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Hat 19, I860.] The Leader and Saturday A...
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TIU-: rOSTMAX'6 KXOCK. R AT-TAT ! What a...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Mammon Op Respectability. Something ...
If 0 j—the respectable man is he who plumed- himself so hugely on having' accused and procured the trial of Socbates . This , man , byname Anyttjs , we are told , became quite elated with his imaginary importance , " as if , " said the sage , who , going 1 barefooted , was of course not regarded by his accuser as a reputable character , "he had done some great thing in procuring my death . " Had the sage not , indeed , declared against the mode of education , and the usual means by which citizens acquired respect and riches ; and in his own person -and manners showed his contempt of both ? Had he not thereby proved himself a public enemy ? Above all , had he not
stated truths beyond the comprehension of respectable -dullness r Anytus could not understand Soceates , and naturally hated him , as an alien to the narrow sphere of his own intellect , and as one who spoke a foreign tongue . What did Soceates mean by objecting- to Anytus bringing his son up as a leather dresser ? Was not the calling- mi honest road to wealth ? Was it not butter than idleness ? Was it not better than walking barefoot through Athens , and putting puzzling questions to the people in their shops , and withdrawing their attention from the needful pursuits of trade ? He had called it a servile occupation ; but no occupation is servile that . leads to fortune , and a leather dresser in Athens might rise to the highest
offices m tne city . As it was in Athens , so it is in England ; and Anytus here and now will favourably contrast himself , in his pride and power of wealth , with the poor teacher of truth , who neglects to secure the inean-s of decent subsistence .. And Respectability is so far in the right , as such negligence is criminal , or even censurable ; for no liian can be just to others who is net in the first instance just to himself . The war between them is one of extremes , and extremes are always in the wrong . In England , where the pursuit of wealth is the business of all and the passion of many , little regard is paid to one of these extremes : while the other operates as a general example , and by the
force of numbers is preserved from singularity . Our leatherdressers , so to speak , are all respectable men ; and their respectability is esteemed in proportion to their supposed wealth . In all senses , they are inen of repute . Their real wealth is not so much , nor reckoned for so much in the xnarket , as their imagined wealth . They have ' to exaggerate appearances , and he who best preserves them drives the-hardest -bargain . ' It is still , us Mr . Thomas CAEiiYLE writes , and as a witness on the Thuetell trial thought , that he is the . respectable man who keeps a gig . We recollect well reading the passage referred to aloud in the presence of a well-to-do publican . " Ah 1 " said the respectable victualler , somewhat offended by the remark , but recognising its truth ;—• " ah ! if we wish ordinary people to think ¦ differently , ' -they should be differently educated . "
Of the real point in dispute thus hit by honest instinct we make too little account . ¦ Respectability ,- 'in these days , is , for the moment , at a discount on account of the number of criminals she has recently produced . The source of their criminality is doubtless traceable to their nnseducatioii . The guilt of the Pullingees , the Redpaths , the Kobsoxs , the Wattses , was but the fruit of seeds long since deposited in their infant souls . They had been directly or indirectly instructed in the principles of a one-sided respectability , of
which 1111 MaiVitiro ' ttVWot ^ hip *~ ivasr ± he--b « sis ^—Many-a- ^ tinie—hHd-4-hoyheard in childhood , in boyhood , in early manhood ,, that in England ; poverty was the only crime . The honourable poverty to which the had tantl
sage Mid scholar . often willingly submits , they cons y heard treated with contempt . One of these had , indeed , literary aspirations ; but it was not for the sake " of self-development that he cultivated his supposed gilts , but for the ultimate lame and prolit . He was willing to purchase , and acquire by favour , rather than by right , a niche in the temple of Reputation . It was all a means to au end ; and so the end was obtained , the means were indifferent . Fur Mammon is a most unscrupulous god , and his . service , like that of all superstition , permits vil to be perpetrated that good may be
secured , the good to come being always some purpose of self-interest . And the respectable world ( sympathizes with this view of the case . Without any special preference for literature , it will admire- the popular author , and join in the chorus of his praise , because' it thinks that ho is making a great deal of ¦ money . It praises Dickens , Thackeray , and Taylor , because they are understood to bo making or increasing their fortunes . Letters arc respectable when they produce large incomes ; the merit they imply is . ignored , the result is alono considered . It is that which gives the men u standing in society , mid enables them to hold up their heads among tho sons of Mammon .
