The Weekly Comet

The Weekly Comet
Sunday Morning, Oct. 22, 1854.

What a Stupid people is this.

When we set down and ask ourselves the question "what is life," and ponder for a moment on the object of man's existence, we are forced to sum up the conclusion in the words of the Poet, "It is a tale, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

There are many well meaning men in the world, who fold their arms and exclaim "the race, has reached its climax in moral wealth and social happiness--it is futile to endeavour to make an advance step. Man has arrived at the appointed bound which he cannot pass." To think thus is to wear the narrowest feature that narrow mindedness can put on; for it is evident on a single glance at any quarter section, that such is far, very far from the fact.

To leave vain theories in church, as well as State government, let us enquire into the causes, that conspire to make the social compact, what it is.-- A compact under which one half of the world lives upon the other half--a compact under which a man must be either knave or hypocrite-a condition that most effectually chokes out of existence every trace of moral honesty and virtue. How is it, that in a community like this, where the evils of the city are not yet known, that each man is an isolated being-a knave who locks himself within the precincts of his own potato patch, consoles himself with the reflection that the world was created expressly for his sake, and that when he gives up his miserable existence, then and not till then, will be the end of all sublunar things? There are a great many causes united to bring about this un-christian condition-There are errors religious--errors social--errors political, and sooner or later they must be torn down and abandoned.

Narrow minded, and narrow sighted indeed, is the man who looks about him, and deliberately concludes that nothing more can be done to ameliorate the condition of mankind.

In our own lovely little city, it seems to us that there is a retrograde movement in the social condition.-- The spirit and fire of an early day has died out, and wasted away. "Now nobody knows nobody"--there are no social re-unions, no gay gatherings of the young and light hearted-soberness has taken upon itself, a long-faced presbyterian visage that gives the lie to the natural impulses and gives society a staid-stiff, and hypocritical complexion. Everybody is trying to deceive everybody into the belief that all recreation and amusement is expensive and useless. And this leads us to ask again "What is life?" A book could not contain a full answer to the question, and yet it may be summed up in a few words. Happiness should be its object: and this is received only in the ratio in which it is given.

May we ask the young and the old, the rich and the poor of this city, where is there any recreation or amusement to be had in public? Where is there a respectable place of resort for our young men, in the long and tedious evenings? There is no place but the Bar-room and the card table, and these are the common head quarters. The good christian people of this place, who are so very solicitous about the salvation of souls should (if they would do any practical good) look about them, and make effort to improve the moral atmosphere and social condition of our people.