The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1880-04-29
IN. Y. independent
The QvarrelSOme Temper.

Is this quarre1sOme world? There
certainly is, always has been, and, un-
til the Millennium comes. always will
be a great deal Of quarreling in the
world. One, looking exclusively at a
certain phase of human nature, might
easily come to the conclusion that the
chief end of man is to fight. Some
animals are carniyorous by instinct
and physical organization. They are
equipped by Nature for this purpose.
Other animals must die that they may
live. Not many men are actual can
nibals, killing and eating each other;
yet the belligerent passion that makes
one the enemy Of another, turns soci-
ETY. into a quasi military camp, and
fills communities and nations with
multitudinous forms of hostilities, is
as real and conspicuous among men as
the instinct Of the tiger for his prey.
Men certainly do bite and devour each
other on frightful scale. The most
dangerous animal in this world is the
human animal. Mad dogs are bad
enough; yet mad men are far worse.
Nations have been either actually
quarreling with each other or holding
themselves in constant readiness to do
so ever since nations had being; and
one of the most difficult problems of
the philanthropist and the Christian
statesman is to keep them at peace.
The nations of Europe to-day have
standing army of more than three
millions Of trained fighters, supported
at an annual cost of more than five
hundred millions Of dollars. Cabinets
and diplomats back up their counsels
with ironclads. Kings. out Of humor
with each other, launch huge armies
into deadly conflict and waste the
treasure of the people in the royal
luxury. The Czar Of Russia and the
Sultan of Turkey, in order to agree,
must first test the fighting power of
their respective armies. England for
time watched the struggle with
seeming indifference; but at length
her blood began to boil, and she must
have hand in settling the pending
hostility or she would fight for it. A
congress of nations is soon to be con-
vened at Baden-Baden. to see if they
can agree not to fight over the So
called Eastern question We talk, by
a figure of speech, about ''the family
of nations" 1t certainly is very
quarrelsome family, and has been
through all time Civilization, even
among the most favored and cultivat-
ed parts of the world, must take very
long strides before, as it respects ma
tions, "the lion and the lamb will lie
down together The day has not yet
come when the lion has lost his ten
dency to eat up the lamb"
Nor is the spectacle at all improved
if, turning to individuals, we think
simply of their aggres' ions upon and
resistance to each other, excluding
from the contemplation those social
affections, amenities. charities, and
services that sweeten life, abate its ills,
and make men happy. What vast
amount of ill-feeling, evil-speaking,
and evil-doing to each other human
beings manage to crowd into their
history, in making the journey from
the cradle to the grave! There is a
family at loggerheads, and home be-
comes a pandemonium. Here is a
church, in which Christ is said to rule;
yet alas! the members behave as if
/ Christianity itself were a treatise on
the art of quarreling. Two neighbors
differ in opinion as to some matter
mutually affecting them and before
they get through with it they come to
hard words and perhaps hard blows,
and possibly the law may be compelled
to give its attention to both of them.
One man insults another, and the lat
ter knocks him down to pay for it.