Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-03-25
MOTHER GoosE's COMMENTARIES

Solomon Grundy,
Born on Monday,
Christsned on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Sick on Thursday,
Worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday.
This was the end
OF Solomon Grundy.
When W. bear in 1iad the fact To at the mel
odies which We hav. under advisement (as
the lawyers say) were sri,t ten in the stmos-
shers OF Boston harbor, in a period when
men we're men, and nodded OF such ireH
stuff, and tired in such austere fashion, and
lived 10 such stern purposes, We are rather
puzzled to comprehend bow any man, under
such skies, could have achieved such tTi-
unph Of btrrsuress in his lifs's record as
Solomon Grundy is Shown TO have achieved,
which is another proof Of the utter folly OF
interpreting these specimens OF embtimed
wisdom verbatinl ct Gteratim. Mothsr Goose
wrote for all time and all peoples, and II ON
the crown OF her steeple hat TO the turned
up toes Of her long shoes, there WIS point
to everything appertaiuius TO her.
Solomon Grundy, therefore, is simply az
other Que OF those aliegoricsi figures which,
divestsd of all mystery, is = familiar every
day object in our IN dst.
If the larger proportion Of epits phs which
now set forth in ornste language with pain
full prolixity the long list of virtues accred-
tied, after dsalh, 10 many defunct modern
Solomon Grundy, were cut down 10 their
true proportions, it would be found inst be-
yond the passive feats Of being bern, being
christensd, being narrisd and being buried
he had left absolutely no record At all.
But all men do net have TO wait for the
publicity OF an epitaph fer the world 10 dis.
cover the utter emptiness OF their life record.
r -. hair lIstlAa5 Gait Thai
| meaHingls, stare, their obi,ctltss ways OF
spending their days, their superior content
with the fact that having bsen born on
| Monday, without any volition on their own
part, aud chris.ered on Tuesday without his
| wishes on that subject being consulted by
any one, ii i. Just highly probable that some
body will marry him on Wednesday, with
out putting him to much expense OF thought
or ex,rtfen, and it ID 60 doosedIy coMforta-
BILE, you know, to glide through the dsys
| without any call for Vulgar energy or doosed
racket What littls vitality the Solomon
| Gruudy's OF tots world are possessed Of
| comes 10 the surfsce On Wednesday, when be
| j, mildly startled 10 find that ne is sick, but
the rapid progress OF his illness culuinate
| in pbi!osophic apathy By Thursday, and on
Saturday he closes his eyes with tie placid
| conclusion that somebody will put him away
respectfully on Sunday, which is the fitting
end to life without effort, without OBJECT
without moral or mental achievement.
If such a frivolous offspring OF 3 frlvolou.
| aga could have existed In the days oi
| Mother Goo,e and Of Miles stIndish as the
modern mashsr, one might fancy that astute
dame taking him for her model Of empti-
ness and psrsonifyiDg that emptiness in
Solomon Grundy. The Washers record, sc
made up by those VINO see him from :
rational standpoint, Is similar IN so many
| respects. To do full justice 10 mis- very
much nsiigned member Of society, he hs:
| one element OF greatness in common with
he h.roes of all chimes and times. Born on
| the Moodsy Of his spsp, cnristened il is
Tuesday. There the parallel ceases, bal
| (still 10 pursuit of JUSTICE it should b,
| recorded of him, that the interins between
his christening and MA M srrisge day is CON.
! suu,d BY Whirl OF duties requiring q Vasi
| amount of energy, tact, discretion, and dis.
| crimia.tiou. The ThursdaJ's illness Of "a any
| haple.s "a ASHER, following so closely upon th,
his Ella of bis indiscrest Wednesday, nuptiaIs, haI
| IN. fatal rise in finding that he has mashed
on he Wong woman and married poor 10.
| stead of rich, which discovery hsstens tbs
fatal collapse OF Saturday. The mzsher
/ dees net in the least recognise the fact that
he is writing his own epltaph every day IL
| the week. What time has fellow 20 Of
thinking OF his Tombstone record, when Tiers
| are the fashions 10 be kept up with, and tht
church doors to be watched, and the matt
nee. TO be attended to, and the women TO b
ksnt .ved and the girls to be stared cut O
cspr,susuce, and the men 10 be made greer
with envy, and his race-book to be made ~
| and the tailor TO be tsfied, and all the res
| of iii Why, Solomon Grundy's eventes
s1;.,ence was q heaven of peace BY com
tn nssher is not the only exemplar 0
solon on Grundy's barren days. They stall