The Monitor., 1891-10-09
Written for the MONITOR.
CHARACTER.


crets that lie hidden within, the laws that
govern their actions. Character is as vari-
GUS as human life: there is probably no
two persons in all the world whose whole
| circle of sentiment, thought, feeling and
manner is precisely the same. Character
really has no distinctive eature; it is not a
faculty or power separate in itself, spe-
cial gift of Providence, but ii is the collec-
tion and combination of all the faculties
and powers and sensibilities Of the human
mind. If there is any power of the mind
on which character rests m ore firmly, and
with which it vibrates in more perfect
unison, it is the power of Will. The VIII
is, in fact, the dominant power of the
human intellect, the monarch of all the
| other faculties; it is the power Nv hich COL
lects, combines, amplifos and animates, y
controlling the other powers and rendering
them subservient to its desires. And in
| proportion as this power is developed or
| influenced or biased will the character
follow in this OF that line. Educstion may
refine the tastes, clear the judgment and
to certain extent mould the character,
but Will stands above and beyond this and
commands knowledge.
We have met many interesting examples
of character. There is one that comes be-
fore us just now, large and full of merri-
ment, with whom We may embark tor a
jolly good time without care or danger of
disappointment. He is the fat man. His
anatomy is without shape as bag of sand !;
but is capable of being pressed into great
variety of different forms, according to the
| clothes he wears. He is slow of speech.
| slow of movement, slow of thought, and
slow to anger. He is the father of jokes;
| they stick to him like flies to molasses.
| He is always ready to give you one and
| most everything he sees or hears ''re-
minds him of something. He has the
faculty Of making his good humor conta-
gious, and no quarrels or hard thoughts
live long in his presence and before his
| poignant jokes. When he laughs he laughs
all over; his whole body seems full of it.
He never smiles, and never frowns. His
| countenance always has the same express
SION, comical drawing Of the mouth and
merry twinkle of the eye. He is richer
than Jay Gould, because he always has
enough and never worries about losing
what he has or the possibility of getting
more. He is wi er than New ton or Bacon,
because he does not want to know any
moves SO long as he is not troubled by its
motion. He never does any harm and
seldom does any good He may be a
| Christian and he may be an epcurean,
but whatever he is, he is happy. He may
never startle the world by any great effort,
but, nevertheless, he brings sunshine into
the darker musings" of life and diverts
the attention of exhausted toilers from the
worriment OF their business, softens their
| nature, soothes their anxious minds, and
lulls their troubled hearts He is char
| acter without which humanity would
perish.
Another character crosses the glass OF
| our mental teles cope 1t is female. She,
too, is great in avoirdupois. Her eounten-
| ance is a puzzle. Her eye may be the
| window of her soul, but the soul is so hid
den under heavy veil that it cannot be
seen. Her manner is always bland, eter-
nally bland. Bland when she asks you
when she asks you how much you paid
for your new horse; bland when she asks
you how much your uncle left you when
he died; bland when she asks you things
that are none of her business and You know
1t, but for the very reason of this bland
ness You tell her everything. She means
no harm; she never exaggerates anything.
She tells them in the same bland way. She
will praise you to your face and lay it on
so thick it would disgust you were it some
one else, but she smiles as she does it, you
know she is lying, but you cannot get Of
Tended. All her education is summed up
in the Interrogation point; this is all she
knows and all she uses. She has lots of
instinct, and is acute in her way. You en-
joy her company, and vet after she is gone
and you have time to think, ii you are not
a moral man, you begin to pray in a sort
of desultory way.
1t is this character with its various forms
and notifications that is cursing society.
II is only a mild form OF hypocrisy, which
in itself is the most contemplate quality
in human life. Il saps the very founda-
dation of social relations by destroying
confidence.
Again We see, standing on the street
corner with his cigarette, kid gloves in
one hand, patent leather shoes, high hat,
cane, checkered pants, coat buttoned to his
chin and not enough good sound sense in
his head to supply sucking calf, some
what extreme type of modern gentility.
This young man is graduate of college,
but be knows moro about ladies than
Latin, theatres than Themistocles His
knowledge Of Greek was left at school; his
trunk was full when he came away. Many
of his school books are now in the pawn
shop; he wears their value on his nose.
He never played bah at college, it soiled