New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-01-25
BAcHELORs or GENTTLITY

Wei KNOWN upon 'Cndnge anu Tue IuIIJ Has,
with intentions which, we have no doubt, are
excellent, however indefinite, bestowed upon
Princeton College, most respectable seat of
learning, the sum of $4,000 The interest Of
this sum is to be annually employed to buy
medal for that graduate who shall be voted by
his classmates "the first gentleman" of them
all. The phrase used by Mr.. Jerome inevita-
bly reminds one Of that anOinted BLACKBOARD
and fat incarnation of selfishness, George the
Fourth, who was dubbed by his devotees,
themselves most Of them blackguards also,
"the first gentleman Of Europe Mr. Jerome,
it is true, gives his idea Of the foundation OF
the character Of gentleman-he thinks it to
be ga due regard for the feelings OF others"
This isigood so far as 1t goes; but this is pre-
cisely the outward consideration which was
persistently displayed by Lord Chesterfield,
who was the hOllowest and the rotteRest OF all
the vanished tribe. The truth is, there are
two kinds of gentlemen in the world, and
the world has agreed to admire both. There
is, however, difference in its admiration. Its
readiest and lOudest plaudits are naturally
reserved for the forms, and modes, and shows
of gentility; for o studied cOmplaisance and
"plausive manners !" for shallow good nature
and the amiable weakness which always
answers "yesn-the ponderous servility Of the
wary PolOnius, or the skipping suavity OF OsrIc,
without his bonnet on. These are the con-
venient men who let you have your own way
seemingly, and thereby have their own really.
They are delicious until they are found out
and sometimes they go to their graves, and are
moaned for in plaintive obituaries without
being found ont at all. We hope that Mr.
Jerome's Five Thousand Dollars will not be
the making of many of these civil mpostors
1t would be hard if the taking Of O gold medal
in college should render a man insincere or in
sufferable for the rest Of his life. We tolerate
stage gentlemen at the theater, partly IRON
long habit, and partly because we cannot help
ourselves; but it would be dreadful to have
the art of seeming and the science Of blarney
introduced into the college courses.
The second kind of gentility, and the most
genuine, is quite consistent with awkwardness
and angularity of carriage, with great careless
ness even of costume, and with rough and
'stammering speech 1t has not probably oe-
Cured to Mr.. Jerome ,EwhOse ideas of what five
thousand dollars may do have possibly disturbed
the equilibrium of his moral perceptions, that a
true gentleman of this class does not want his
prize; would consider the acquisition Of a medal
for good manners in the light of apersOnal mis-
fortune, and might affect an unreal rudeness in
order to escape it. The pOliteness that Is paid
for is quite sure to be of @ pinchbeck quality
and contests of urbanity can scarcely produce
anything better than caricature The medal
man of Princeton might indulge in a we'll
grounded apprehension of being mistaken for
pretty fellow, carpet knight, OF a water-fy; OF
being called "Gentleman George" or Gentle
man Tom" all his life; and, perhaps, of being
pointed out by anxious mothers as the TurVey-
drop of his time, to their growing boys. The
real gentleman, Mr. Jerome may not have con-
sidered. does not care to be talked about, avoids
observation, shrinks from DOtOriety, and pre-
fers that his politeness should be regarded as
a matter Of course, as a gift of nature, not an
acquisition, as something which money could
not buy nor the loss of money Tor medals) take
away from him. The essence Of good manners
is yeracity, and veracity never completes for
premium. There is nothing finer in this world
than an ingenious boy, whose instincts are all
noble, and theXfrankness of whose demeanOr Is
but symbol of a fresh and generous nature,
unspoiled by contact with the artificial idols Of
society or by the study of its glittering and
conventional standards. But Mr. Jeromes
medal spOils all To compete for 1t
will be to lose uncOpsciousness, and
to lose that will be to forego all real claim to
the premium, % become an exhibitor of foreign
airs and studied graces, until the frank inter
course of youth may be changed into mere
aping of others who are, or who are supposed to
n Il. ,o1 nd nrbNna
Nor is this ALL The fortunate competitor may
well preserve a most gentlemanly serenityJ but
we cannot but think of the Others who after
bowling and scraping for four years, with the
full understanding that they were upon their
best behavior with an eye to the Jerome Medal,
find that they have bowed for nothing and have
scraped in vain! To swear is vulgar; but such
disappointment might, we thlpk, extenuate the
resort to little profanity for relief. There
must, we should hope, be more than one
gentleman in every Senior Class at Princeton,
but as there is to be only one medal, how are
all the well behaved fellows, save one, to be paid
for their politenessP 1t may not be of the SUI
perfne quality but if only fine is it to be treated
with contumely, or if merely medium, is it to be
contemptuously neglected. This student may
be every much Of gentleman" that quite a
gentleman and the other simply "a gentle
"man;r and when the GradatiOns are very nice,
and the class comes to the ballot, how does Mr..
Jerome know that there may not be broken
heads, and even "geptlemanly" duelsf We
hspe not; and our advice to the Seniors of
Princeton ia to think nothing about the Je-
rome Medal, to behave themselves as well as
they can aud to leave the rest to the immortal
gods.