Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1869-01-01
The Morality of Manners.

In the account which DE quincy mas
given in his early days he makes frank
confession of his admiration of good man
ners. ''In every scheme of social happi-
ness I could ever frame, the spirit of
manners entered largely as an indispen-
sable element" Farther on he reiterates
that society needs for its extension and
harmony ''certain re6nements in the spirit
of manners which to many excellent peo-
pie hardly exist at all as objects of consci-
GUS regard"
So long, however, as our language con-
tains the word gentleman, will manners
be priced as essential to morality itself.
For it is immoral to be rude, coarse,
churlish and hirsute, when the spirit of
purity and rectitude inculcates the duty
of being gentle. courteous and forbearing,
in honor prefering one another.
They who by their holy Office are ex-
amples to the church of which they have
been made overseers are under especial
obligation to be gentlemen in all relations.
Anger, wrath, clamor, and evil-speaking
are not to be named by them as fit for the
indulgence of sanity minds. For the
rule which they are to bear in the house
of God must be acquired and maintained
| by the practice of self-control, and not
through tie ppbridled tsnaritY Of insult
i ing pride and overbeari5g insolence.
He who is the pattern of the highest
style of Christian life has obtained by and
through his humility and gentleness an
empire over human hearts, the like of
which in substance and extent none of the
princes of this world have been able to
gain. And it is therefore meet that they
who would approve themselves as good
ministers of Jesus Christ, should initiate
the virtues while they cultivate the spirit
of him who said, ''Bless, and curse not. %
The virtue of Christian gentleness is.
moreover, a necessary constituent of real
greatness, for while weakness is ill-tem-
pered, violent, spiteful and reckless,
strength always takes on the majesty of
repose, because it is built up with the en-
during elements of truth and righteous
ness. There is force in the saying of Dr..
Canning, "The greatest man is be who
chooses the right with invincible resolu-
ton !; who resists the sorest temptations
from within and without; who bears the
heaviest burdens cheerfully; who is the
calmest in storms and most fearless under
menaces and frowns and whose reliance
on truth, on virtue, and on God is most
unfaltering."
This strength and dignity of character
as seen in the best historic examples
which the Christian church is wont to
reverence, have ever been found allied
with suitable manners, and indeed have
proved themselves bene6cent about in
proportion as becoming manners have
adorned their heroic energies.
The decay or corruption of good man
ners may therefore be regarded as evi-
dence of defective morality. For as the
issues of life are from the heart, it follows
that if the heart be kept all diligence, il
its affections be properly harmonized, il
love rules them and truth inspires them,
then good manners, both in speech and
conduct, are as certainly generated there
from as are blossoms from buds in spring.
time.
How much the great interests of the
Church may be helped or harmed by good
or ill-manners, it is not necessary to show
by any citation Of particular facts. Yet
it is obvious that the work of Christ car
be done best by those only who cultivate
all the graces Of the Christian spirit. -
Christian hstelligencer.
EE Archie and Tom spanked the same
girl. One night Archie called on her and
found her alone. After some converse
ton he burst out with:
"Miss Mollie, do you think you could
leave this comfortable home, kind father
and mother, loving brothers and sisters,
and 60 to the far West with a young man
who has little to live on save his profess
sion p .-.e
.'Miss Mollie laid her hand gently on
Archie's shoulder. with her eyes abou