Daily national Democrat., 1860-05-31
Manners.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, after long dis
sortation upon the subject of manners, and
the power which belongs to them in many
Of the most important transactions of life,
winds up with the very correct conclusion,
that they are not after all to be learned BY
r,,lc. Manners he says ARE not TO be
directly cultivated That is frivolous; leave
IT to children What lac means, no doubt, is
this That manners are the outward expires
sion Of the inward man or woman Social
intercourse and an acquaintance with the
mere forms of society (Which Is easily ac-
CURED are necessary to give that free play
to the faculties in which alone the soul in Its
true strength can shine out There must of
course be a certain amountof self possession,
or the whole man is off his balance Self
possession is the first requisite. After that
come the real manners OF the man and in
those manners will be displayed something
very much like his true character. If he be
truly noble in his feelings and aspirations
that nobility will be impaired to his manners,
and when we say that ''his manners are at.
tractive," We really say at the same time that
he himself is mentally or morally possessed of
those qualities which are in themselves at
tractive. No disguises can conceal the base
or the cringing spirit No art can hide from
the intelligent observer the inborn hypocrite,
or coward, or liar. His manners will as GER
tainly betray him TO a true Judge of men as
the eye and step of the cat, or the open face
Of mans Jos., foithfulle.t quadrupedal friend,
! the character it holds in the animal kingdom
The most unganly form WILL to the man of
mind, display the grace and beauty Of the
soul within, and the finest shape and coun-
tenance not more than half conceal mean
despicable nature Thus it is that the un-
cultivated savage OF the forest will, in some
! instances, far overtop, in dignity Of mein and
expression, and in every movement and ges
/ ture indicative of manhood, the most care
/ fully educated barbarian in So,d, who still is
brute, notwithstanding the atmosphere of
refinement which surrounds him. 1t is re-
corded of keoBuk, the late chief of the SGcs
and Foxes, that he was barn gentleman.
The natural grace and symmetry Of his char
acter shone out in all his actions, and he bore
himself with a noble ease and dignity.
wherever he went, which astonished all be-
holders. In his public receptions at Wash
ington, surrounded 10y the intellect, beauty
and refinement Of the country, he was the
same graceful, selfpossessed and dignided
chieftan as in his own wigwam, receiving
the white man as friend and visitor, or in
the grand council of his tribe, pouring forth
the eloquence of which lcswas master.
Fine manners are, then, that indescrbable
something which belongs to the man as the
aroma to the rose, OF the melody to the
stream. They cannot be put on like gar
ment, nor purchased at the sale-shops They
spring from the man himself II he be true
man, his manners are natural. If he be not
they are affeetation. And it does not take
long to distinguish between the two, for the
ass can never successfully wear the lions
skin. 1t wont it him, and his ears ,ciH stick
out.