The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1885-12-03
THE MODERN CYNIC.
His Contempt for What Others
Do And Say.
The Literary. Priggish. Theatrical, ReIig-
ious and Domestic Varieties-The
Last-Eamed the Worst of ALI,
But Every One "Grand
Nuisance."

In spite OF his name the cynic is not
altogether 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 peeuliarities of
being whose uses ON earth are so small
and yet his increase SO rapid. To de-
scribe him generally as man who
admires nothing is too far vague to
admit OF being accepted as definition.
Like all animals of complex machinery
he can not be defined in aphrase. Man,
for instance-the genus to which he
belongs-has been defined great many
times, but hitherto not with much sue
cess He has been called a debating
animal, but rats hold sacred conclaves,
and gambling animal, but believe /
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
coynprehensively describe one.
1t is true that the modern cynic ad-
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 that 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
0rlllancy 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
lnto several principal and very large
humber of subsidiary classes.
The literary cynic is. of course, the
iirst that demands attention, not be.
cause he is the most important but be-
cause he makes the most noise. He is
to be found in certain papers, daily and
weekly; in one or two magazines, and
IN few novels. He is not, as a rule,
scholarly. nor perhaps has his thought
50 much depth as can be observed in
the works of the ancient philos-
oophers, but he makes up for these
aeieets by smartness and by an
overwhelming sense of superiority,
which, spite of possibly kind
heart can not refrain from breaking out
INTO sneers. He acts as critic, either on
books or on men and women. If on
BOOKS. he has one rule to start with and
one method of treatment. An impossi-
oie standard is set up-that standard
oi excellence which our cynic would
reach himself, were he to write; and
t1en, this being implied rather than ex-
piained. ne proceeds to show how far
snort the writer has fallen. This done,
ne next holds up to popular scorn any
sIay DTS where the author has plunged
s quo enthusiasm, fallen into genuine
me,ng, or become a victim to virtue
saa goodness. All these backslidings
'ss., ~ carefully picked out and paraded,
;ss is9eed as ''gush. I" To prevent '.gush.' y
fnas fuasea, is the literary cynic's chief
Care must be taken to distinguish be-
tween him and another of a different
~ ae' put In some respects. resembling
na, mm-the prig. Priggishness has its
pa1 psn seii-respeet, or rather veneration.
sa Da' pf1gs believe in each other; they
~ u each other the virtues which they
sa1l sJullre IN themselves, and thew gush
uhhiy y over them. A prig can not
contain himself. "See,n he saws. speak
,hs g ~ another, but looking in the glass
Ssn suS nwnlie, see how good he is, how
sas "sll ne does his work, what an earnest
roas ,ease Oh duty he has. what feelings of
eosaponsaolllty, eoa what contempt for the
Ean ES,n.noner paths of frivolous menp'
ssa. m eae prlg is nothing without his
o,bss osbse OF duty and plying contempt for
Sa;,er men. We common men are de-
;SpAsea. too, | admit. by the cynic. but
tan. e : inherent way. He sneers at onr
o,,r sr'ss. y: IN which he joins; he despises
ba sllsues, some of which he shares:
n,cuIls dp.s his lip at US because we do our
snas sass Without an earnest sense of re-
ssae'Vsnsl.Dilty, sa's o. and yet he has none him
naa ~, The prig, in fact, honestly tries to
ia posssss s.ss the quality he admires, but out in IN
tal 81 ahs.empt assumes more than NOR
sl,sa. =, susfe OF them. The cynie calls the
s''sasen Of the world to our shameless