The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1851-12-18
What Constitutes a Gentleman.

and every man should aim 10 attain that
character. But difficulty arises iom the va
ridus faEcies thai more or ress prevail as TO
what constitutes true gentlemen.
That young man with diminutive shoe
brush ON his upper lip, imagines himself
fine specimen Of the genuine article. How
elegantly he is stiffened and starched with
corsels, straps and dickey His boots are
just the fit, and the tailor made "dead hit"
when he cut that suit. He has no visible
means of sustenance, and ye; he picks his
teeth. with elegant monchalence, in front of
the most fashionable hotels. He aries,
too, gold-headed cane wears guizzing
glass, swells like toad, while talking of his
upper-ten acquaintances; goes TO the thea
tre; crilicises learnedly dances divneiy
is admired by the ladies' and, after dark,
prowls the streets 10 insult the poor girl who
is returning home wearied with ioilsome la
Dor.
But that youth makes great mistake. He
has not a single element OF the true gentle
man in him. Strip him of his gewgaws, and
the disiinc ion between him and the monkey
wouldn't be worth mentioning. Brainless
and heartless; they are the mere scum that
float upon the surface of society, of no use
to themselves or any body else, except as
dolls. A million of them wouldn't be worth
as much as little black Billy Button, who
flourished in Middle street, for he did do
something, although he made mistake
when be whipped his wife for letting the
Lightning get into his closet. If the tailor
the milliner, and the laundress, were to des-
eH these minikens, the difference between
the false and the true would soon appear.
But look at that well-dressed man with
black whskers. Is not he gentleman
We should hardly dare 10 tell him 10 his
face otherwise if we should. he would
probably knock US down, and we can assure
those of our readers who have tried il, that
the position Is neither comfortable nor grace
ful. Yet we will whisper in your ear, pri-
vately, mind, and while his eye is turned
another way-lhat he is not gentleman
con the contrary, quite the reverse" He
lives by victimizing at the gambling table;
or by other still more dishonorable practices
| He is worse than the semi comical animal
above described in possessing greater ability
10 injure.-Yet, specifically, though the
foulest bogus, he tries 10 pass to!erably well
as current coin in society. Very likely, the
State Prison, or the gallows-if hanging is
moi meanwhile abolished-will snap him up,
and close his evenful career.
Some men have notion that to be true
gentleman, they must scoG at religion, avow
disbelief IN future life, sneer at professors
OF the christian faith, repudiate all virtue,
boast of their licenliousness and seduc,ons,
drink deep and long, and swagger their way
downdard TO eternity.
Faush such miserable wretches are 10
society, what the green, putrid, siaguant,
miasmatic waters are 10 the beautiful garden,
exhalng the poisonous odors of death all a.
round Them.
Dress does not make a gentleman.-If it
did, then the greastest fool and knave in the
! world might lay claim TO the character, pro-
vided he had money enough, or suflicien!
credit.
Fashionable accomplishments do not
make the gentleman. A man may be exqui-
sitely courteous in his demeanor-he may
touch his hat and make bow with the re-
puted grace of Chesterfe ld-he may be all
smiles and suavity-yet
f'He may smile and smile, and be villain"
|, is an old adage, ":hat mind makes the
man." The exterior is but the covering.
Many suppose that this outer packing of
muscle, and bone, and sinew, is the real
man; and ladies sometimes say, "Wbat a
handsome man he is is!'-Why, if they could
only look beneath this fine frame work, and
see the interior life, they would ehold de-
formity utterly loathsome-all snarled and
twisted out of shape by demoniac p; ssions.
The HEART makes the gentleman. We
have seen men stepped 10 the eyelids in dir
est poverty, battling manfully, hour after
hour, and day after day, with adverse fate,
for the mere permission 10 hre; and we
have felt that they deserved our profoundest
homage. We see such, indeed, daily. Un-
dismayed they struggle on with their hearts
warm, and their hopes ever on the wing. In
little circle of their home--a place sacred
and glorious, and beautiful TO them, however
humble, they manifest all the amenities, and
drink in all the joys that home is designed
10 produce. With firm confidence in Provi-
dence and the final rest in Heaven, they
meet all the trials cheerfully, and breast the
heavies. waves on the rough ocean of life
with strong srms. Through all, forever
beams out the heart-Snile
These are gentlemen, not fashioned by
the tailor's skill, no, spawned from the mon
ey.chesi, but made and moulded in elegant
proportions by the artistic hand of the Great
| Architect.
On our way 10 church on the Sabbath day,
we sometimes see young man leading his
| venerable mother 10 the house of God. We
mark the wa,chful eye with which he guards
her lettering s,eps-how gently he leads her
along--how his whole mind is absorbed in
tender regard for his mother. Her face is
scanned all over with wrinkles-but she has
no wrinkles in him.
Who denies his title 10 a patent nobility ?