Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 January 1877 — Going to the Dogs. [ARTICLE]

Going to the Dogs.

If a public cQchb) corrupt bi* .office, disgrace hie relatives and friends and conduct himaelf in an unseemly manner, the Government is going to the doge! If a minister of the gwpel be detected in an act unworthy ot his cloth, the church »* going to the dogs! If a merchant make a disgraceful failure by which the faqs is developed of his havipg traded upon hie reputation for m-’ Itiuity instead of actual cash capi‘taL the mercantile community is going to the dog.«! If« lawyer, tempted beyond his power of resistance, embezzle the funds of his clients, the bar ie going to the dogs! If» sailing matter intentionally etraad his vessel to get insurance, the merchant marine is going to the dogs! If a farmer commit a crime, the rural population is going to the dogs! Such is the openly expressed opinion of many people jw thia world. Notwithstanding ih« thousands of government offi ciala, ministers of the gospel, merchants, lawyers, shipmasters and farmers who go their quiet ways, attend their respective duties, fuaintpiu honest and upright characters through life, |nd finally die Ls/oved by all who know them, if pne of their number do wrong, the whole class or kind is going to the dogs! Why do people say this? For the same reason that a thousand and pne things are done under our eyes every day, ‘because it is easier than think the thing out. They forget that while one man commits a wrong and his is published throughout the land, ten thousand other men are living a qipet, honest and useful life of' which the world never ue&>*B. They forget that the world ia growing wiser and better every day and that Meir somber view of the wickedness of the present generation is but thereiex of their own misspent lives. This tendency to view the world as constantly deteriorating, is more especially noticeable in elderly people and is attributable largely io the decrease of their power to grasp things as they actually ajre without bias from their own feelings. Xn them it is excusable even if incorrect; but when a young person is heard to rail at the world as going to the dogs, it Is safe to conjecture that the poor world never has nor will jt ever get any great benefit from the railpr. It is a trite but true saying, that they who suspect their neighbor will themselves bear watching, and ao, they who think tbe world i« going to the dogs are themselves on the downward course, jtyood people can always find plenty o/* good in the world, while bad people can seldom discover anything but bad- On the day that a man or woman actually discovers proportion of wickedness in* the world is greater than it yi r as the day before, then should he or she pray to die. No, no! Let lie find tjbe good and the beautiful things wUh which this world is Lei us look upon’the bright side. It is not jiecessyy to deceive ourselves as to facts in order to do this. We can always find plenty of beauty 'and good if we look for it, Let us not walk with pur noses to the ground like dumb beasts; "but with head erect and senses alert, let us take in with every breath the many inhpcent pleasures constantly surrounding ' us. None can seek them i$ even the hu mb lest, the poorest and the most afflicted. The desire, however, must be within the persons themselves and then its gratification is never difficult. Let us give the assurance that a few theiving officials cannot ruin a pation nor a few sinning priests destroy a church, neither can a dishonest merchant bring the trading community into disrepute. Whenever a person is discovered who thinks jjiey cap, straightway suspect him, .unless he is enfeebled by age, for the world” is certainly •quite as good and eyep better today than it was in old tiipes, and is in no danger of going to the dogs.— Rural Stw- Yorker.