The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1876-08-24
a Higher Manhood.

There is an almost Emersonian in
deiiniteness in the purpose of the
Grange ito develop better and high
or manhood in ourselves" For to ac-
curately describe better and higher
manhood is next to impossible, and
we may much more surely say what il
is. Ii we are just as ready to kill our
neighbor's hogs TO use a homely
illustration) when they trespass on
our lands and destroy our crops: if we
are as neglectful about informing our
neighbor when we see another neigh
boris cattle in his corn field; if we are
as ready TO hold other people to a
strict account for their shortcomings
and frailties, and as eager TO shift the
responsibility for our own OH to some
body else; if we are as ready to speak
of wives as sour women" and to al
low them TO split wood; if we derive
as much enjoyment from horse races
and circuses, and as little from trees
and flowers aad music and books, as
formerly, then we may be sure that
our manhood has undergone no
marked improvement. There are
many worse weaknesses than any we
have cited. Some of them, however,
are bad enough, and the most amiable
OF them will have lost some of its
former prominence in cur character
when we have attained higher man
hood.
The provcrbial deceitfulness of APP
appearances is exemplified almost ex-
clusively in the conduct of men. Other
animals and nature are as a rule what
they seem. Men are hardly ever So
Hence in estimating the ennobling in
iluence Of the Grange we are sure TO
be sometimes misled. We may, for
instance, point to member, who be-
fore he joined the Order was one of
the most quarrelsome and ungenerous
men in the neighborhood, but who
now avoids open ruptures with his
SOlaNbAlAiGo itilhS
ing hand to fellow-member. Yet
this man may be just as selfish and
just as ill-natured as he was before.
His connection with the Grange may
keep him from outwardly demonstrate
ing these faults but still not have i'm
proved his character, Hence it has
benefited not him. but his friends and
associates. Again, the fact that Pa
irons have in measure given up the
expensive luxuries of litigation and
are now settling many of their dis
putes by arbitration, is sometimes
cited as an evidence of better feel
ing among them. But, unless they
have fewer arbitrations than they used
TO have suits, unless they have fewer
disputes TO settle, whether through |
the courts or by arbitration, this is
simply deceitfal appearance. We
cite these cases, not for the purpose |
of belittling the improving and elevat-
ing powers of the Order, but to show |
that we have not necessarily better or |
raised our manhood by improving our
manners. If our tastes and inclina- |
tions are the same our manhood is the |
same. We swear just as certainly |
when we swear silently as when we
swear audibly. A quarrel is a quar-
rel whether we settle it by suit or by
arbitration. A higher manhood is not /
much else than better nature, and |
when we have attained ii, not only
our acts, but our motives also, are
purer.
Every man has an ideal; another
man, real or imaginary, like whom he
wishes himself. Usually the ideal is
distinguished for the qualities in which
the idealist is most lacking. The inn
petuous, fiery man admires most one
who is cool, collected, self-contained.
The cool man is, however, sometimes
exceptional, and admires himself most.
When men strive to improve them
selves, they aim at this ideal. They
naturally seek those qualities and po-
sitions that they most admire. Hence
in working TO improve men the first /