The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1886-01-23
THE MODERN CYNIC.
His Contempt for What Others
Do And Say.
The Literary. PrIggisii, Theatrical, Rellg-
ious and Domestic yarieties-The
Last-Named the Worst of All.
But Every One "Grand
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 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 defined in aphrase. Man.
for instarce-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 l
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 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
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 very large
number of subsidiary classes.
The literary cync 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
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
so much depth as can be observed in
the works of the ancient phi,os-
ophers, but he makes up for these
defects 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-
BILE standard is set up-that standard
of excellence which our cynic would
reach himself. were he to write; and
then, this being implied rather than ex-
planned, he proceeds to show how far
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 genuine
feeling. or become victim to virtue
and goodness. All these backslidings
are carefully picked out and paraded.
labeled as .gush." To prevent ..gush,
indeed, is the literary cynic's chief
function.
Care must be taken to distinguish be-
tween him and another of a different
race. but, in some respects. resembling
him-the prig. Priggishness has its
own self-respect. or rather generation.
But prigs believe in each other; the,
see in each other the virtues which they
admire in themselves. and they gush
solemnly over them. A prig can not
contain himself. 'See," he saws, speak
ing of another, but looking in the glass
the while, 'see how good he is. how
well he does his work, what an earnest
sense of duty he has, what feelings of
responsibility. what contempt for the
commoner paths of frivolous menp"
For the prig is nothing without his
sense OF duty and plying contempt for
other men. We common men are de-
spised. too, admit. by the cynic, but
in a different way. He sneers at our
follies, in which he joins; he despises
our virtues, some of which he shares;
he curls his lip at us because we do our
duty without an earnest sense of re-
sponsibility, and yet he has none him.
self. The prig. in fact, honestly tries to
possess the quality he admires, but in
the attempt assumes a more than NOR
tai share of them. Tho cynic calls the
attention of the world to our shameless
want of these ornaments of the soul.
and thinks it superfuous to put them
on himself. The literary cynic on men
and women is, perhaps, more at home
than with books. for there are q great
many books which he can not touch at
al. for want of the necessary scholar
ship. Now, everybody can talk of men