Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1881-12-21
tut I1H NtTIHOuI W NJ
The COmmOnalty.

Are you acquainted with Mrs. Would-be
No? Well, / am, and much interested in
the acquaintance. Shei tall, thin, fair-faced,
blue-eyed, shall l say red-haired ? hardly
dare to, yet by what other name could it be
designated 2 She has quiet, hushed man
ner, soft, well.modulated voice, pleasing
though not beautiful exterior, peculiar,
shy way of addressing you, as if voice, face,
body, all were protesting against such famil-
iarity and mutely begging your pardon.
of the past, pension, and piano. can
vouch for all this. Have l not heard her
tell tales of horror, in that quiet voice, that
have aroused whirlpools Of emotion in my
own turbulent bosom 2 Have l not signed
her pension2 and Occupying the chamber
directly below her own, which is the first
fight 'front.' ought to be able to affirm the
existence of that piano which is constan
accompaniment of my meals, meditations,
dreams, etc. She has few scholars in mu-
sic, but few, and occupies most of her
spare time in unsparing attempts to evoke
sounds harmonious from the keyboard,
while her voice scars mid-air, seeking those
notes which continually evade her grasp.
Mrs. Would-be is in need of larger in
come to make both ends meet gracefully.
She seeks employment-suffers for lack of
it,-but it must be genteel. While she
deigns to associate somewhat with her
neighbor across the all-dress-maker--she
marvels, in her quiet way, that she oiu sew
for Irish customers. She would not. What
would she do, pray2 Lst Bridget go naked
or (evil equally dreadfuD go less fashion
ably dressed than her mistress All, Biddy,
your money is vulgar. You are one of the
commonalty. Stand aside.
Miss Somebody has far more assurance
than Mrs. Would-be. Young, gifted, bril-
liant, with certain risk -all-fear-notivenes
sne has pushed ner way, not 10 the top OF
the social ladder, but round or two above
its bottom. OF this fact she is fully aware,
and entertains profound respect for Miss
Somebody. She is none of your common
alty-perish the thought though no doubt
her girltoes peered up at her girl-face
through genteel shoe-holes in childhood's s
days. But what has that to do with to-dsyP
Miss Somebody kept a school once and had
the honor of teaching A B C's to the son of
future president How vain she was
how she plumed herself on this fact Why
not, pray? Had she not decided, on open,
ing the school, that not a common child
should be among its members Lucky for
the president that his son, not himself
sought the honor of her teachings. He was
one of the commonalty. Alas, how small
we felt, we who heard her boastings-we be
ing ourselves offspring Of the commonalty
how we felt to congratulate the great men
departed, the self-made men, who, from the
deepest depths of obscurity fought theil
way to the highest honors a people could
offer them-the Lincolns and Garfields Of
history-that their births had occurred be
fore the days when Miss Somebody's schoo
was inaugurated, since they must have for
feited the benefits Of her exalted scholarship
belonging, as they did, to the commonalty.
o, so-called republican Americans We
know of rarely-gifted, skillful physician
largesouled, royalhearted, with the bearing
of king, but one not educated according
to established rules, who has patients drawn
to him by the force of his ability, who ye
visit him, Nicodemus-like, at night, leaving
their carriages around the square befor'
| nrataptinua No dan th.
good man laughs in his sleeve at those who's,
great fear is not so much contact with, a
reputation Of associating with, the common
atty. We can all recall instances like these
Even our preachers of the gospel are afrait
to welcome too cordially to their ranks th'
plebian ministers summoned from forg,
and workshop by Gods voice, wondering i
men whose brains were not developed afte
the same pattern as their own, can work sue
cessfully, forgetting that through heart pri
vations and furnace-purgings lies the roat
TO real power, and Gods approval stamp
their doings Enthusiastically.
Alas for the manhood of the so-calle,
man who fails to recognize the divine imag
because the clay In which It's cast Is com
mon To such the words of our Lord t.
Peter may well apply "What God hatl
cleansed, that call not thou common" Tn
most common things of life are those mos
precious. Search and see if this is not so.
Hail, royal commonaltyl Christ partool
] of thy nature, and ever up to the surface
, from thy rugged heart, struggles som
; glimpse of his Earth and its utmost
!, heaven and its innermost, is thine Com
, mon salvation through common Saviour
, to common man, crowns commonalty