Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1885 — Obnoxious Enthusiasm. [ARTICLE]

Obnoxious Enthusiasm.

It drives me wild to see grown-up people, accused of possessing common sense, touching a subject with kid gloves when they ought to roll up their sleeves and go in for hard work. This supineness brings manyigood ideas to naught. They are fed on promises and 5 o’clock teas. “I dare not waits upon I would” in a manner to make Lady Macbeth use worse language than she did formerly. Want of earnestness is the cause of this torpidity. Society means ahaff. Enthusiasm is as obnoxious as the plague. To be possessed of an idea which you are ready to defend with blood and treasure is to be a nuisance. You are worse than a criminal.; you are a bore. To bore is to commit unpardonable sin. Let Stanley cross Africa and James Gordon Bennett tie the American flag to the north pole, and both will be feted after they’ve accomplished their self-ap-pointed tasks, because society patronizes success in any form —but equator and north pole must not be mentioned in advance. Columbus may discover America, but he won’t be invited to dine out or to sit for his photograph until he returns home alive. If he doesn’t return it serves him right. Why wasn’t he content with one hemisphere ? Why not let well enough alone ? In my private opinion contentment is a swinish sent'ment. To be satisfied is to wallow in stagnation. But I keep this belief to myself because I desire to live peaceably with my neighbors. Mind you, this criticism applies to what is called “society.”— Kate Field.