Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1886-01-19
THE MODERN CYNIC.
His Contempt for What Others
Do And Say.


0H'hO w hN0 OlhtO - HON
altogether creature Of recent growth.
having, by some process OF natural
selection. developed into rud'mentary
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 peculiar ties Of a
being whose uses on earth are 80 small
and yet his increase so rapid. To de
scribe him generally as man who
adnires nothing Is too far vague tt
admit Of being accepted as a definition
Like all animals OF complex machinery
Ire can not lie defined in aplirase. Man.
for instance the genus TO which he
belongs has been defined great many
times, but hitherto not with much sue.
cess. He has boon called debating
animal. but rats hold sacred conclavcs.
and Il 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
comprchens;vcly describe one.
II 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
brilliancy Of execut on, had he chosen
TO enter the arena. His pame Is little
known 10 the outer world, perhaps little
respected by the circle to which he bo.
longs. His kind may be subdividcd
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
to be found In certain papers, daily and
weekly; In one or two magazines. and
in few novels. He Is not, as rule.
scholarly. nor perhaps has his thought
so much depth as can bs 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 snecrs. He acts as critic, either on
books or on men and women, II on
books, he has one rule TO start with aud
one method OF treatment. An impossi-
bic 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 OK.
planned. he proceeds to show how far
short the writer has fallen, This done.
he next holds up to popular seorn any
stray bits where the author has plunged
into enthusiasm. fallen into genuine
feeling, or become victim to virtue
and goodness All these backslidngs
are carefully picked out and paraded,
labeled as "gush." To prevent "gush,"
indeed. is the literary cynic's chief
function.
Care must he taken TO distinguish be-
tween him and another Of different
race, but in some respects. resembling
him the prig. priggishness has It's
own self-rcspect, or rather veneration.
But prigs believe in each other; they
see in each other the virtues which they
admire in themselves, and they gush
solemnly over them. A prlg can not
contain himself. "See," he says, 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 mcn?"
For the prig is nothing without his
sense Of duty and plying contempt for
other men. We common men are de
spiscd too, | admit, by the cynic, but
in different way. He sneers at our
follies, in which he joins; he despisos
our virtues, some OF which no shares;
he curls. his lip at us because we do our
duty without an earnest sense OF re-
sponsb,lity, 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. The cynic calls the
attention of the world to our shameless
want OF these ornaments of the soul,
and thinks il superIluous to put them
on himsalf, The literary cynlp on men
and women is, perhaps, more Mt home
than with books, for there are great
many books which he can not touch at
all, for want Of the necessary scholar
ship. Now, everybody can talk of men
and women. and especially OF women.
Here his most telling method of APP
preaching the subject is to deprecate
any belief in the possibility Of virtue or
disinteredness existing as Il motive
oasse, The actions Of men. unfortu-
natoly proceed from so many and com
plex impulses that 1t Is always possible
10 assign one which is bad and un-
worthy. Ii, for Instance, public deed
Is done which involves the sacrifice OF
much money ormuoh labor, what more
rational than to suppose 1t done
with the view OF getting the praises Of
menp II the labor Of lie eliminates
Ia some great thing, which brings
money as well as name, what can one
who reads the soul so well Ms cynic
attribute il to but thirst after filthy
lucreP When there are several ends to
DO attained. Jet US, he says, always
choose the least noble When several
mar have been at work. let US, says the