The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-03-17

as if it were impossible for him to have
any dealings with such customer. OF
course the poor old man was crazy, and
those who knew him humored and pitied
him.
But how many people are there in
these days crazy after the same fashion,
without being aware of it themselves or
suspected of it by their neighbors! The
small tradesman carrying on business in
some by-lane calls himself merchant,
his shop an emporium, his back kitchen
warehouse, and his cellar depot;
the bricklayer or carpenter is a con-
tractor; the hairdresser is a professor;
the wlgmaker is an artist in hair; and
the mlkman purveyor; while the
dress-maker presides over the mysteries
OF her art in a mdgGSin deS modes. The
same spirit shows itself here and there
among all classes. In answer to an adver-
tisement for Disqualification Gladly
superior" offers herself; and if mis-
tress is wanted for an infant-school, APP
pllcatlons are made, not always gram
matically expressed, for the post of
governess." A father brings his
daughter to the house of lady who
has been inquiring for a housemaid.
She wears an imitation fur jacket, imi-
tatlon gold earrings and an imitation
chlgnon, or plat, made of cotton or
hemp by some new patent process of
this imitation age, with curious bunch
OF gauze, feathers, ribbons, grapes
and flowers hung on behind by way of u
bonnet; her hands are incased in Law
enfer-colored kid gloves, and she car
.4& light parasol in her hand, though
the day be overcast, and an umbrella
would be much more to the purpose
She makes an imitation bow when the
mistress of the house enters the room;
and her father, who is proud of her APP
pearance and manners, introduces her
with the appropriate words: "This is
the young lady, maam, as is open to an
engagement for your situation" The
owner of the house, who has no inten-
ton of resigning her situation, but only
wants house-maid, declines the appli-
ton.
There are pretensions of worse kind
than this. A well-educated youth, for
instance, leaves school and is placed in an
office or under articles, with view to his
future profession. His fellow-clerks or
fellow-students appear to him by their
costumes and conversation to be great
swells." He does not wish to be
thought inferior to them, and very soon
learns to initiate their style and adopt
their manners. He hears them talking
largely of their parentage, of their ,ex-
PLOTS and eXtravaganCes; and he wishes
to be thought as rich, as gay and as
reckless as the best Tor worst of them.
If they smoke, he must do the same; if
they drink, he will drink with them; if
they behave like heathens and talk dis
gracefully and vilely, he affects to adj
mire their conduct and to enjoy their
conversation. All this may at first be
very much against his better instincts,
but he fears to be ridiculed; and, in a
word, would rather be accepted for
what he is not, and ought not to be,
than be esteemed for what he is.
Every kind of pretenseis bad To pre-
tend ~ he better than we are is hypoc-
risy; "etend to be greater than we
are ~ and folly; but to pretend
to b ran we are, for the sake of
win ing . with those whose favor is
not worth having, is at once the worst
and sIllest pretense of all. Whatever a
mans position or calling may be, if it be
a thing to be ashamed of, let him aban-
don it; but if it be not wrong or dis
graceful in itself, let him never be
ashamed of it.-Sunday at Home