THE MAN WITHOUT A FUTURE.
(From London.)
Who Joes not know him, The Man Without a Future, whose life is spent on a playground, and who finds sport in all that comes across his path ? riis thoughts rarely peer over the boundary of to-day—it is of the same stuff on the other side ; and for the rest he has the philosopher’s instinct that nothing is more certain and less wortli looking after than the unforeseen—a Nihilist as sure of his Nirvana as the devoutest follower of the divine Sakya Muni. The man who will not look forward, what more is he than a life annuitant—if you like a soul-annuitant, for his hopps are no bigger than a butterfly’s. But let him tell you he is no nonentity yet awhile, and so believe him ; he is not the least important figure in the nineteenth century. Why he is a Representative Man, the exponent of this blase age. Without a Future ! Ee is a present wonder all the more, an evergreen that acknowledges no autumn, that glistens like (he holly while the oak drops its leaves with the far-off prospect of another spring. When he sees the rushing herd of men running a race with Time, eager to march in the van of the centuries, he stops, looks on, and laughs. He take a step out of the present ? No, indeed—is there not progress enough, within the amble of the hour ? And is it not to him we owe that bear garden, the bar, with its gas-flowering lacquered branches, with its cool fountains of seltzer, and its hob springs of sherry, and the billiard-room and cafe in one, and that latest development of all, the Criterion, and that visit of Paris to staring London, the Oafd Monico ? Then the Skating Kink, where unknowingly he symbolises his own circle, which to the best of his belief, has a beginning and an end, while he goes round and round. These places, which have sprung up to meet hi.s wants, are the chief fields of his jlana-ic : lie frequents them, enjoys them all, with an easy, continuous, diluted ecstacy. There are those who shun him, and with a shrug dispose of his destiny, without his ceasing for a moment to be the same happy being. For does the consciousness ever quit him that he is the idol of women ? His sayings and doings, though so little serious, are sacred to them, and will be as long as he remains a single man, for they are' a most sympathetic sex. What they don’t like in him they slur over with a plenary indulgence. The most credulous of men who believe in to-morrow, and consequently in a wet day, are prone to neglect the easy pastimes Of these‘delectable ones, and to leave time heavy on their hands. Then it is that the Man Without a Future steps in and wins—radiant, with his face of full of joy, The contrast is delightful, for all the hopes of the busy are down the vista of time; his are on his smile ; and his compliments seem so real that they may be paraphrased into a promise of marriage. But the marriage state—no—it has responsibilities—it has a future.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM18780413.2.19.13
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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5319, 13 April 1878, Page 2 (Supplement)
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537THE MAN WITHOUT A FUTURE. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5319, 13 April 1878, Page 2 (Supplement)
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