The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-11-05
THE MODERN CYNIC.
His Contempt for What Others
Do And Say.
The Literary, Priggish, Theatrical, Relig-
Ions and Domestic varieties-The
Last-Named the Worst of All,
But Every One q sGrand
Nuisance"

but livery Ouo '1rau0
Nuisance"
In spite of his name the cynic is not
altogether a creature Of recent growth,
having, by some process of natural
selection, developed into rudimentary
life very early in the history of man.
But of late years his race has enor-
mously increased, and it may be inter-
esting to note some peculiarities of a
being whose uses on earth are so small
and yet his increase so rapid. To de-
scribe him generally as a. man who
admires nothing is too far vague to
admit Of being accepted as a definition,
Like all animals of complex machinery
he can not be defnedin aphrase. Man,
for instance-the genus to which he
belongs-has been defined a great many
times, but hitherto not with much sue
cess. He has been called a debating
animal, but rats hold sacred conclaves,
and a gambling animal, but 1 believe I
have seen monkeys gambling. So with
the different species of man. There is
no possible phrase which can at the
same time exclude other species and
comprehensively describe one.
1t is true that the modern cynic adj
mires nothing which other men have
done. This, however. permits him to
concentrate his admiration the more
intensely on himself. 1t may be also
said of him hat he does nothing, but
then this enables him the more strongly
to respect himself for what he might
have done. 1t may be further said that
he attains to nothing; but then he has
the power of considering what he might
have achieved, and with what superior
brilliancy of execution, had he chosen
to enter the arena. His name is little
known to the outer world, perhaps little
respected by the circle to which he be-
longs. His kind may be subdivided
into several principal and a very large
number of subsidiary classes.
The literary cynic is, of course, the
first that demands attention, not be-
cause he is the most important but be-
cause he makes the most noise. He is
t. be found in certain papers, daily and
weekly; in one or two magazines, and
in a few novels. He is not, as a rule,
scholarly, nor perhaps has his thought
so much depth as can be observed in
the works of the ancient phiios'
ophers, but he makes up for these
defects by smartness and by ar
overwhelming sense of superiority
which, spite of a possibly kind
heart can not refrain from breaking out
into sneers. He acts as critic, either or
books or or men and women. If OF
books, he has one rule to start with anC
one method of treatment. An impossi
BILE standard is set up-that STANDARD
of excellence which our cynic woulc
reach himself, were he to write; ane
then, this being implied rather than ex
planned, he proceeds to show how fal
short the writer has fallen. This done
he next holds up to popular scorn any
stray bits where the author has plunged
into enthusiasm, fallen into genuin,
feeling, or become a victim to virtu,
and goodness. All these backslidingl
are carefully picked out and paraded
labeled as ..gush.n To prevent "gush,'
indeed. is the literary cynic's chic
function.
Care must be taken to distinguish be
tween him and another of a differen
ace but. in some respects, resemblin,
him-the prig. Priggishness has it
own self-respect, or rather veneration
But prigs believe in each other; the
see in each other the virtues which the
admire in themselves, and they gusl
solemnly over them. A prig can no
contain himself. ''See," he says, speak
ing of another. but looking in the glas
the while, .'see how good he is, hov
well he does his work, what an earnes
sense of duty he has, what feelings O
responsibility, what contempt for tn
scommoner paths of frivolous menp'
For the prig is nothing without hi
sense of duty and plying contempt TO
other men. We common men are ds
spised. too, 1 admit. by the cynic, bu
in a different way. He sneers at OF
follies, in which he joins; he despise
our virtues, some of which he shares
he curls his lip at us because we do on
duty without AZ earnest sense Of re
sponsib:lity, and yet he has none hin
self. The prig, in fact, honestly tries I
possess the quality he admires, but
the attempt assume a more than mo
tai share of them. The cynic calls til
attention of the world to our shamele:
want of these ornaments of the sou
and thinks it superfiuous to put thel
on himself. The literary cynic on me
and women is, perhaps. more at hon
than with books, for there are a gre;
many books which he can not touch
all, for want of the necessary schola
ship. Now, everybody can talk of me
and m and especially of wome'
Here his most telling method of a
preaching the subject is to depreca
any belief in the possi bility of virtue
disipteredness existing as a mott
cause. The actions of men, upfort
nately. proceed from so many and cor
pick impulses that it is always possib
to assign one which is bad and IL
worthy. Ii, for instance, a public de-
is done which involves the sacrifice
much money or much labor, what mo
rational than to suppose it dol
with the view of getting the praises
men? If the labor of a life culminat
il some great thing, which brin
money as well as a name, what can D
who reads the soul so well as a cyn
attribute if to but a thirst after fit
lucre? When there are several ends
be attained. let us, he says. alwa
choose the least noble. When sever
may have been at work, let us, SAYS t
cynic. choose the basest. Thus socie
means n crush at an lat home a di
ner party of twenty people-strange
to each other: a futile attempt not
appear bored: II perfectly transpare
pretcnsc ut enjoyment; and slch terri
as friendship. gratitude and honor a
now tolerably devoid of meaning. Gle
Esf4ton nrr. BY the nature OF thp;r pr
is,a.sM humbuys' All pslitlaai al