Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 March 1881 — Rank. [ARTICLE]

Rank.

From general observation it seems that a man is ranked according to his wealth and standing in a community. If he has a comfortublo income he is a Major, but if he possess a bank or runs a half-dozen plantations, all letters addressed to him will have the prefix Colonel to his name. When a man looms up as a Commodore, he is a fat bondholder. He owns two or three railroads and very nearly all the people who have business transactions with him. No one has the least idea how many military officers there are in the country until lie travels around. Not long ago an observing man, while on a trip through Georgia, was invited to a fashionable dinner party, and while there was introduced to sixteen Majors, ten Colonels, and eight Judges. He was nothing but a plain Mister, and, as ho gazed at the notables seated around him, he felt like a mere fly-speck in this world. Life suddenly grew gloomy and dull, and the more he thought of his humble position the more melancholy he became. Ho wanted to seek some dark secluded spot and there bay the moon until some one mistook him foradogand shot him with a gun. Sad and listless he roamed about, and whon his heart was sinking with despair he was presented to a Mr. Brown. “Are you plain Mr. Brown? ” he inquired, as the tears welled up in his eyes. “Yes, sir; and I am glad to meet you.” “Friend, brother,” was all he could say as he fell on Brown’s neck and wept. Brown was veritably an oasis in a desert of dignitaries, and life was bright once more. —New Orleans Times. •