The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1880-12-18
SELECT LITERATURE.
WEAK PEOPLE.
Men of Vacillating and Troublesome Cha
acters-Lack of Moral Stamina.

dividual. the weak man. lie has no or
ganic disease, and yet his life is perpet
ual apology, owing to nerves which refuse
to bear any strain, and general liability
to succumh most vcxatiously lust whel
he needs to be stronger than usual Yot
| reserve for him in your private box &;
place which some other friend would
much appreciate, and when the perform
| ances is hall over you receive hurried
message announcing his indisposition anC
offering regrets; you take him for a triI
| i'll your yacht, which has scarcely begun
to bound ,ioyously over the waves, whel
he turns pale and assures you that he
| can never return alive. He is ont with
your party for day in tile country, ant
good enough! to throw you al! into con.
sternat;on and delay by having a faintins
fit from ovcr-eXertion. In a vehicle he
cannot sit with his back to the horses: il
railway train he gets far away from
over the wheels, since. apart from the
danger, he declares that they shake the
life out OF him.
He comes to dine with you. and op.
presses the whole company by an oSten,
tatious failure of appetite: you respond
TO one of his invitations and find hin!
under the weather. taciturn, almost sui
len and uncompanionable. If the weak
man be a public character and some duty
calls for an unusual display of his talents
it is not improbable that at the last mo-
ment he will be the victim of a sudden
ailment, by whic!! his performance may
be rendered worse than commonplace.
| do not reflect upon those whose life is
prolonged and heroic struggle against
some definite organic disease, and who
do good work in spite of it. My illus
tration is drawn only from the weak man.
be his weakness real or imaginary. Speak
as kindly to him as we may. he is a most
provoking individual. For does not weak
ness in his eyes justify failure suspension
of rules and the breaking of engage
mentso
1t is not. however. of the man who is
physically weak that wish to speak at
length but rather of the moral weaken
ing-of him who fails in volition as
another fails in bodily resistance. lie is
free from such diseased passions as envy,
jealousy, revenge. brutality or conscious
sellislness. Ills only ailment is want
of tone in character. His will power
needs perpetual bracing for purposes Of
action or resistance, as the physical weak
lings need nervines. Yet, although not
vicious, his weakness makes him fool to
himself, a pest to many and a constant
grief to those who know and love him
best.
Let us glance at some of the phases
and results of this defect. Notice the
weak mans opinions and feelings. how
unaccountably they change OF wane His
first religious belief, perhaps is Protes-
tant orthodoxy; suddenly he swings over
to Romanism; then reacts to materialism:
advancing on this, he next confesses to
utter skepticism; and it is not impossible
that he will finally be Jealous worker
in the Salvation Army. In politics, the
leaders Of each party recognize him as
one of the lost sheep. The most con-
flcting social theories have been adopted
and abandoned by him in rapid success
sion. His thoughts live to-day in ''cloud-
capped towers and gorgeous palaces to-
morrow they will seek subtcrranean dun
geons. Nor can his nearest friend dis
cover by what logical process these
changes come about.
In matters of feeling his weakness is
sometimes nothing less than criminal.
Take his conjugal affections, for instance.
After liking various members of the
other sex. he processes to have found one
whom he can love. His demonstrations
amount to proof of infatuation. Poems
and presents, eloquent expression of a
ilSdll liisie IL ltl S'HS. dit Ict NdHteu III
this case. lie has found felicity indeed.
When he becomes familiar with his new
possession and the fever abates. he be-
gins to notice that the faces Of other
women look fairer and their voices sound
more sweetly than he had supposed-not
that any thought of unfaithiulness enters
his mind. 1t would horlify him. He is
c0ntented and grateful for his own good
fortune. He is safe as long as he remains
near his spouse. But how does he bear
the test of absence when i'll health, bust
ness or new enterprises take him away
for awhile? The parting is agony, and
may well bring sympathetic tears even to
the eyes Of lockers on. "Write every
week. Nay. he will write every dav.
He reaches his far-olf destination. lie is
heartsick. She gush with which he fills
his too-long letters is as sincere as any
thing can well be. E!e long, however
the expression becomes less fevered. then
commonplace. then petulant and regret
full. Meantime the intervals of silence
have grown ominously longer At last.
letters written to him, though full of the
spirit Of constancy and devotion, fail to
elicit a response. To send them is like
dropping stones in the sea. No one has
sighted or injured him. On the contrary
the most tender thoughts and fervent
good wishes are directed always towards
the spot in which he is supposed to be-
To the waiting wife that spot. is the world
where her thoughts also live. Could her
tears become prisms, in which should be
reflected that iar-oif little world, what
would she heholda \ weak man, whose
faithfulness had waned. and who like
the base Judear. had thrown a pearl away
however. look beneath the surface, could
she read his heart. she would find that
this recreant felt little or no compunction
but rather by brief sophistry peculiar
to himself palliated his Inconsistency on
the same ground that physical weakling
may plead failure of engagement. viz.
that for the sake of his condition he
should not be held to the same accounta-
bilitv as other men. 4 criminal or heart
less offender he does not admit himself
to be. And we must in justice concede
that he did not mean to he either. lie is
a wretched being whose conduct depends
wholly upon his feelings. AS these wane
towards the absent one, his proof of duty
,.o,,o.. aud y;aIliur hv the same weak