The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1885-10-16
Gle GnteIEiqsater.
once. Soc. % npa " r0uFteenth sttsot.
ruE pAsslON FOR \ orORIErY.

The Difference Between PrRiseWortby Am
billion and Dssire for NotoFiOty.
N y Ertnihg Post.
1t is a little difficult to understand
clearly the dislike OF the passion for no
toriety which is always expressed ant
felt by the able and the good. 1t Is I
pretty keen dislike, largely mixed as 1t il
with contempt, and with a certain in
definite wish to punish; yet there SEEM
at first sight to be little reason for it
Most men would describe the wish fol
notoriety as vulgarized form Of the de
sire for fame; and while all passions mus
be vulgarized by the vulgar, the desire fol
fame excites neither deIision nor dislike
1t is held TO be respectable weakness
even in the weak, who will mics their OBJ
ject; while in the strong it is pronounced
noble quality, the desire which stimu
lates poets aud conquerors aud reformers
1t was not absent from the man who
said: "H'rit> me as one who loved his
fellow-men," and who consequently
wished that specially OF his to be known
abroad. Nor is there anything inherently
bad in the feeling which is the ultimate
source Of the passion for notoriety. The
desire to be known, to be separated from
the crowd, to be somebody in the world
and not to be thrust foully in the earth
to be forgot" is not evil in itself, 10 per
fectly natural, and hes repeatedly led
men to high achievement.
Great communities have fostered the
desire for distinction by creating an elabo.
rate machinery tor gratifying it; and the
most ascetic Of theOlogians smiles indul-
gently on the man who seeks the laurel
crown, or even the crown OF parsley, while
the philosopher remarks that individuali-
ty, even If pushed to an excess, has its
good sides. The man who seeks notoriety
must to considerable extent suppress
himself, and self.suppression is not only a
virtue, but cause OF strength. Yet we
all more or less despise the desire for noto-
riety, and hold the man who Is possessed
by it to be not only weak map, but, in a
sense, q bad one. He is "cSd" in the
slang dialeCt-an epithet which, rightfully
and carefully used, imputes moral evil, or
at least moral failure, W well as deficiency
in manners. The popular explanation OF
the diHerence-that the man who loves
fame seeks it through lofty means, and
the man who desires notorlety is regard
less Of means-is not quite true, for it
would not cover the case OF many un.
scrupulous men who yet sought fame and
not notohety. They were free OF vulgarity
in their desire.
The true explanation is, we believe, that
while the desire OF fame, or OF distinction,
or even OF separateness may, and often
does, leave Its victim true man, true to
himself, and therefore able 10 seek success
through the cultivation or display OF the
noblest part in him, the passion for
notoriety implies that the man is either
false, or willing TO be false; that he will
simulate or dissimulate qualities, rather
than give up his object; aud does not seek
it SO much as he possesses by it, till the
sense OF right and wrong, the becoming
and the unbtcoming, disappears from his
mind. Right and wrong have become
alike to him in an overmastering desire
for personal display, which is not vanity,
but separate and lower passion. He
Graves to be noticed, instead Of craving TO
be noticed with reverence or regard; and
will knowingly lower himself, as Henri
Rocheiort and some English jour-
ualists oil Rocheforrs kind have recently
done rather than remain invisible in the
crowd. The quality OF the attention he
draws matters nothing, compared with the
fact OF attention; and il all other means
fail, be will FIRE the, temple Of Diana, and
live through the ages as the blasphemer
and fee Of the one pure goddesl. The
readiness to DO false to ones self and to
the faetsis the note OF evil which distin-
guishss the hunger for notoriety from the
thirst Iorfame. He advertises rather than
displays himself; and in all advertisement
there is some trace OF living. II the good
condemn or the wise scOrn, scorn and con-
domination nre still acceptable, il only they
are sufficiently audible to increase the
roar,