Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1894-04-06
Chronic Orumbiers,

Hoiu uOLCn bb NHlSN sSoiS " AAS'N ~
men whose lives are one perpetual grum-
BILE. They grumble themselves out o
bed in the morning. grumble all the live
long day, and grumbe themselves ia
sleep again at night. Nothing THAI ~
done nv individuals or the community
suits them unless they suggested 1t them
selves. and even then the chances arc ten
to one they will find fault with some de
tail oft. Always eager To lend a ready
ear TO anv suggestion of irailty or wrong
on the part of their friends or neighbors -
or of any body else for that matter
nothing can exceed the Indignation with
which any intimation of weakness on
their part is received.
II so be they are members of Il church,
something is always wrong with the
minister or choir, or both. II the former
adheres to old customs and sticks closely
to old ideas OF theological truths. he is
out OF touch with the times and the
church cannot be expected toprosper. Ii,
on the contrary, any innovation is at
tempted as, for instance, the change
from n frock coat to n robc-the chronic
grumbler sees no hope for the future
prosperity of his particular branch OF
Zion.
! In politics no nominations can possibly
| be made to the entire satisfaction of the
grumbler. no policies carried out that
could not, in his Judgment, have been
bettered. II, as sometimes happens, he is
on the nominating committee himself, he
will protest against any other names
than of those whom nobody else wants,
he can always see some Interior motive
in the suggestions Of his colleagues.
/ Everybody has an axe to grind but him.
self, and if he were permitted to name the
entire ticket himself, he would be all out
OF sorts with it the next day and proba-
bly, labor in quiet way to compass the
destruction of his own handiwork.
As a citizen, the chronic grunbler is
| NCI llH iNNhNhNi ="
cere and upright man i'll general-al-
though in this respect he is hardly ever
above the average-the flaws in his iel.
low citizens characters are always per
fectly plain o his vision. No street was
ever mended but the mcnding was needed
vastly more in some other part of the
city, town, or village, no sewer ever laid
but it should have been longer, or shorter
or wider, or narrower, or the money
could have been expended to much greater
advantage in some other direction. Nc
board of aldermen, or selectmen, or trus
tees that ever was-or that ever shall bc
ever performed It's duties to his salts
faction, or couldn't or wouldn't have
done better if he had prohted by hi:
growlngs. If the grumbler keeps store
of any kind it is sure to he the rendezvous
for the twilight gatherings of all the
chronic grumblers Of the neighborhood
or town. and there they will sit or stand
and spit out the venom of uncharitable
ness and vie each with the other in be
wailing and bemoaning the degeneracl
of their betters.
II he has no occupation, save that o
minding the business of others, he occu
pies the street corners in the day time
scizes the coat lapels of any unfortunate
| h,, 30
innucndoes, and Interrogation points, en-
deavor to poison the mind of his heare
against some one or another of his nc
quaintances. 1t is i'll the evening, how
ever, that the grumbler reaches the sum
NIT of his happiness or sinks to the leve
of his own depravity. At the shop q
store of fellow grumber. he is Away,
a welcome visitor. Here he will sit fo
hours perfectly content and happy in hi
favorite atmosphere OF self righteousness
and grumble and growl and growl ant
grumble, and go home to the bosom o
his iamily-ifhe has one-conscious that
whatever happens, he has done his duty
his whole duty and nothing but his duty
If there is newspaper in the place, i
is never quite right on any subject, If i
mentions the grumbler's name at all, it ii
invading the sanctity Of private life, II i
refrains from mention of any event witt
which he is connected, it is partial and i
always catering to some other element il
the community; nothing it does or eve
can do fills up the measure of his desires
Anywhere and everywhere, at all sea
sons and in all places, the chronic grun
bier is a public nuisance and does NOR
harm, works more mischief causes NOR
unnecessary heart burnings. and cmbit
tiers more lives than nearly all the crosse
evils that affiicts society.
If the grumblers and GROWERS in an
community could only be quartered som,
where all by themselves, isolated from a
other society. and compelled to dwell tc
: gether in unrest. what precious comfor
1t would be? How much brighter woul
be the sunshine, how much fairer til
, skies. how much purer the air in any vi
Iage, town or city III all the land. il onl
: the mental and moral sickness of eruml
ling could be treated like the small po,
and its patients quarantined for the con
p mon health and well-being of socct Y
: st. Adams Messenger.
wv wss1sA II Y