Evening journal., 1896-08-24
ABOUT IMPUDENCE.
PUSH, TAcTANp PERSEVERANCE MAY
BECOME ncHEEK" AND "BRAss@

BECOME ncHEeK" AND "BRAss@
It Ia Something Dimcult 90 Discover the
Dividing Line Examples OF ''sionumen-
tai Cheek In witch Wen known Per-
sons Figured.
Great is the powor Of impudence and |
endless are It's degroea IL has many dis |
/ guiscs. In the odifying book OF those good |
folks who profess 20 show the young how |
| to get on in lifc, how to attain what they |
| are pleased 20 call success, much emphasis
| Is laid upon the value of certain qualities
| inodestly christcncd push and tact and
| perseverance. They are Admirable qualities
| no doubt, but It is often difficult 20 see OK
actly whore tho limo begins which separates
| push from ettrontory, tact from cunning
/ and perseverance, from check. A vice
may be defined as q virtue gone wrong--an
| exaggerated virtue, In fact--nnd some OF
| the different degrees of impudencenr nrc SIM
ply exaggerated forms of those admirable
| qualities deservedly laudod under tho
names OF push, tact and perseverance,.
In the world OF letters, for instance tnct
appears as log rolling, and to roll the
log persistently and successfully is an art
that needs a modest amount OF j. brass.'
1t might be invidious topoint out the val
ue OF push alins check, - In the other
professions, and as for politics-but for
tunately that is another story, with which
we are not concerned hero. Brass" Is
push in the superlative degree. 1t is in
valuable to the believer IN the gospel Of
Hgctting on" BRASS" and "brazen
faced" are ecolloquiallsmsof long standing
The latter was In use moro than thrco cen
turtles ngo and Shakespeare makes Bi-
ROM sny, In Loves Labor's Lost Can
any face Of brass hold longer ont"
Il Is curious 10 note how many colloquial
synonyms for the front of brass have been
drawn from The face and Its features. OF
, old brow" was 80 used The seventeenth
century Fuller speaks of ''mcn of more
brow than brain, hcing SO ambitious TO bc
, | known that they hnd rather be hisscd down
than not como upon tho stage. We arc
still perfectly familiar with mon of this
| typo, but We do not talk OF their brow. !"
4 | "Irowi is obsolete, and check rcigns IN
| its stead. It's offspring arc lip, jaw, !"
/ "mouth" and "chin''--al wcll known
| equivalents for tho language born of
4 | "cheol."
Face itself IS still common form Of
"cheek.n Tho expression Is old Ben
Jonson makes it the namo Of an impudent
servant in his "Alchcmist," and some one
n in ono Of Middlctons plays says;
!, that had face onongh 20 do tho decd.
q Cannot want tongue TO spoak It.
!, A curious old way Of describing tho
y evergreen method of obtaining credit by
: sheer cifrontcry was to speak of pushing
!. | n face" Goldsmith, In one of his toe
! | little read Essays describes three ways
: OF getting into debt, and tho first, he says
= is by pushing face" lie goes on TO Civ,
: an example thus "You Mr.. LutestrinR
send me homo six yards OF that paduasoy
% damme; but, harkce, don't think l eve
: Intend to pay you for 1t, damme. At thi
i tho mercer laughs, cuts OF tho paduaso.
u and sends it home, nor Is he, till too late
\ surprised to find the gentleman had sui,
nothing but the truth and kept his word
n In America at tho present day similn
n methods OF obtaining goods on credit ar
- called running one's face. an obviou
a. survival OF the last century English phras'
n, In sWindling Of every kind 'chcol1'
- an Indispensable condition of success.
= is pure and simple check that cnabl,
=, tho evergreen confidence trick 70 flouris
= in eternal youth that bill1s hotel keeper
- and cab drivcrs 1t was colossal or, a
d our American cousins would sny "mOnu
, mental checkr that 80 long gave til
n claimant tho honor Of company to whic
4, lac was not born. Tho Same indisponSEbl
Il article emboldcncd tho onoo notorious MI
u Liggens 60 claim thoauthorship Of 'Adar
!, Bcdo" and the "Sccnes OF Clerical Life
~ and enabled him to stand by his propos
~ ferrous claim with an cffrontcry whic
!, practically forced Goroge Eliot from "a
q position Of complete anonymity which sh
"a had at first taken up.
- "Chcok" of the sainc cufiously disease
~ variety encouraged an eccentric individui
II a year or two ago TO travel in the south 4
Franco under the nHmo OF Paul Bourgel
the well known novelist This pseud
Bourgct allowed himself TO hc interyicwc
several times on literary subiccts and n
doubt greatly enjoyed tho pleasure of fint
ing his uttcrancos reported in the paper.
'n Ho was comparatively harmless indiVit
ual, for swlndling did not ontcr into hi
D. plan Of campaign. He paid his hotel bill
and otherwise behaved as an honorabl
" citizen but he could not refrain froi
rs gratifying strange vanity by posing 4
ih the novelist Obviously this wns a mil
n, form Of mania, but still it muat have II
IS. quired q considerable amount Of face /
or speak successfully with his interviewer
w in the gate.
nt In warfare, again, tho samo quality, NJ
e der other names no doubt, has often lc
x, brave men-nt, though few--to victor,
y from the faroi1 time when Gideon, by n
ut aid Of lamps and pitchers and trumpet
y. smote the Midianitcs and tho Amalelsit,
ly hip and thigh 20 the days OF BalaElaN
40 and tho seizure of the citadel Of Cair
20 some IA years ago. IL was mngniicei
&C. CHECK, too, that mnlo Nelson fix n
Up glass 20 his blind eye and declare that
could not sec the admicals signal for 4
he trcat,-Iousohold Words