The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1878-08-29
Upright, Downright, Straightforward.

IT is very common to say of such a
man that he is "upright;'' it is not
less common to say Of such another
that he is downright" or of third
that he is straightforward" Occa-
sionally the same person is said to be
both upright and downright, and even
straightforward, all at the same time;
and we now and then hear man called
upright one day, downright another
and straightforward on the next. 1t
would thus seem that the words are to
some extent synonymous. 1t will be
found, however, on examination, that
they have moral meaning as distinct
and defnable as their more obvious
and physical Specifications. Popular
usage, in fact, required three words to
express distinct varieties of character,
and adopted these, all Of good Saxon
descent, to supply the want. Thus a
downright man, although he may be an
upright one, is not necessarily SO, and
vice versa; and the straightforward
man may possess qualities which are
not inherent to, and of necessity exist
ing in, the character of either.
Mr.. Smith, for instance, is an upright
man. He acts with fairness in all his
dealings. He would wrong no man of
a farthing. He would not injure his
neighbor by word or deed. His fame is
pure before the world. His word was
never broken; and his promise is as
good in the market as another mans
bond. He holds up his head, is not
ashamed to look anybody in the face,
and walking erect in the dignity of con-
scious honesty. is called upright accord
ingly.
Mr.. Brown, again, is a downright
man. He may or may not exhibit the
moral rectitude of Mr.. Smith. He may
not, strictly speaking, be an upright
man; but he does not thereby forfeit
his title to be classed among the down.
right. The phrase implies not SO much
moral quality as a manner and a pc
culiarity. The upright man may hold
his tongue; but the downright man
will speak out loudly and boldly, with
out fear of the consequence. Mr..
Brown always allows his Indignation to
find vent. He speaks his mind; and if
he combines both uprightness and
downrightness, calls a rogue rogue,
and a lie lie, and cares not whom he
offends by SO doing. A great conquer
or is, with him, a great murderer; a
duelist, an assassin; a fraudulent bank
rupt, a robber. He condemns in plain
terms what he does not approve, and
never deals in innuentOcs, or hints his
doubts. Neither will he indulge in
courtesies when his mind is full Of Bit
ter meanings, and call him an honor
able gentleman whom he imagines to
be the very reverse, nor designate an
other as his noble friend whom in his
heart he considers his very ignoble
enemy. He has no patience with, or
federation for, any kind of terms
which tend to gloss over error.
Even where no deception is attempt
ed, he does battle on behalf of plain
speaking. When people speak of
operatives, he talks of workmen, the
endearing word "wife'' is not ban
ishcd from his vocabulary for that of
"lady." and "man" is q word of dig
nifty and significance with him, instead
of being degraded to imply something
the opposite Of a gentleman. If man
who is not habitually downright were
to say 1.-THE of strong things that Mr..
Brown may say with IMMUNITY he
would get knocked down for his frank
ness; but the very audacity of the
downright man takes the world by sur
prise and forces it into admiration. 1t
forgives the insolence for the sake of
the courage, and the harshness for love
of the sincerity. Mr.. Brown, more
over, has clear head for detecting a
sophism, and knack for getting at the
gist of a dispute, though it may be
swathed about in redundancies and cir
cumstances. He clenches an argument
with homely common sense and drives
a truth into the mind of an antagonist
with as much force and as little cere-
mony as a carpenter drives nail into
a block. He is q man, to use very
common phrase, who will stand nc
nonsense, and would rather thousand
times be considered rude, boorish and
disagreeable (Which he very generally
is) than call spade other than spade
compromise an opinion, or abandon 8
prejudice that he had once defended
Chambers Journal.