THE HELPLESS MAN. (Liberal Review.)

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 205, 2 September 1873, Page 2

THE HELPLESS MAN. (Liberal Review.)

Man has one determined and relentless enemy. This foe is a desperate hypocrite, for- ho pretend? he is a man's devoted friend. Some people may imagine that wo refer to the gentleman, who, in our childhood's days, we li ive, in our dreams seen approaohmg us, -wit li deadly intent, waiving his tail,, shaking bis horn, making a terrible clatter with hisho^f, and bololnng ikme? of fire and sulphurous smoke from his horriblo looking mouth. Wlnlu quite prepared to admit the deadly enmity which tins individual entertains towards th& human raws, and the great ctil which it is. his power to inflict upon tripping moitaK he is not the one to whom we allude. Nor do we refer to tUe gentler sex, who, the primary cause of man's fall, hare erer since, according to the showing of some philosophers, been the main instrument of his sticking in fcho slough of despond. We have little sympathy with that parrot cry nbout there being no mischief in the world without a woman being at the bottom of it. Man n professedly the stronger animal, the superior being, and so, instead of allowing himself to be led astray by a woman he should brinz into play those extraordinary poweis about which he makes so miHi fuss and teach her to know better than to attempt to divert him from the straight path. But the fcirt is that man is a most over-rated being, and he himself is the worst enemy he- has This sounds like some »tal aplatitude, but platitude though it be the fact remains. We have no intention of preaching a sermon, preferring to leavo such a task to the parsons, who ure better enabled to satisfactorily perform it than we are. It is sufficient to prove our cue to point at some of the vaganei in which man indulges. it is an old saying that give a thief enough rope and he will »• hang himself, and it is one which has a considerable substratum of truth. It is equally as true a remark that give a man sufficient time and opportunity and he will make a fool of himself. It is only by keeping him hard at work, and forcing on him sach employment as shall prevent his. thoughts following their natural bent, that ifc is possible to make him go straight. Hold him in hand, and lie is perhaps a noble an'm&l, < give him a free rein and let him go entirely hii own way and who can avoid the conclusion that he is anything but a majestic being. He is always bringing upon himself mortification of some kind or another. He drinks too much, he eats more than he ought, he gambles, he tnkes excessive physical exercise or he does not take enough, and he indulges in proceedings of winch it is simple kindness to say nothing. 1 ear him inanely drivelling of how be has fallen, hear him making resolutions to reform himself, resolutions which you,, may he very certain, nine times out of ten, are only made to be broken, and if you can avoid feeling a species of contempt for the fellow then all we can say is that you are not a very susceptible person. The world recognises the fact that he in perfectly unable t& take care of himself. Hedged in on all sides as he is by protecting barriers he yet manages to prove that he is an adept at doing those things which he ought not. When he is \oung, it is the constant fear of those wio, having passed 'through life themselves, may be suppose^to know most what is likely to happen, that he will form soflo discreditable liaison, marry a barmaid 01 a can-can dancer,, lose ft small fortune at billiards, and, perhaps, borrow something without first going through the formality of asking the owner's permission. He does not always do so badly as this,, but invariably ho commits imprudences of which the world only becomes acquainted with a very small portion. It i» f e lt_especially if he shows a wayward disposition — that he will sever b» safe, will never do anything but stand on the brink of a precipice, until he gets a wife to look after him and it becomes imperatively necessary for him to restrain his natural inclinations in order to be in a position to maintain those why are dependent upon him, If he were such a prodigy of all the virtues, as he is sometimes represented to be, would he not be able to perform the apparently simple task of looking after himself? Would ifc be necessary for him to be put under restraint in order to induce mm to act properly ? Would he ever drink himself to death ? Would he mix in circles where his reputation, his puree, and his health alike suffer ? What good can be said of such a helpless piece of monotony ? Can any ? The. fact is, the perfectly free man is the victim to a sad disease which is called ennui. He is continually haunted by the impression that he is doing nothing, hut that he ought to be doing something, and yet he doei not know exactly what to do. From work, he instinctively shrinks, unless it be thrust upon him. Any pastime that requires sustained intellect unl exertion he regards with great disfavour. Comparatively few men read, accepting that term in it* proper sense. Not many devote themselves to any branch of art. Bv far the v«t majority who have the chance lead a semivagabond life, which clogs their intellects and does not improve their physical bodies. It should bo an easy matter for a mnn to b« able to beguile the tedious hours, and his inability to do so shows whab an impotent being he is. An animal occup : es his spare time in chewing the cud, sleeping,, or performing some similar function. Man makes use of his leisure to 101 l about, only breaking the monotony of doing so by now and then rushing into some ibsurd vagary. Does he materially improve as he grows older ? Not very much. He become* sobered down, and forsakes some of the follies of his youth. But the reformation is mor& apparent than real. He sleeps more, and as a rule drinks more, and eats more, than when young, but experience has taught him to gratify his more sensual tastes with some degree of decorum .. Thus he does not imperil his position of respectability by any suddenly irregular proceeding. Bu*; he does himself none the less'injury, for all that, &9 becomes gouty, apoplectic, and dyppeptic. Ask any medical man whether, in most instances, these diseases are not simply the product of man's own foity and he will answer in the affirmative.— yea, even though he be gouty, apoplectic, or dispeptic himself. Could any more conclusive proof of man'i fplly be adduced ?- Pages might be filled with accounts of the much lauded being's follies. He is often nothing more nor less than a servito imitator of others, and is led. to mutate not that which, id in itself good but that which is performed by some superior noodle to himself. It must not bo understood that philosophers and the leading men of the world are included in, this general condemnation, though they are frequently, in some respects, addicted to the mo»t ridiculous practice*. Tliia much maj be safely asserted— that the ordinary man, is, unless pressed by business or devoted to tome, hobby, no . more fit to be trusted' alone than ia a chud- without a-nurae-to look after it.

