The Daily Comet

Great

What a great age is this for great men? Nothing is small now-a-days. Every thing is great. We have "great exhibitions," "brilliant entertainments," "large and enthusiastic meetings," "wonderful and astonishing performances," "Great remedies," "Wonderful Panaceas," and great men are so plentiful that it is hard to say which is greatest. There are no degrees of greatness now-a-days. All great men are the greatest. We have so many great poets, priests, politicians, pickpockets, pill-makers, philanthropists, printers, and small talk Philosophers, that it is very difficult to determine which is the greatest. Certainly they cannot all be judged by the relative amount worth and merit that each man places upon himself: if this were done half the world would be written fools. No, it is as we have said there are no small men. The greatest of the great men, in our estimation are the fellows that the towns and cities belch up to wire-work and arrange the affairs of the nation—to say who shall be President and who shall fill the "cabinet" as it is called. These are the great politicians, but there are many of the same tribe that assemble periodically to say how state affairs shall be regulated, and it is astonishing how many good patriots can be drummed up for a Ward meeting when the mandate from a party club goes forth to "Rally." Quiet citizens have nothing to fear as long as there is such a brilliant host to regulate things as our country can now boast of. Fear not. These are the sentinels on the watch tower, and if a dog barks or a goose cackles, they are up and at once to arms to guard the public exchequer. Praiseworthy Patriots! Honorable pure and great men! how much the Republic owes to your untiring vigilance, the prosperous condition of things bears testimony. Monuments should be erected to hand down your names—and pass up through the vista of time the greatness of your unperishable fame,—each humble citizen should give some continual evidence of his due appreciation of your virtues. Your Daguerreotypes should be stamped in mosaic work on the street pavements so that your honest physiognomies might always be before the people." How can mankind ever sufficiently reward you for your self-sacrificing vigilance for the public? Certainly it cannot be done in the bestowal of a paltry office. No, your virtues must look for a reward hereafter. As to ourself we shall go at an early season to some cheap picture dealer, and get likenesses enough to paper our sanctum, and place — in the center of the collection.