, 1853-10-22
What is ReSnectabiIiiYl

W uult ID iNNcpNNthuluty
To judge from the conduct and IDEAS ol
some persons among both sexes, resp,cta-
bility consists in driving fast horses, wear
ing rich laces, drinking champagne, or
idling away life. To cut figure in society,
on the promcnadcs, or at watering place,
appears 10 be the sole aim of many women,
who surely We're born for better things
10 cultivate a moustachc, sport two
forty trotter, or act as model exhibitor
Of coats for some fashionable tailor, seems
to be the conception of diguifcd and re-
spectacle career formed by not few Of the
men.
Now, being respectable, in either man Of
won an is, to our notion, doing what is duty
The poorest person, even in what is consd-
cred popularity the humblcst avocation, who
pays his debts, obcys the law and fulGls his
obligations TO society and 10 his fellow crea-
lures, is a thousand times more respectable
Than the wealthy ider, the educated spend
thrift, the callous miser, or the fashionable
fool. So the modest female, whether seam
stress book-foldcr, press tender, or even
house-servant, is in the true sense of the
word, infinitely more respectable than the
extravagant wife who is running her hus-
band, than the thoughtless votary of fashion,
than the butterfly flrt. In a word, worth,
not wealth, constitutes respectability.
Again. 1t is what really is, not what
merely seems to be, respectable, that men ol
sense honor as such. The millionaire, who
has obtained wealth by knavish practices,
though he may creep through the meshes Of
the law, cannot escape the indignant ycr-
dict of an honest public; he may give grand
dinners, drive snowy cquipage, inhabit a
palace, and even subscribe ostentatiously 10
benevolent purposes yet, with all his out
side gliding, people recognize the rottcnncss
within, and from the very summit of his
splendor, trace back the Shiny path by
which he rose. Such n man, let him do
what he will, can never become respecla-
BILE. A gulf, as wide as that between Dives
and Lazerus, separates him from the esteem
Of the good. So also the low-mindcd in all
pursuits those cruel and unfecling towards
their felloN-men, charlalans of every hue,
hypocrites, demagogues, toadies, sharpers,
and all others of a similar kind, cannot BE-
respectable. Pinch-back never yet passed
long for gold; or, as the provcrb has it,
{" you cannot make a silk purse out of q
sow's ear.
As people arc generally what habit rem
ders them, it is for the young that these
remarks are meant. The old cannot be
cured. If they are shams now, shams they
will remain nothing. alas can ever make
them respectable. But the young have yet
their habits to form. Let them take a high
standard and become truly respectable
Philadelphia Ledger.
Insert the above from the Ledger in
your Homo Gazette, writes a valued and
intelligent friend, "and request every pa
per in the United States to copy it," Our
friend is an honest hatcr of oil slams, a.
sumo what FORMS they will Step by step,
beginning at the first round in the ladder oI
fortune, he has assembled, through honorable
industry and far-seeing enterprise, to wealth
and social position. Quick and close in bis
observation, he separates the tnsel Of char
acIer from the substance al a glance, and
gives no counteDancc to false assumption
lot it come in what shape it will. In the
above indignant protest against the false and
vicious in society, he finds an exact express.
ion Of his own views; and having an ardent
desire 10 sec truth and honor, and manlines.
Of sentiment prevail, he asks for it a wide
circulalion by the press. Lot il find place
in the columns Of every newspaper in the
land. 1t cannot fail 10 do GOOD work.
Arthur's Home Gazette.