Philosophers, particularly those who have sought to solve the simpler mysteries of creation, have always been greatly perplexed when endeavoring to find any plausible reason for the existence of certain insects and reptiles, which curse the earth, the air, and the water. They have never succeeded. The mystery is unexplained and unexplainable. But, while it is impossible to explain the whys and the wherefores of repulsive, pestiferous, and poisonous creatures, we may study their habits and guard against contact with them.
It becomes our duty at this writing to discuss the “scab.” Generally, people quickly comprehend what is meant when a creature, in the form of a man, is referred to as a “scab.” Shakespeare says, a “scab” is a “low fellow” — how low the great bard does not intimate, but he doubtless believed that a “scab” was the lowest in the list of bipeds. The term “scab” has a significance wholly repulsive. It is suggestive of filth, disease, and corruption. There is nothing in the term “scab” to redeem it from loathing. When a creature in the form of a man rightfully receives the sobriquet of “scab,” he is known to be a mass of moral putrescence. He sinks to the level of a loathsome reptile. Honorable men shun him as they would a pestilence. A scabby sheep, a mangy dog, outrank him. He becomes a walking, breathing stench. He is as destitute of soul as a dungeon toad. He is as heartless as a man-eating tiger. He has no more conscience than a tarantula. To call him a dog would be an insult to the whole canine race.
The average scab is a moral leper — unclean through and through, so vulgar and beastly in his instincts…
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Auteur: Eugene Debs
