POLITE BULLIES.

Evening Star, Issue 4122, 13 May 1876, Page 4

POLITE BULLIES.

' : ' (From the Liberal Review.) The man who tells yon-r-and as he tells yqti nearly fells yon to the ground—that he v js a plain John Bull, and the next moment, to show that be means what he says, relieves himself of some personal insulting remark, ' iar* now seldom to he met with except in certain agricultural districts to which the march of modern civilisation has not yet extended, and among people who occupy a position not very high up in the middleclass scale. His place, however, is being taken in general society by a being of an equally objectionable type. This being is half buffoon and half bully. Wherever he may be he is unhappy unless he is drawing •' notice to himself, and he endeavors to do this in a variety of objectionable ways. He is not , content with piaying the part of a clown, who []' .has unfortunately forgotten all his jokes, and has to supply their place with senseless and dreary " gag " of his own con- : coction,and with indulging in clumsy antics ■which would disgraee a well-trained bear, bnt amuses himself by casting ridicule upon

every one with whom he is brought in contact; '•''Yott'may be engaged in the discussion of some philosophical question, and he will, burstjn upon your discussion as if he were an avalanche, and flounder about, and bawl, and rave until he remains master of the situation, and is allowed to have the field to himself for a short season. Anything which appeals to the finer feelings of humanity'he ruthlessly rushes at, and as even the wisest and most stoical are not always superior to the influence of the ravings of a fool, the result is that he often succeeds in putting an end to conversation which has any heart or soul in it. The misfortune is that he

is not always discouraged as he ought to. be. Indeed, in many instances, he receives direct encouragement to continue in his idiotic course. "How funny you are," will say some onewho, if he would own the truth, is in a state of intense disgust, and "1, declare that I new saw anyone so amusing," will cry another,:who is ready to bitei his fingers ends with vexation, yet feels that, though he himself is in anything but a celestial frame of mind, he may as well appear amiable and say something pleasant. Thus the conceit of the polite bully is pandered to,, and he is rendered far. more objectionable than he might "otherwise be. It is quite possible that he: imagines that he is really an immensely funny fellow, and that his presence adds life to any party. At the same time, though he

may imagine that he is funny, and though he is continually making efforts to entertain bis humbler fellow-mortals, he strongly objects to rivalry, and when he meets with a kindred spirit anything but peace and harmony prevail. Indeed, such a pair will, in a given space of time, contrive to say more insulting things to each other than any mortals, not even excepting those smirking individuals who are pleased to consider themselves ladies' men, and become perfectly awful when they sneer at each other in tones of quintessence of politeness and in words of the most cutting character. One polite bully-always fails to see the jokes of another polite bully, and it will be strange indeed if a couple of them do not succeed in rendering their host uneasy lest they should quarrel in an outrageous manner. The polite bully is something more than a would-be joker and immensely funny man. In nine caseß out of ten he is an impertinent meddler. Invite him to your house and he will show you how this, that, and the other are wrong, and might very well be a great deal better. You may object to his interference and may show him so. But he is superior to anything you may do in this respect, unless you forge. yourself so far as to show him the door and tell him that you

feel constrained to deny yourself the honor of bis further acquaintance. Attempt to argue him into the belief that your way of doing things, is, after all, the right way, and he will shout at you as if yotf were deaf, and as if you and not he weW : the interloper; and he will stick to his view of the with a pertinacity which would be simply admirable if his purpose were only laudable. Then he snaps you up wherever you may make a slip, and is constantly howling jokes of which-you are the victim. If you are a marriageable man and hold an animated conversation with a ..t-lady;"he"wUl.deduce certain conclusions from the fact, and at the top of his voice go about "proclaiming them. Make a speech upon any subject and he toll keen up a galling fire of running criticism/iu a vely audible .tone. Be attending to your private JfflsineßS and he will invade your sanctum audifiep you from your labors while he explains how you aretbrowing away the finest chance that man ha» ever had,. and tow you might,. if yem only would act like a sensible being instead of a fool, makVi fortune in. something less than.

no time, whereas you are now grubbin along in a fashion which would be degrading to a man of spirit. Be bent upon sober discourse and he will cap your remarks with speeches which would be pointed if they came up to his intentions, and you will find that he is invariably ready to speak of anything that you had said, done, or written in a chaffing way, the sarcasm of which is unfortunately less apparent than its insolence. Sit with him at a dinner table and you will discover that his voice is the only one which

can make itself heard for any length of time. Yet it must not be imagined that he is a I "full" man. Indeed, he is a living proof of the fact that even the " emptiest" men niay find a great deal to talk about if they will only say whatever first comes into their head, however absurd the same may be. The question arises how ought polite bullies to be treated, seeing that hints are thrown away upon them. Some good might be done if people would " cease to" laugh at their" funniness." But somethiug more than this is needed. The intellectual freebooters, so to speak, of society, who decline to be called to order—who will not be shown that they are acting offensively to you until they are the recipients of downright insults —should be insulted. Talkativeness is, of course, to be fostered ; but it is preposterous

to'suppose that a certain body of men ought to be allowed to constitute themselves general nuisances by standing in the way of ( the display of true merit and the development of .rational intercourse between men and women. While retiring people could be encouraged, forward ones should be discouraged ; and as the first step in this direction wise persons will, in future, show very plainly what they think of those loudvoiced, hectoring individuals whose buf foonezy is even more abominable than their taste is execrable.