The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1882-09-09
FIDGETY PEOPLE.

perpetual motion of the fidgety man
/ suggests a previous stage of existence,
before the process OF evolution had
changed his ancestral weasel or cavy in
TO the prevailing human likeness.
We say fidgety man advisedly, obser-
walton showing that men are far more
given to fidseting than women. Ner-
vous persons are by no means neoessari-
ly tidgety, while idgCty persons have
been heard 10 declare that they had no
nerves. Your true fidget can not keep
still save when asleep. \ novel, fYr in
stance, may seem 10 capture his con-
sciousneas completely. Presently fin
ser will escape captivity and begin to
scratch the book-coyer, a hand will steal
cut Of bondage to play fantastic tricks
with the paper-knife, a leg VII .wfns it.
self, or foot Wa; IA. It's slipper.
AT table the iidgety person upscts the
spoons. wreaks his rcstlcssness upon the
salt, and with rapkin-lings and forks
displays miSdivected Constructive powers.
|" BE r4rlof he iistUrbs the sequence Of
yo"r Argument by twisting pp small
curls of paper to fire a Tho CRATE. Or he
walks up aud ;loUn The room. avoiding
certain figures of The carpet, as DR..
johnson used TO avoid the cracks in the
sidewalk. Or he SUCCESSFULLY balances
in his hand all the small movab!es Oh
book Cases or shelves. There are both
| monotony and variety i'll his incessant
movement, aad each is more exasperat-
ing than the other.
We admit the existence and even the
general distrbution of the tidgoty wo
man. But we maintain that she is less
perradinG, less Obtrusivc, and less :ia"-
rant than the male of the soeoses. Per
llaps it Is because girls are taught from
infancy to conceal their feelings, per-
l.i.s because they are more punctilions
in forms OF behavior, perhaps because
their hands are Schouled 10 all sorts Of
graceful uses, that they can usually /" sit
straight and still, as children are told
to do by way of penanee.
We have 10 douht that crochet-hook
! ana worsted-needle are powerful conduc-
tors TO carry off that superhuons element
whatever it may be, which otherwise
di!fuses itself in mere senseless motion.
But any dentist or doctor will bear wit
ness that women endure pain with lar
:;.ITS fortitudo than men, far oftener
keeping down all expression of suffering,
keeps their hands folded and their feet
quiet when the impulse TO fidget has
quite overpow2led the weaker will Of
G..a.
Nay, there is no doubt that the habit
of tidgeting exhibited by their lords and
masters is one OF the sevsTest minor trials
which the 'pat;;ant Grizzlies" undergo.
Mora. turptude is nothing to it. To Sit
by, day after day, evening after evening.
and make no sign, when tie man whom
one has swora to love, honor aud obey
t!,ri. b.es the smoOthnCSs ofthe magazines,
dog hears the corners Of the books, stirs
up strife among the various tribes that
inhabit the work basket, spins the scis-
sors around his index finger fifty times
in succession. IS 10 DO martyr by
the pang without the palm. But the
man who is capable of fidgeting is in
capable of reformation. and the wise wife
refrains from useless admonition. Things
without remedy should 10 without re-
gard.
There is, however. sort of m0Yai-
tidgetness. and in this oiienso woman are
usually more deeply STEPPED than men.
Sometimes, though not always, physical
restlessness is the outward and visible
sign of moral business. BIZ. the latter
vice always puts Oh die form of Il virtue.
1t NAY masquerade as the spirit of punct-
ualitY. \ seven o'clock breakfast being
the midwinter rule, the mistress Of the
house. candle in hand, will poke about
at six, hinderins the cook. disturbing the
precious last nap of her spouse; if hot
profano herself, becoming the melting
cause Of profanity that is in others, and
all That a haif-prepared meal may be
half served twenty minutes before it is
needed in the sacred name Of prompt
ness. \ witty writer used TO declare
that if he were sentenced to be hanged
at ten, his wife would louse him at five,
ii you don't make haste, you will be too
late" Aud that excellent lady was but
one Of a large sisterhood.
Sometimes the female fidget finds her
housekeeping sufficient instrument of
torture I. o or three people invited to
dinner make her life an intOlerable bur-
den. If anything should go wrong, if the
roast should be overdone or the fish raw,
size feels that she could never look her
guests in the face again. Visitors stay
ing in the house are a still heavier cross,
possibilities of domestic failure being in
definitely multiplied. Presently the
pleasant habit OF hospitality fails alto
gether CHE husband thinking it not
worth the perpetual fret it COSTS, and all
the family are the losers.
Perhaps the most wearing manifesto
tiou Of moral ii,,cetiness is exhibited by
the iidgety mother From the first cold
of her first baby TO the last headache OF
her last betrothed son under the pattern
al roof, she has seen the grim spectre
of death lurking in the background. She
can not bear to give her boys guns, or
let them join Il gymnasium. or allow
them boats, o. even permit skating over
deep water, for fear of fatal consequence
and restricted. lest they should be slain
by the touch OF the north wind. She is
never happy when the children are out
OF her sight, and, as a consequence, they
are seldom happy when i'll it. She
iiGgcts about their dress, their studies,
their amusemcnts. their companions,
their lovers. their husbands and wives.
their housekeeping, their babies, If she
| has not tidgetcd herself into the grave
before the arrival Of the second genera
item of anxietes. If the young people
are expected home after an absence, arj
tail to appear on the instant, she peoples
til. air with horrors: ;hc train' is oil She
trick, the steamer has. brau wrecked. the
no SEES have run away, the children are
| i'll. they are hurt: they are dead II war