A public meeting was held afcLevuka, called bj a resolution , of the Municipal Council, to proteit against giving-tha natives, the right to Tote indiscriminately. Mr Forwoood/ the late Attorney-General of the place, said that the question wa» a, vital one. If the intentions of the G-overnment were carried out, it came to this— that the whites were to be ruled by the. Pijians, who, if allowed to. vote, would be wholly guided us to how they should vote by their chiefs. It then, follqwed, that the Ministers woujd put in. whom they chose, and with., a House of their .own men Ministers would become autocrata. It was a matter affecting the free action of the settlers ; and; in endeavoring to lead thfi elections of the country, the. Mimsteis had fallen back upon the Judges. It was «nattempt from which tkey themselves had recoiled, and so, they thought to put the onui upon.the Judges. The. Judges . had been led into this, matter in a manner that they should not have been, fie did. nob hesitate to say .that the opinion, of the three Judges was wrong in point of law, and contrary to the law of this country. OJh&y had been led into giving a decision from a clause to the effect bhat the Judges when* called upon must give thaii opinion. The Ministers l^wT with the Judges, taken uppn them to say that a certain i^p was against the Constitution Act. In the last ejections the number who voted -was seventy or eighty onlj, when the number who should have polled' was four or five times that ; and the reason for their not voting was that an oath was re--quired from them. The qualification of electors' clause says, «' who should have been- domiciled for six months in the country." That clearly excluded the natives, Uie term was inapplicable to them. It all hung upon the meaning of the word *' domiciled," He proposed, " That in the opinion of" this meeting the public deoision of the Judges in reference to. the right of Fijians to vote is extra-judicial and exparte, and not binding on the returning officers." The motion was oarried— the absurdity of granting the franchise to semibarbarous tribes having bcea fully pprated out by several speaker*. The New York papers report the discovery of atrocious murders committed by a family consisting of two men and two women, named Bender, near Cherryvale, Lapetfce County, Kansai. Thirteen mutilated bodies have been found buriod in the garden of the house where this family lived, but from which they fled before suspicion was excited or a search brgun. The house is on the open prairie, and not at all concealed by timber. The Benders kept this houne aa a sort of wayside tavern, and closer to the road is a building that was used as a stable. The main building was divided inlo-two rooms, the front and larger one being used for the purpose of serving meals, and the rear room as a sleeping apartment, in which there were two beds and some few articles of additional furniture. Attached to the house in the rear is a garden h and the land on which the property is located, is about tw& acres in extent The Benders were not visited by the neighbor* bo any great extent, as they did not bear a good reputation, especially one of the women, supposed to be Johannah Bender, but better known by the name of Kattie Bender, who is described as an unprepossessing young woman. She professed to have a ponert to cure all diseases ''he presumed incentive to muTdcr in all the cases was plunder, and there is reason to believe that the victims had been lured into the tavern 1 by the Bendrrs lor the purposes of robbery and assassination. The community in which thesa atrocities v«eie committed became greatly excited, and a man who was supposed to be implicated in them was put to the toiture by the infuriated people. When the mail left nothing had been discovered as to tbe murderers, who had left their home some days befoic the discovery. " «A Missouri Jurge lately delivered a unique death sentence. Ho said to the cindidato for the gallows :—' lf guilty, you ri lily deserve tl c fate which a«uit»you ; if innocent, it will be a gratification for you to feel that you were hanged without such a crime on your conscience ; m either case, you will be di'lncid froii\ h world of i:ue.