The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-12-09
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PhiladslPhia Ledger
We heard man, otherwise intelligent
enough, lately nesr at another, because
Said he, zone never meets him in respect.
able society" The speaker did not mean,
however, that the person he affected to look
down upon was immoral, but merely thai
his circle OF intimates was not composed Of
the fashionable and rich.
This notion Of what constitutes respecta-
bic society Is quite q taVorite one with that
class Of indiyidualaWho Thackeray has so
significantly called ''snobs,n Empty pre-
tense always makes its own characteristics
q standard by which 1t strives to measure
the respectability Of persons at large, In q
community Of mere money getters wealth
Is the test OF respectability. Among the
proud, narrow.minded, etfete nobility Of
the Fauberg st. Germain respectability de-
ponds upon being descendants from an
cestors who have married their cousins for
so many centuries that neither muscles or
brains are left any longer to degenerate
descendants, With the dandy officers who
constitute q considerable portion Of the
American navy responsibility consists in
having sponged on "UnCle Sam" In wear
ing gilt buttons, and jilting tailors, Every
cOnceited fool thinks himself In like way
the only man really weighty, the only per-
son who Is respectable.
But true respectability depends on no
such adventitious circumstances. To be
respectable is 10 be worthy OF respect, and
he deserves respect who has most virtue.
The humblest man who bn vely does his
duty is more worthy OF respect, Is more
truly respectable, than the covetous mil
lionaire among his money bags, or the
arrogant monarch upon his throne,
Tie fine lady who baCkbites her neigh
Dor Is less worthy Of respect than an hon.
est washwoman, The proAigate noble,
though he may wear dozen orders, Is
often not really as respectable as the shoe
black who cleans boots, That which Eek,
ats the world" exalts the one and despises
the other, but 1t does not make them re.
spectacle according to the real meaning Of
that word, Their respectability Is but a
hollow sham, as they themselves frequent
ly feel, and those who worship them bow
down TO Fetish, thing Of feathers and
tinsel, The selfish, idle drone, who wastes
his life In his own qualification, and dissi.
pates the fortune Of hts progeny, Is not and
cannot be respectable, but the hard-work,
Ing. Beitdenying father, who wears out his
life to bring up his children, Is, even
though he be but day.laborer, Nothing
can make Dives fit to live upon Abraham's
bosom, while Lazarus Is welcomed there,
even with the sores the dogs have licked.
This false view Of life, which would
measure responsibility by a conventional
standard, is totally at variance with our
Republican institutions. II creates an "im.
nerium in imperio," for while the law dc.
clares all citizens equal 1t erects a social
standard which endeavoB to ignore the
great truth. Tho coarse, BRITISH, knayish
proaigate, criminal in short, all who fall
short Of their duty 10 themselves and their
fellow men-are those who are not respec-
table; and this whether they are rich or
poor. While those who live honestly, and
Strive to do what they can, constitute In
reality the respectable class, irrespective Of
the fact whether they eat with silver forks
or steel ones,