Smyrna times., 1876-03-01
Offensive People.

good man and good fellow. A good man
we'll, he is nothing but a good man,
while good fellow may be almost any
thing. He may be picturesquely bad; he
may swear in a hearty, goodnatured, in
offensive way; he may neglect to pay
his honest debts he may be amiably loose
in the finer moralities; he may have a
spree occasionally, but he remains through
it all good fellow. OF course he is a good
fellow. Isn't he jolly? Isn't he free with
all the money he can either earn or bor-
row? Do not the women take to him in a
wonderful way? There's certain dash Of
sin or weakness in him which gives him a
human flavor. The good man, on the con
trary, is not only uninteresting, but he is
absolutely offensive. Of course good man
is white-blooded.' He has no tempta-
tions, otherwise he would not be good. He
pays his debts: he never gets drunk; he
obeys the golden rule; he does not cOvet
his neighbor's wife; and he goes about
Haunting his disgusting perfections in the
face of world that knows itself to be not
SO good. OF course, he indulges himself in
some private vice i'll compensation for his
voluntary deprivations. Of course he does !;
but a good man is offensive whether we
suspect him of being a hypocrite or not.
A man who is good is not a man at all.
| lie might as well be a piece of putty.
His purity is incapacity; his honesty is
simplicity; his sobriety is economy; his
cquanimity is lack of spirit. Away with
him What a stupid, wretched world this
would be if it were filed entirely with good
men! What right has a man to be better
than his neighbors?
There is another class Of men who are
very offensve-namely, the successful.
What greater insult can be offered to the
world of unsuccessful men than to succeed,
/" in their very faces and eyes in field in
which they have miserably failed? There
is an idea abroad that it is a good thing to
succeed-to succeed in winning money in a
legitimate way, in achieving a good reputa-
ton, in acquiring social distinction. This
it grand mistake. To succeed is to make
oneself offensive to nine people out of every
ten in the community. A man has only tC
rise in order to excite the jealousy of those
who are above him, and the envy of those
who are around or beneath him. We car
conceive Of nothing more offensive to tn,
average mind than a personal success
Why, successful man is brighter than W,
are! or he has compassed his success il
, some illegitimate way What right had h,
to succeed where we failed? His success is
reproach to us. Therefore let us cheaper
him and his success in all possible ways
Let us demean and dirty ourselves to an,
extent to accomplish this end. Let u
Z charge him with sordidness, meanness
trickery-anything to punish him 70
leaving the fraternity of disappointment
and misfortune. And if misfortune shoul,
ever come to him-but that is too sweet t
think of! The case with which we recon
; cile ourselves to the misfortunes of other
affords us one of the prOudest aspects c
human nature. We are so friendly to tn
: fallen! And we knew he would be oblige
to come down!
If to be a good and successful man
:, offensive to the world at large, to be praise
: is exasperating. No greater unkindnes
can be done to any man than praise hil
much. People. generally will stand
>, moderate compliment paid to a neighbO
while they are left to qualify it, or to adm
: it as a matter of generosity or courtesy
) but praise persisted in will ruin the reput
: ton of anybody. There is nothing MOI
offensive to the average human being tina
: persistent laudation bestowed upon anothe
J. To hear man warmly praised is sufficiel
= usually to make us hate him; and it is on
= necessary to have the praise repeated ofte
:. enough to make us desire to shoot hin
Praise is one of the articles we would lii
-. to have distributed little-not that v
:, want it, but the object of it is not the be
. man-if we know ourselves. Virtue is
good thing, temperance is a good thin
! genius is not bad thing altogether, but l
!. man is to be mentioned so many as t.
- times as having either of them in possessiC
- without making his name a. stencil and ;
offense to the nostrils of a sensitive worl
The true way of getting along well in Il
world is not to make ones self offensive
ne ones friends by excellence of character al
:" habits of life, by success, or by doing an
or thing praiseworthy. Let us strike Il
ho average as nearly as possible. Let us
ey good fellows rather. than good men, al
las choke the first man who dares to ascribe
Vi us single virtue. Let us all keep dov
It's and out of sight. All that we do for ol
ne selves, and all that we do for mankind, on
ne feeds hell with slanderers, and so betra
u" the baseness of human nature that we m
hg we'll blush to think that we are members
los the human race.-Dr. Holland.
=, A Troy man has been trying to kill r;
;. with bread covered with arsenic. T
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