Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1892-07-22
Of those who love not.

IL Is just as true, however, that The old
maxim, "They are our best friends who tell
us of our faults" sounds like a legend of far
distant ages. Certainly, enough people tell
US and everybody else OF our faults, but the
element of friendliness in the criticism seems
mythical, is not dscernible. IL the beauti-
iu sentiment, the humane and Christian
motive ever prevailed to any considerable
extent ii must have been in former genera.
tons. There are too many now who, like
Mrs. Jack Lambert, pride themselves ex.
cessively on giving pain to their friends,
by sharp and poignant criticism OF their
weaknesses or fullIes, picking regulations
bare to the bone, under the guise Of wish
To heal some tritiing sore or remove a paltry
blemsh Every day in the year you may
see the form of MIR. Fcdgeby, that fine speci-
men of counsel in the cause Of Virtue" en-
gagged in las way OF correcting or preventing
wrong. The depreciation is really an at
tack. Some people have so many loving
ways to make us hate them. They are so
Jealous to reform our imperiections that
they make public and hideously conspicu
GUS the slightest sign oil sultness. The
apologize tone is intolerable." ION, yes,
he's good fellow, but -" 1t is the but"
that damnsl With all the demeanor of
saint it is easy TO be II murderer, Without
the courage necessary 10 deal honestly, face
10 face, with the object of pretended con.
Germ, communications 10 mutual friends"
become cruel blows instead of help from
loving hands. A real friend is possession
far above all price but from such friends as
described, and of whom every man has too
many, good Lord deliver us We besecch
Thee to hear US, good Lord
Not the least regretable thing in this con
nectiOn il the fact that criticism pure and
simple, the only thing worthy the name, is
rarely found, ii, indeed, il anywhere exist.
This will become apparent if We consider
the differing Judgments passed upon the
living and the dead In sour Mutual
Friend" Dickens tells OF a graveyard in
which some Of the tombstones "drOopingly
inclined from the perpendicular, as il they
were ashamed of the lies they told" While
a man lived, the hardest word that could be
said against him was too good; he was
mean, c0vetous, dishonest unchaste, fun.
gus upon society, and blot upon creation
but, presto when his life ends all his &C
cusers cry in chorus, h's-h-h-. he's dead
Well, what of it2 Has death transmitted
him from u scoundrel into an angel? Ii il
was proper to denuunce his vices while alive,
how does il become proper 10 canonize him
dead ? Every honest and upright biographer
will be bound by the principle affirmed by
DIR. Samuel johnson, in The Rambler, No.
SO: "There are many who think it an act of
piety 10 hide the faults or ialings of their
friends, even when they can no longer suffer
by their detection; we therefore see whole
ranks of characters adorned with uniform
panegyric, and not 10 be known from one an
other but extrinsic and casual circumstances.
Let me remember, says Hale, when find
...Ia. ...N.
there lie likewise pity due TO the country
If we owe regard To the memery of the dead,
there is yet more respect TO be paid to knowl
edge, 10 virtue. and TO truth" 1t would
seem, from all We read and hear, that all the
good are dead, and all the evil, the little,
and the mediocre, are alive, and that it is
the transfer of sphere which makes all the
difference The scriptures say, Judas went
" his own place" But for this divine,
authoritative sentence, doubtless some enter
prising epitaph writer, friend or connec-
ton of the family, mould have added one
more lie 10 the innumerabe volumes The
course helpful, first, TO the individual, then
TO the world, would be a perfectly unpre
JUDGED setting Of the good over against the
faulty, making the man still seem human,
and giving full scope 10 praise for the one
and charity for the other
However disagreeable critical people may
be under ordinary circumstances, their tenn
per becomes specially reprchenslble when
dealing with the higher things. Those least
qualified arrogantly set themselves up as
Judges in religious matters Tacitly, all al
nit imperfection and human frailty:
Suppose real angel came from heaven
To live with men and women he'd go mad
II no considerable hand should tic blind
Across his piercing eyes
Yet, seemingly, without perception Of their
folly, the demand Is made by those who
have the least right to speak. They do not
| live holly themselves, but insist that Others
shall do 80. They refuse to discriminate
between inconsistency and hypocrisy
almost inevitable slips, mistakes, foibles, Of
a struggling Christian, and the deliberate
double dealing of the lalsifier. They plate
glibly Of sacred things who ought never r.
take them upon their tongues. The Bible
says OF them, "Professing themselves 10 b.
wise, they became FOOLS" and they have
remained such ever since. There is only
one way " answer them, and that is not 70
answer at all. This class may have this
particular use 10 the economy OF life, that
they are likely TO disgust all men of betteI
and kinder thoughts, and so limit the pro
duction Of the breed.