man who cannot get along.
Fools grid, proper people chide, old friends
look askance, doors are shut in his face loans are
refused, the beer shop closes his account.
l. Ii hut bo oh
streets, up and down which he walks may be,
ut midnight, and is not very unhappy, think
ing of poets and philosophers, recalling scraps
Of verse and anecdOte, dreaming of youth and
lost love, and the dead; or of the shore, the
meadow. the grove, and the hill which his
childhood knew. 10 Cleanly livers he is
mystery-to all manner Of church members,
and merchants, and men OF family. Those
who read his few things in newspaper or mag
azne would be astOnished at his figure. lie
isn't in the least nice, and he cannot be.
Yet if the world were just, it would give
him at least So 30 week as a moral example.
There are sermons in his shabbiness and
shiftessness, and warnings in his wants. and in
the woeful end which surely awaits him. Lads
with love of literature who fancy that it
Savage and Chatterton and DermOdy, had
better think twenty times before they rush
into any such folly. For, in the first place, II
there were no material points to be considered,
beginners should take heed of the waste OF.
ability which the sO-called Bohemian life brings
with it. They will not find it pleasant at the
end of loose and unbridled career to reflect
that they might have done much and have done
so little-a few verses, tale or so, farce,
"a few Jokes in the comic newspapers, and q
miscellany of pen and ink stuff forgotten III
the reading. OF course, their light perform
ances have creditable elements-brilliancy,
perhaps, humOr, good feeling, suspicion OF
high and honorable aspiration. 1t is generous,
doubtless, for writer to put his best into his
public writing, and to reserve his worst for
his own daily life and conversation; but such
liberality comes to no good at last. Bad
habits take away the power OF good work.
Without their constant cOmpaniOnship, man
forgets what is in the books. Exigcncy VIII
make him tolerant of his own hasty faults,
and unmindful of the duty of doing his best
for the mere sake of doing it, Sensual pleas
ures will render the finest hand coarse In
time. "He who drinks beer" said DR.. John
son. "thinks beer :" and the stronger the
beer. the smaller tho thought, may be
added Moreover, want OF method
will make results fragmentary and
quality unequal, while the waste of pre-
cious time and the unimproved "once" OF
opportunity, will crown the disaster OF an i'll
spent life. Then will come mems pity, harder
to bear than their reproaches; the sting OF
conscience; the sense of failure; want, NOR
tfcation, the extreme of discomfort, and at
last death and the grave, with the under
takers bill paid by the charitable and mOnu-
ment raised by subscription Young gentle
men still in Liber PrimuS, this is the brilliant
Bohemianism of which You sometimes pleas
antly dream Our advice to you is to have
nothing to do with it. Love literature as
much as you please, but cultivate habit OF
paying your debts, of saving your money, OF
improving your time, of keeping sober and OF
wearing clean shirts There is MT writer
living by his wits in this great city, who will
not in his serious moments, tell you that this
is good counsel. He may repeat it to you over
the mug of beer which you are to pay for,
warning you to do as he breaches and not as
he practices. Then he will drink the beer and
wait for you to offer him a cigar.
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1t was great many years ago that the story was