The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1870-06-30
TRUE POLITENESS, &c.

| nearG ana SOunu intellect. 1t Is bot Ue-
teruined by parlor gymnastics, any more
than mans piety is measured by the
quality of cloth upon his back or his
mental power by the size and polish of
| his boots. 1t is a necessity of certain
genuine richness of character. It IS not
the quality Of certain dancing individuals
who in luxurious places are great On the
| toe and chin. but who, when the tigers
get loose in the menagerie, run away and
leave the ladies to the courtesy of the
brutes. True politeness, based on firm
qualities Of character, reaches with its
constant power into the dark inches of
life, as well as into sunny circles. It
comes not from foppish conYentionalities
nor even from the sun dust Of poetic
fancies, but it takes life fiom that grand
| principle which is the soul Of christianity !;
DO unto others as you would they
should do unto you
Society may grow in delight under the
foliage of beautiful action The heavy
Roman column was succeeded in medieval
times by mere spiritual, and Christian
architect ure. Beautiful aspirations were
materialized in Gothic spires So
through culture human acts may stand
out from the rude forces Of the mind as
bright forms of spiritual ascension.
Some acts to cultured society are like fire
blackened torsos in misty twilight to
nervous child. The silent grace Of viz
tue is better than the noisy gauds Of
barbarous conceit. It is possible for a
community to look up to the armament
Of social art with a joy as singular as thai
which the enthusiast of nature feels under
the magnificent drapery of the sky. ib
The spirit of politeness like high culture
is not SNOWY: it takes no delight in red
blankets andlarge beads. There are persons
who in view of upholstery and millinery
interests whirl themselves by sublime
pirouette into the etheralities Of Ell
quette: but in the kitchen spit euI
juice into the eye Of common justice, and
make bootjack Of common decency
To compare the bushy swings ard ire
mendous swash -buckler processes Of social
charlatans with the acts lin strict sense)
Of lady OR gentleman, is like comparing
the obscene daubs of sensational maya
zines with the ininlitabe produc-
tons Of Raphael.
The highest specimen of Gods crea-
ton is a man, to whose undiminished
life vigor is added broad scholarship;
and on whose brow are the evidences of
great thought. Such a person has
right to draw materials from all litera
ture
How is 1t with the smatterer who
splashing in muddy sentiment is constant
ly breeding sfckly notion? We see
him Juggling IN foreign phrases Of which
he knows nothing, and barbarous idioms:
we see him clothing monstrous concepo
tons in still more hideous garbs. till the
person oftaste sees to his infinite disgust
created about him, frogpond from
whose horrid little population comes
nightly dismal croaking. We do not
recommend this wholesale hypocrisy.
Such person is a fortress Of evil sur
rounded ty an abattis of lies. One
should learn at least the rudiments of
penmanship before indulging to a great
extent in fancy fourishes. What right
have they 10 promotion who can only
point to the dirty chevrons ef a stolen
popularity? What right have they to be
called experts in their profession who
have read only some woodpecker law iii
the revised statutes? What right have
they to be called skillful physicians who
have only passed through dissecting
room and carried away the smell Of dead
bodies in their garments? What right
have they to moral support who putting
on a semblanee Of piety are like "whited
sepulchres full of dead mems
bones ?" May the time come when So
ciety viii rise In its strength and shake
the vile dust from its royal robes, and
become sufficiently honest, if not CLASH
cal, in regard to such characters, 80 adopt
the warning of the old sibyl, Procul,
0pTocul este, proti,ni.
No gentleman or lady will without
propagation rap the sensitive parts Of a
neighbor. Yet this very thing is con
stantly taking place through pure de-
structiveness Of spirit and malignity Of
purpose. None of Us seek close physical
relationship with those who make it
business to punch the pit of the stomach.
Society not only often finds itself gasping
from intangible punches, but sees its vo-
taries thwacking one anothers' ghostly
noses till the dust at their feet is wet
with the blood of their peculiar senti
ments. We remember of dreaming. when
a small boy, that the devil was rising up
under the hearth and that we could hear
lis purring. But few now believe in the
existence Of the literal devil of hoofs and
horns: yet we all know that not only the
vulgar male is chargeable with fault in
regard to the hearth stone, but also
those who wear rings on their fingers
and bells on their toes" We are smooth
cred in mass Of millinery and back out
of the situation to take turn at tho