The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1891-02-28

There are some vices which DOS.
sess what might Be called respect.
able exterior; they succeed occa.
sionally in borrowing the garments
of some neighboring virtue and pass
ing themselves off % relations Of
his. Even when their character al
faults can not be denied, people are
found to palate them and minimize
their evil tendency. Among such
sins are envy, jealousy, pride and
bad temper. To say that such q
one has rather q hasty temper, or
that he is difficult to get on with,
or that he is too fond Of having his
own way, is hardly, in the opinion
of many people, to say anything
really to his discredit; yet, when
We analyze that disposition of mind
which is commonly called "bad
temper" we shall find that it is
neither more nor less than the ma
lignant desire of making people
suffer pain. Even in the case Of .
"hot" or hasty temper this is true.
No one would use angry words to
another if he did not mean they
should wound, and intend to relieve
his angry feelings by the suffering
they may cause.
If the temper is . sullen or sulky
one, its malignant character is still
more apparent; the sulky fellow
begins by feeling offended; proba-
bly, he has some little cause for tax
ing offense, or he has at least an
opportunity for imagining he has
been sighted. He persuades him
self that some one has been wanting
in the affection or respect which is
his due. He feels himself insulted,
injured, and he has not magnanim-
ity enough to pass over the matter
without taking care that the slight
offered should be expiated by suf-
fering. His self-love demands that
some one should suffer, and the
suffering of the victim-although
he might be shocked to think so,
and might refuse to believe it-af.
fords him certain satisfaction and
certain pleasure. When the Of
fender has been made to feel that
it is no light matter to neglect the
comfort of the ill.tempered man, or
to prefer any other interests to his,
when he or she has been made thor
oughly miserable, the sulky man is
appeased; he is perhaps even pen
itent; his demon has been gratified
and is no longer hungry. The fact
that the bad temper, with its symp.
toms of black looks, or harsh words,
or sullen silence, was maintained
until the suffering of the victim be-
came evident is enough to show
that sulkiness is really much
worse kind of a fault than people
generally imagine.
The well-known fact that mans
temper very often depends on his
physical state for the time being is
often accepted as complete justi-
fication for petulance or savageness
of manner. A man of nervous tenn
permanent, or person afflicted with
q sluggish liver can no more help
feeling irritable or gloomy than a
man with a wooden leg can help
limping. He is entitled, therefore,
to some degree of consideration
from others on account Of his nat
ural defect, but, after all, men are
not entirely the slaves of their
nerves or their internal organs. To
feel irritation or dependency is,
one thing; to allow such feelings
to master one and drive one whittier
they will is quite different matter.
If man has weak heart or ten
dency to gout, he generally thinks
it a duty to take care of these phys
ical infirmities and avoid any in
diligence in amusements or in food
which may tend to confirm them;
but few people think it worth
while to attend to the state of
their nerves for the sake of sparing
their families an outburst of tenn
per. It may be as plain a duty for
a man to eat good dinner as it is
for him to get through his days
work or to vote-when he does vote
according to conscience. If, after
the agreeable remedy of dining, a
man with q fairly good disposition
still feels that the conduct of his
friends and not of the world in gem
Bral is unbearable, or that he would
rather continue to sulk than not,
be may feel pretty certain that the
blame is not entirely due to physi-
cal causes, but the probability is
hat he will be ready to put 1t on
or anything rather than
On himself. When man in q tenn
per has got so far as to see that he
has been unreasonable, he is in 2
fair way of recovery. The dih.
guilty is to make him see things IN
heir true light; for . sulky temper
induces a mental blindness which
is quite as impervious to argument
as 10 the hottest passion. Conces-
sion is of no use-it is jealously
as having its root in the
vsry proposition which is not 70 be
borne for q moment, namely that