But while all arc ongnged in the practice of the common idolatry , and each encourages the other , conscience in tho bosom of individuals condemns it on the score of its inevitable immorality . Experience , moreover , continually demonstrates that tho whole if ? false in principle , and leads , sooner or later , to individual ruin . Mam-Mion bus never had it all his own way ; tho other gods have always interfered in an awkward inumior . Tho poor votary has been uninuakod , unrobed , disgraced . The Suciutic principle has at hist proved its superiority , and the prnctico of Anytus hns resulted in
failure . Even in tho moment of his exultation the sago convicted his enemy of blindness in not having soon that of two competitors , * ' he is the conqueror whoso good deeds last for ever . " Tho leather-dressing- speculation did not turn out well in the end ; for the son of Anytus hud certain powers of mind which we ' re incompatible with leather-dressing , anil so ho left his intended pursuit for —none at nil . Having no serious business in lifo , he foil , wo are told , " under tho awuy of low desires , and so fur in evil courses , The youth took to drinking , and drunk night and day . And
Anytus , " says Xenophoj . - , " though no longer alive , has still a bad name for having brought up his son so ill . " The respectable Mammon , then , is not , after alU a trustworthy divinity . " Man cannot live by bread alone . " He has other appetites to satisfy than the mere greed of gold ; and , accordingly , we find , as , in the cases we have alluded to , that the gold men have obtained by fraud or successful speculation , and on , the credit of which they take their place in the respectable ranks ' of society , is nearly always expended in the excessive pursuit of those other appetites . Sometimes , these are . of a laudable character , and have a legitimate career in the honourable paths of ambition ; but more frequently , alas ! they are of a low and depraved kind , and inake a wreck of soul , body , and reputation . The only remedy , we find , is the better education of vouth . 13 ufc what is Education ? Jfc is nofc
mere school or nursery training , but the combination of all the circumstances that modify the development of individual character . Mis-education is due to the general false tone of-society . The world forms its own criminals , and the individuals are not so guilty as the mass . PuxLiNGEE evidently thinks that the Union Bank , notwithstanding the ' enormous amount of his frauds , has dealt unjustly with him . He dares to complain' of their want of Christian charity . " If , " said the prisoner to the Judge , " what I have stated should be considered by your lordship to afford any ground for mitigating the horrors of my imprisonment , I shall be deeply' grateful ; but if your lordship , like the Sank ' , should feel that you can show me no mercy , I shall still bow cheerfully to your decision . " Cheerfully , indeed ! Yes—because lie hud , for the moment , an opportunity of showing his natural hatred for the parties he had injured , and whom for five years he had treated as his natural enemies , : ; nd had ' systematically despoiled of their possessions . But were they not
all alike engaged in the pursuit of Mammon ? Had not they , and such as they , concurred in the sort of education that had made him what he is ? Were not the \ , on their own principles , more faulty than himself ? How could they excuse the carelessness , on their part , which had been his temptation ? Were these the men who could rightly show " no mercy ? " All this is implied in Pullin > gee ' s appeal ; and Society at large , not the Union Bank alone , must submit to the impeachment . The requisite education , th .-refore , enlarges its sphere of operation . It comprises the wlu le , not ¦ merely an individual . Such education is nut , in this country , we are happy'to say , utterly Impossible : In great part , it must be an affair of " Development , ¦ But in the existence of a free press we possess an engine for the enlightenment of the public conscience , and we may reasonably hope that , through its agency , better principles . may . obtain , and the rising generation be brought up under more wholesome influences . - -
Hat 19, I860.] The Leader And Saturday A...
Hat 19 , I 860 . ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 471
Tiu-: Rostmax'6 Kxock. R At-Tat ! What A...
TIU-: rOSTMAX' 6 KXOCK . R AT-TAT ! What a welcome sound is that at all times ! How it calls up a flutter of expectation in the human breast , that i breast which is ever hoping for something—news from home , a | love-letter , a post-office order , ; m invitation to dinner , tickets for i the . opera ,- tidings of the death of some superannuated distant I relation , who is to leave us all his money , and what not besides . | - ^ V - | rr >^ . At »«^ Mtf ^ UvH 4 ^ 1 . i- ^ i . ui—li ^ leiL ^ ibiL-lhii—poatmaii ? . When his ' rat-tat wakes up the echoes of the hall , is it not a race between Miss Lauea from the drawing-room .. and Jemima from the kitchen , who will get . first to the door ? And are papa in the countinghouse and mamma in the parlour , revolving questions' of money and bread sind honey , less stirred by that welcome sound ? Say , O Miss Lauea , how often in the days of Theodore ' s satin waistcoats and impassioned four-sheet notes you were awake with the dawn , listening for the rat-tat of that red-coated Mercury from tho . court of Cupid ? And when Jemima stopped on the stairs to mid her i own letter from that young man in tho Coldstreams , supposed to be I her cousin , have you not rushed on tho wings of impatience in your deshabille , all as you were , to listen for her coming on tho unit and in the cold outside your bedroom door ? And have you not from that-prosaic first lloor lattice watched that man in red as iio came up the street , your heart boating faster and faster as tho sound of bis knocks became louder with his approach p Wlnit a thrill when lie passes next door and advances towards yours ! Do -knock , dear postman , you must have a letter for me . He passes by . There must-bo some mistake , he has overlooked tho letter . You are sure that you caught a glimpse of Theodore ' s " bold Roman" on that outsido one in the straw-coloured envelope ; he will retrace his steps presently , when ho discovers the omission . No ! he has gone down and clown , and now ho is round tho corner . Cruel , cruel postman Jemima ' s younjf man in tho Coldstreams does nob writu exactly a Roman hand ,. and ho spells Jemima with n small j and a superfluity ofm ' s , and comes hopping , and hopes Jemima is well , as this loaves him at present , and baa np more to say at present , and Jumima is obliged to get tho man at tho rag imd bottlo shop to read those burning words for her ; but , for all that , those two hearts ; which' will he pictoriall . y trimsfixed with Cui'iu ' s dart on , St . Valentine ' s Day , uro ns throbbingly responsive to the pustman ' s knock us thine . And when the postninn comes to toll us of dear ones recalled from tho juws of death to lifo , docs ho not bring new life to us ? Tho city merchant is a hard mini , with vqvy httlo room for sentiment in his heart ; but oven ho will bestow a thankful thought upon tho postman who brings him tidings oi tliab despairc'd-of argosy . What functionary who ministers to our wants , or renders us service , is such u universal favourite us tho postman r Tho butcher , tho baker , tho milkman , tho cuts ' -mout man , and the purveyor of hearthstones , nro nil tho declared enemies oi our
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 19, 1860, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19051860/page/11/
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