"HUMAN NATUR."

Thames Star, Volume III, Issue 1690, 3 June 1874, Page 2

"HUMAN NATUR."

"For Art may err, but Nature cannot missi"? > j

I hear many p. ople say, when they wish to give force to the expression of an idea—the .^offspring of their, genius-Hthai " unity is strength ;" and they say this, you know, not from any conviction arrived at hy a^course of philosophic stiidyj; but because they have heard it before, and it happens to bear a decided applicability>to:r{the subject. UJJesides, it sounds' well: it is a kind of statement ihat baffles argument; it's self-evident,! in facjb.r,.,,lJntil ; -lately: I';alwaysr associated' the 'discovery of this truth with atbjeak and 'hungry-looking battle-field, Ciipon which: tw,o.,..armies,: ■— one practically stronger than the other by the force of combination—were stationed, engaging in lively, not ifco say actiyerslaughfcer : \ the stropi|er| ftreipbmißjk tli£ weak*4»ini the same" manner that pugilists of disproportionate and unequal powers arrive at -asatisfactory conclusion as to who's " inanenough " for who. But I find this fact illustrated in smaller ways, and with jesg harrowing results. •I'have been engaged in a laborious enquiry as to why our miners, of whatever, country or opinions, do i&fi concur in one point of vital interest— khe necessity of bwng Cornish. (No references te-7?tbe 'ibuhnipn * j It; ig fashionable in the mining world to: be Cornish. He is an unhappy man who— with a naturally sociable disposition-*----cannot be sure, when •' goin'-up-stret,?' of/meeting a friend who will ask him; in genial and fraternal accents, "How We doin' ;me;ison R " '{And that man is no less, alienated from those beautiful ties; of' universal friendship- if he cannot reply,. with equal regardj to the studied vernacular, " Oh, foine, Tommy, how's gettin' on !«elf?'*t This is' ra? singular fact in human nature, and is worthy of record. liipfesume thel cause of this might be found in the fact that Cornishmen, though few in comparison with; the rest of the populationj retain a" respectable regard for ancient customs—or peculiarities' of any sort; As I take it, other men are less tenacious. Hence the mania. In advance of this theory, I assert—on the authority of an ancient lady friend, the best part of whose life has been devoted to the assiduous consumption of mupheys —that Stannus O'Callaghan, Patsy O'Doolahan, Larry O'Tullpughan, and a number of O'Somebody-elses-tall cousins—were born in Ballemoney, Bajledivitt, or.«' some place else," and now, "Be me sowl, Mr. l Puck, yu can get , divil a word out of '-em but Cornish, an' their mother livin" over the wather, bad luck to their sowls, which is thrue for you sir, as I live, - a woman wjd a fine family of sixteeij childhren "barrin' one, which has set up for himself in the rag shop line, d'ye see, which as I saidi toMrs, Maloney" Yes; here is ample testimony. sure,ly of what I have been saying. ' ' ■"'" • The delightful, -fresh innocence lof youth—ever presenting such a healthful picture tothemindof onewhoas jouineyed . far on the rough sea of life—was beautifully Uliistrated theother njght| 4^4 go 3s somewhat to f = prove tb c the truth; of that Christianlike argument advanced by good men that the world is morally pro* grossing with giant strides. The youth of our town—and indeed other towns—---indulge in a kind of amusement, which f 1 have been informed on] undoubted authority, is termed "flying round." To the uninitiated this would seem to be an arduous kind of spprtr-calculated, Jn fact,i %q ftitiguf |hosej engaged in it. , Not so, however, the term having been applied %o the aforementioned spirit of playful unnqoenae. ';A young mantra Good Templar— and two other young men, also very good, but not :.Templar3, were pursuing this girae with the hearty vigor of their age; -It is necessary for the complete enjoyment of " flying round " that you enter places of; refreshment,-add be Accommodated with stimulants —mild or otherwise as you/" feel dispoged."! Tills the herpes- of legend djd, and the! Good Teniplar^mthJ a simple and c)jil4like humour which distinguishes him, pbnfined.' himself to a gingerbeer bottle. ? I; don't say gingerbeer, because, with a rigid regard for the principles of his Order, he gave instructions to tke fair dispenser Jof these liquid favors to clothe his '" Tommy " in a semblance of outward purity, All will admire this combnation pf yfilue and intellept, added to such a fund of rich, humor, 1 which displayed itself still further when, in boyish glee, Jie so admirably mimicked those " degraded inebriates " by cutting, not only figures of eight, .but all known numerals on the footpath. ,Who says Good Templarism is on the wane ?

Why is it that,; on the occasion of I a fjre; a gale, or any other ftfeafc incident of pomrnqh iatere t'Jhafc Belong at once become^ sociatire- andf maice feelieve "an affection for. their fellow men which they are farfronv feeling ? I went out to see the effects of f the gale on.Sunday nl^nt^ 'an<i i this - circumstance stiudk me forcibly. Everybody I met smiled at me .in a I»»nner which—not knowing llie causd, I" took tv be most idiotic " If {I met a man at a corner, holding on by any

convenient support, that man would— though looking excessively uncomfortable —smile at me in .a ghastly manner, and make other advances of a seemingly friendly nature. I found out subsequently that the cause of this could be explained by the fact that "fellow feeling makes us wondrous kind." I felt inclined to resent this at first; because on a dark, gloomy night, when a man thrusts himself in your way and grins at you, it looks very much like as though he had designs upon i your person or effects. But it is quite a recognised thing. A man "who is ever 1 so coldblooded will hug you to his heart •at a gale-or -a file, and on the morrow would not knowiyou from a croWif „*

Puck.