New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-04-25
TIE UNEASY MN.

THE UNEASY MN
Mentally and morally considered the Uneasy
Man is a sample of compressed yeast. He, his
family and his club are perpetuallyina feTment
and he is the bit Of leaven ut the bottom. He
begins life usually as big-eyed, fretful baby
and speedily develops into a prodigy. His
enormous power Of imitation and absorption
enables him to receive and reproduce the lam
guage and even the thoughts of his elders; he
is the precocious boy whose smart sayings de-
light the dinncr-tabIe or who holds the head of
his class by dat of parrot-like repetition Of
countless ideas, not one Of which he understands.
Sometimes, when his imitativeness and selt-as-
sertion range exceptionally high, he bazes for
brief period before the public as an Infant Poet,
Boy Preacher or Master Barry on the stage. But
when he reaches maturity he astOnishes his family
and the world by suddenly sinking INTO insignih-
cance The fact is, that he is the same, but his
audience Judge him by other rules. The poem
or sermon or mimcry which was wonderful in
the lad, shows but as piece Of commonplace
plagiarism In the man. His brain was mature
at twelve, and it is no Older at fifty. His
brother, tie slow, dull fellow who was at the
foot Of the class, takes different place in life.
His mind, however weak, Is q live, growing
power. It IS rooted somewhere, it produces its
own bud aud fruit, small perhaps, but full Of
actual color and flavor. The quOndam prodigy
in mind and character is more like mechanical
toy, a Kaleidoscope, than live plant. He is a
set of mirrors which reflect two or three bril-
liant ideas which he has borrowed from other
men, reflect them, too, in such vivid, beautiful
combinations that the world wonders, and
thinks him q great magician. Sometimes it il
not until he Is deal that another generation find
out that there was not particle Of vital original
power in the man. nothing but the trick of ex-
pertly making o show with few bits of shining
glass.
This reflective quality of his mind imposes
upon coarse grained people, and on nobody ap-
parently so much as himself. He would have
YOU believe that the bits Of glass are all flashes
of electric genius. He is apt to make himself
known in society as q TGcOnteur OF anecdotes of
famous people no has met, and Is coveted at
dinner-tables until everybody has heard and
tired of his half dozen stories. AS an artist, lie
is the most cOnceited Of his self-glorifying
class He is the most savage Of critics; the
most intOlerant of musicians. He Is the author
who patronizingly pulls his manuscript out of
his pocket and gives 1t to you to read as q
bonnie bOucte for your soul. He Is the man of
all others, in short, whose vanity is the most
aggressive and offensive. But the truth is, he
is never sure of himself; hence his uneasi-
ness, He thrusts his picture, book or social
talent brutally upon you simply because he
suspects you know it to be sham. 1t is his I'M
certainty as to the real value of his opinions or
his social standing that makes him fidgety-by
turns bitter cynic and fawning toady.
Himself the most uncomfortable of mortals, he
makes everybody else uncomfortable. He is
usually spare, sickly, emotiOnalj and rather
proud of his inability to control his emotions.
In fact, his nervous system carries him through
the world like O runaway horse its rider, only
he takes time to call out to everybody to look
at him. Indeed, his uneasiness almost wholly
arises from his fear that he will not be OBJ
served
II this creature happen to be a woman she
usually exaggerates the traits which belong to
her genus. Her intense self-appreCiatiOn makes
her Jealous She wears out her lover by doubts
and overweight sentimentalism. She would
keep her fat old husband posing on his knees
like Damon of sixteen. She will not believe
in any affection without perpetual protesta-
tons. She ID so thin-skinned that she inees-
sanity spies sights and snubs on every side.
She is 80 uncertain Of her social position that
she is always convincing you Of it by Boosting
Of the fine people whom she visits. She Is 80
insecure of any religious truth that she takes
her creed ready made from her favorite clergy
man, and airily dismisses the rest Of the world
to perdihoD. She says that her Jealousy and
irritability arise from -delicacy and sensitive
ness of nature, while they are In truth the out
growth of inordinate self-conceit.
With all these traits, it is inevitable that the
Uneasy Man or Woman should fill large
space in the worlds eye. They are, in fact, the
loudest and foremost figures in art in htera-
ture and in the churches. They arc the en-
pirics, the men who make Of nature shop full
of amaterial," the bigots who crowd true
genius and piety into the background. They
make up the bulk Of what is known as purely
fashionable society in every grade of life.
They wear an aggressive label testifying that
they have taken the grand prize in the Worlds