The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1901-03-08
Col, COpeland's Lecture.

hJCIdIg lOlhS lTOil ncdIDy DOlubS Oh lue
county, enjoyed the intellectual luxury
of the lecture delivered by Col. L. +.
Copeland, of Harrisburg, Pa, at the
Opera House Tuesday evening. The dis
course was listened to with unrelaxing
interest by the crowded audience.
A good many years ago, the speaker
said, he was here to give lecture. A
political speech was to be made first by
a certain candidate in the hotel lobby,
after which all would adjourn to the
Opera House to listen to the COL: but
the politician spoke at such length that
only four persons followed to hear the
lecture. OF course Columbians could
not blame him, therefore, if he sent in a
protest when he was invited to come
this time. lie was { lad to face such an
audience as was presented to him last
night 1t was an augury of good things
for Columbia. Nothing showed greater
intelligence, he thought, than we'll
packed audience at a lecture course,
lie said he would speak on "Snobs and
Snobbery," and he knew the lecture
would be enjoyed, because every one
liked to hear his neighbor abused. tie
went on to say that God was no respecter
of persons, but man was. Man believed
in, and practiced what is known as
caste-the cast distinction which men
set, Man is a religious, political, com
mercial and social being.
Religious caste was the first set up in
the world, and was done so by Cain and
Abel, and since that time blood had
flowed, people imprisoned, lives lost at
the stake, and homes wrecked, because
of difference in religion. The next
form of caste was political life. Men
had to have a caste, they thought.
Politics divided many, and nations
would 60 to war and cut each others
Threats because of difference. There
was also commercial caste, or caste of
occupation. The primitive man was a
caste of all trade. He did his own work
and made his own things. But now,
occupations are more divided, and peo-
pie put on airs if they are just'a round
higher in the trade than another. The
social line of caste is also well drawn.
Mrs. Grundy" has more to do in regu-
lating the social life than any one else.
She presides at our birth, and officiates
at our funerals. Lives are even wrecked
to please Madam Grundy.
The speaker had gone to school with
a red headed, freckled faced boy, who
started out to make his living shining
boots. From boot black he went to
meat store, from there to a broker
Office, and was now millionaire, who,
not long ago, turned his daughter out
! because she married a shoe -maker-a
man who made shoes like the ones he
used to shine.
The older the country, Uol. Copeland
said, the more rigid the caste. In India
a mans life was governed entirely by
caste. English lie is stratitied from
top to bottom on caste. In America
free republican America don't have
any caste. We say we don't, but we lie
like blazes. We say we are creature
equals, but we practice as much caste as
anybody. In England, merchant, be
he big or little, is known as ''shop-
keeper" and is looked down upon by the
nobility. In America, merchant of
some means thinks he is tonier than the
little merchant. If you don't believe it
Just ask his wife and daughter. Ameri-
cans are the only people in the world who
predicate caste on the street. Your
head may be as round as a coacOanut
and your mouth like mules, but if you
live on Fifth avenue, New York, you are
tony. Americans enjoy exclusively
the caste of color, tho we boast of our
freedom and equality. At restaurants
in foreign lands, the speaker had sat
down to the table with lily whites, black
and saddle-color, all mixed. He was
once at very swell affair in England,
Lords" and hunkies were on all hands
and the guest of honor was a negro
Verify, verify" thought the speaker
"this is 200 miles from the Declaration
of Independence, or this darkey wouldn'
be sitting here" Dean Swift, the phi
losopher and wit, said ''all tragedy has
a comic side" The natural and norma
passes our attention, but the Immature
attracts from all quarters. AS an illus
tration, he said, that not long ago ht
met man on a street in a city with the
n ost wonderful and peculiar nose he ever
saw. He was 80 attracted by that nost
be followed it for two blocks. If It hac
been an ordinary nose he would have
followed his own.
The speaker said that caste had its
painful as we'll as ridiculous side, anC
gave pathetic and humorous lllustra
tions of each. He went on to say tha
"snob" is developed from caste. Ih'
egotst in society who thinks society is
huge pie and himself the top crust, is 1
snob. A snob may live in a palace or {
hut; and snobbery is pride gone to seeC
in any pretension of life. There are TIVE
kinds of blood: red blood in ordinar.
folks-blue blood in those who banked
upon their ancestors. There was M
such thing as "blue bloUd' up Yves
where the speaker came from-the PEG
peoples ancestors there had come from
everywhere. But in New England tin
people talked about their ancestors witt
had come over in the Mayflower; in Nir
ginia, it was those who had sprung iron
Pocahontas. Those who bank on bloo'
don't believe in the Darwinian theory
They are afraid lest they might trac
their ancestry back to the animal tina
climbs the tree and swings by his tail
He believed in blood, however, and tn
proper kind of family pride; but the bes
ard bluest blood to be found in the worl'
is found in the man who is true to him
, self, his country and his God. ltdoesn'
matter so much where you came from
but where you are going to. Europ
swarms with lords, but the only lord
ships are brains and character. Georg
Washington, Henry Clay, John Calhoun
] and a long list of others demonstrate tn
fact that they got their nobility, nc