The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-03-19
Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!

Mn EDrroI:-Were you ever broke! Dc
Won remember ever to have found yourself
without money and without the possibility
of getting 1t: Financially letnnct? As
the bows SAY dead broke Lets see if we
can pictnre q felloa in that predicament
He Is :. part and parcel Of humanity, YET
holds nothing in common with it. He is in
the world aid yet not Il part of It. How
empty everything seems. Everybody he
meets seems to look right into his pockets
and discover the horrible truth. no money.
The commonest mortal with 4 home and oc.
cupatiop becomes 4 prince Of peace and
plenty in his eyes. And then the ever
occurring, never answered, eternally AaraSs.
ing question that is constantly forcing itself
upon him in a thousand different shapes,
"What shall do?" He truly feels how
small, petty, and insignificant L thing man
is without money. A nonentity: cipher; a
noth;nq: shadow of existence; IN eflgy OF
immortality: then the desperate thoughts
that come plowing along tumbling over one
another: the wild promptings to do some
desperate act. How he hates his fellow
man. Man is not his fellow man He is Il
being belonging to altogether different
sphere. There is no fellowship about it.
|
The step from poverty to crime IS a short
one, if poverty ise!f be not crime. a man
without money feels IN ownership in every
one else's property-an ownership where
might becomes the agent of possession,
and perhaps it is more lack OF opportunl'
ty tLan inclination that keeps him from
becoming criminal Then the tremen
aous VOWS If can only get out Of this
7 fix; if can only get foothold once more.
The vices lie intends to shun; the economy
he will practice; the practical and substan'
tial sympathy he would have for all forlorn
mortals in his present prcdicalnent. The
virtues Of industry. perseverance, and pru
aence he would relisiously follow. Bah
when the devil was sick. the devil q
saint would be,
When the devil got well, the devil Il
saint was he.
But perhaps h! has been broke more than
once: several times may be. Carelessncss
and n peculiar faculty for getting rid OF
money has reduced him to the predicament
frequently 1t has become normal. Does
he dread it? No. 1t has lost its horrors.
Rags IaveSscomc familiar to him and veal
easily. He G1s~lcarned to 'ssk that he
NAV receive. O'>SnotN ~ .HS wv
that the parse of the pantry WftHisas my -H 9e
opened unto him." And withal, there is &
sort Of freedom in the situation that Is
agreeable. The conventonalitles Of life
have no claim upon him. Beholden to no
one and no one to him. As free as the
winds to come and go, Work OF play, sing OF
howl in fact b olo us he pltaSeS. Stocks mp
or stocks lown-its I'LL the same. Banks
may go iuto liquidation, and insurance
companies only insure ut i loss. What
does he care: The president may 90 to
! Canada ana the cashier to Europe. and al!
; the available finds along with tile.n. Bah
Let TIE sailed jade vince. They have mons
of his money. The woes OF others axe his
diversion. The silver bill Il foot bal in the
Senat:; the national debt,-le passes them
all by with supreme contempt. If the eoun-
try were placed on its financial head to-
morrow. kicking It's heels amid the clonds
Of bankruptcy. it woull be Il matter Of the
most delightful indifference t" him. The
piunaclrS of his hopes, aspirations ana de-
slres HAY be realized in that estate !naent,
whru filled to the chin 1T the Losptablc
hands of Sonr charitable housewife, he rr-
clines ut ease on the sammy side of 4 plank
and contempitt2S life through the lazy con-
.c..tnlrnt Of :, 1all stomach, without Il care
70 o,l1r,.::; him. Ah we've found Inn ut
last. a i,.tap. u.