Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-07-31
HUMANITY.
How IL Develops Itself on the Chick
estIBg study for Philosophers.

AMON IL CNGAOHH AAnEAA On -
asaW BIun-A Cartons Yet Inter
estiBg study for Philosophers.
II you want TO examine human nature
in chunks you can do SO by visiting the
marque or fly on the bluff, kept by that
good old man, George Thompson, who
permits the weary or romantic citizen to
occupy a hickorybottomed chair for FIVE
cents. The good old man Thompson,
who is no beauty and who possesses the
toughest exterior and manner, has beeh
a student OF human nature, and knows
full well that it is necessary to demand
the five cents Of humanity ere humanity
plants itself as a fixture upon a chair.
Humanity has cheek, has a brass foundry
in its face quite often. Humanity lies
quite freely and attempts to defraud
whenever convenient, or accomplish the
ruin of its kind whenever possible, be
cause in many social phases humanity is
O wild beast, possessing the lowest in
stincts and most degraded appetite. Hu
manity will, in its development, work out
good or evil. 1t is that peculiar nature
of man by which he is distinguished
from all other animals. 1t makes a man
a saint or a criminal, a worker Of good
or the destroyer OF virtue, honor and
decency.
Out on the bluff, where the good old
man Thompson has pitched his tepee on
grounds conveyed to the United States
for custom-house purposes, humanity
develops itself IN other lights, Chairs
are scattered all around and a specimen
Of male humanity sinks intoone Of them
Right in front Of the man hangs a sign
" Chairs Five Cents" which sign be
stares at until he has mastered its occuli
meaning. When old man Thou psor
asks him for FIVE cents he looks up and
stares as if some news Of overwhelming
Importance had been conveyed to him
and asks airily, What for2' For oc'
cupying a chair" responds Thompson
Humanity rises slowly, smiles sarcasti
cally, looks around and quietly sneak
off as 1901 as possible. That specimen
9 Of humanity is known as the "deal
: beat.
! Scores Of men, badly and well dressed
do this thing. They pretend to believ
that the chairs we're placed on the blu
by some genius or t%utelary deity havin
their special comfort in charge, an
without charge. 1t would astonish an
Que to see the number Of men who Ell
deavor to beat good old man Thorn
son out Of a nickel. The old man hi
discovered that human nature, no ma
ter how we'll clothed, won't do TO trus
I, 80 be asks for the nickel when the pc
son takes a chair, and we advise him
- keep that system up il he ever wishes
become a millionaire.
Thompson says that even women e
deavor to evsde the payment OF d
nickel. One will pretend that she d
u not know who put the chairs on the blu
ID or for what purpose they we're plae
3, there. Another will say, snappishly,
never pay five cents for sitting down
"a aud will jump up as quickly as if a hr
dred pound she'll had exploded under t
chair, and so on through the list
chronic and professional innate dee
beats of both sexes.
On To the philosopher all this presents
od most interesting yet melancholy stud
Il. 1t shows up humanity in chunks benea
ha a brilliant light but not ina brillia
manner. That specimen OF humani
=. that void stoop to swindle a fellc
10 mortal out of a nickel, what would be
=. if he had a chance at the funds oil
- bankP Both he and the funds wor
disappear like the baselesS fabric OF
vision, leaving not a track behind