Meanness. (WRITTEN SPECIALLY FOR THE YOUNG.)

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1860, 7 June 1884, Page 6

Meanness. (WRITTEN SPECIALLY FOR THE YOUNG.)

Therk is no quality which is so disliked as meanness, yet there are few who really understand the true meaning of -the word and confuse it with others. We are continually hearing, " How mean he is ;" " I never saw him shout;" " He would skin a flea and sell the carcase to the candle works :" " His heart is in his pocket," and the like ; but when we examine into the matter or come to know the man referred ta we change our opinion of him. If we turn to our dictionary of synonyms we find the following given as the equivalent of the -word meanness : Illiberality, stinginess, niggardliness, penuriousness, selfishness, sordidness, and the like. In reality, however, meanness is too often used to express what should be called providence, prudence, judiciousness, judgment and wisdom. On the other hand, liberality is equally misused, and too often means folly, profuseness, waste, prodigality and other undesirable qualities. We want when using words to have the real meaning in our minds, otherwise we will sadly misuse them. A moan, man is really despicable because he is the incarnation of selfishness and selfishness, or an utter want of consideration for other people, ia a quality • that, if it were general, would make this world a very Sahara. But selfishness is another word that is not always clearly understood. All men are and Bhould bo selfish, for if they are properly selfish they benefit not only themselves but the world at large. The world, however, is a very bad judge, and its superficial use of the words "xneanness"| and "selfishness" often does

great harm to the young, who are peculiarly sensitive, aud -would sooner anything thp,n hava cither of these qualities attributed to them. Too oftt-n, when wo make a oloee J examination, w« will find that tho " liberal " man is the real mean man. aad thai what looked like liberality ii in reality meanness of the worst kind. Let me put a catechism. I<3 it moan to lay by money to provide capital to start in business and make you ■•self independent, instead of spending it on vanity or in " shouting " for companions, who, i£ misfortune overtook you, would pa r s the other side ox the way ? la it mean to lay up j a store oi: monoy in the bank or in investments, so that when sickness or age corned r you will trouble no '.ne for your snppoit? la it mean to live within your ineouio, however small, so that no person will lose a penny oy you? la it mean to dress and live according to you)" means, consistent with putting a little by for the rainy dzy that is sure to come ? la ifc mean to deny yourself luxuries and expenses r.hich you can do without, so that when the i torm breaks it will not throw you on tho hands of your friends or tha State ? T<s ie mean to de^ofn your time out of woik to fJcIL-improveinenfc rather than spend it in fiequeutinr barn and billiard-rooms and betting-rooms? When you have answered there questions properly, yon will perhaps have a little better idea of what meanness 1a than you havo at present, prejudiced as you may ba by the too frequent application of the term meanness to what is really thrift, prudence, self-denial, and the tiuc3'u wisdom and consistency with ths dictates of nature J,nd of God. I am going to give you the Lwtory of two young fellows 1 know, whose careers I followed closely, and it will probably illustrate my meaning moro than columns of didactic TTiiting. Thpy started in equal plar.e i of life, with about tho favae palanes and pioapects. Bofore many years thpy had acquued cbuacters with then 1 acquaintances that wire gs uerally accepted by the shoit-sighted woild, but which were far from true. The youth whom I will call Brown was known in fills town as a first-rate fellow, fico and genc-rouj, sociable) and ready to share whatever he had with hi ; friends and acquaintances. People would say, " What a fine, free young chap Biown is ; not a mean bone in hi 1 ? body. What a contract to Smith." Well, Biown wa3 a nice young fellow. Be went to all public pacties ; whenever a theatrical troupa came he would attend their performance ; he wag ever ready to return a " shout ; " he dressed well ; he lived well ; theic was no pinching oi" saving with him. Bur. as a matter of fact, whs the money he was spending lightly his own ? True, he was paid it every week fo? his woik. But was it right that he should spend tho money the week he received it ? Was ho doing his duty lo society by doing so ? I maintain he was not. For eighteen yean his parents had spent upon him the monoy they had earned. Wai! he not therefore under tho obligation to lay by in oidcr to provide for his support in clip future, nnd the support of the children that would in tho course of nature bo his ? I think that ia the rigni way to look at things. Society is after all buf a great company of shareholders, and their duties to each other am exceedingly well defined. And it is the duty of each member to provide for hi<3 fuiure. Smith was a lad of quite another kind. lie remained at home at nights and read and studied ; he was seldom seen at public-house bars or dancing saloons, and ne did not sp3nd money in " shouting " or billiards, or racing and the like. He pat by every vveek to much out of his parnings. Ho joined provident societies, and was a constant attendant at the local Mechanics' Institute. For all these reasons ho earned the jopi'ta^lon of boiug "close," and "mean," and "stingy." For all that you must not suppose he had not his shares oi tho pleasures of thii world. He aie heartily — which Brown did nob always, especially after " making a night of it ; " he indulged in manly sports ; he enjoyed the mo it delightful of all companions, good books. He never had a sore head through wino, and ho never had an empty pocket through gambling, or lt shouting," or bettinj*. Ho could appreciate a pretty woman quite as much as Brown, but he did not find pietty women behind bars or in questionable resortb. Of the two men Smith was far by theLappier. He had never learned to think pleasure what Brown had thought pleasure : so he never missed it. And he walked the streets with that proud consciousness that a man feels who has money in the bank, and against whom not a ward can bo *?aid : a pleasure that worlds cannot buy. That pleasure wos never poor Brown's. Hr often had to slink down the street with tho fear on him that he would be dunned, and the consciousness in his heart that he was not puie or good. Yel the world applauded the one and affected to despise the other — effected, fo> they admhed him in reality. Any many silly young fellows, tickled by this silly praise took Brown as a pattern, and nought to copy him aa closely as possible. Twenty years havo passed since thete men started in life, and what are they now ? Smith is a man well to do, who could retire on a competence to-morrow it he liked ; with & happy wife and fine family ; respected by everyone, bowed dowa to by the whole world. " Mr. Smith " is equivalent^ everything that is respectable and solid and good and happy. And poor Brown ? He went on his course, striving to be accounted liberal and finespirited and all that set of thing. It ended in embezzlement and the gaol; and to-day he lives a broken-down man, who spends half the year in prison, a burden to himself and his country. And worse than that, he has dragged down to his level a trusting, loving woman, and he has given to the wo^d childien who will probably follow in his steps. Not, of course, that all Browns have such on ending, but some of them have, and that is enough. Now this story is not a fable or parable ; it is the history of two men I have known, without any coloring, and the worst of it is that of the two Brown was really the best man. He was brighter, better hcaited, more whole-souled than Smith. Had he accepted a different meaning of the word meanness and looked upon it as Providence and prudence he would be holding his head to-day far higher than Smith. Meanness, in its true sense, ij a most undesirable quality, but thrift and prudence aro not. The golden time when we have the making of our lives is that which lies between eighteen and thirty — perhaps I should say i twenty-five. It is then we can lay up not only a capital of money and knowledge for the future, but what is of even greater importance, a capital of habit';. If we then acquire habits that are not only of no value, but which will be a clog upon our future, we are in great danger, and I can conscientiously say that there is no habit so productive of happiness in life as that of thrift, that of knowing the value of money. It may be abused ; it may grow into meanness and miserliness, and so prove a misery, but even then it will not give half the pain that the opposite habit will inflict, aad it will not injure society. Let young men, therefore, who are going on the broad road stop a minute and reflect upon what is meanness in reality, and probably they will check themselves before it is too iate. Young man, just starting life, which will you be — Brown or Smith ? Donald Cameron.