The sun., 1882-03-19
Lady and Gentleman.

Lady and Gentleman.
The following question is one which is
often propounded to us:
In your able article In yesterdays issue you the
phrase young woman where II ain correct you have
heretofore written young lady VIII you have the
kindness give the for saying former in lieu
OF the lateri The rerbaH believes that to say man
sounds better than gentleman Is this too much Of
| an Amerca an ideaf "E L. S."
Calling man man and woman a wo-
man is not an American idea at all. 1t is a
use OF language taught by good sense and
dictated by good taste wherever the English
tongue Is spoken. Formerly 1t was regarded
here as very impolite way of speaking and
some people still are offended at hearing il.
But the rejection Of the terms and the de-
mand for the substitution for them in all
cases OF Lady and gentleman, 80 far from
arguing refinement and dislike Of vulgarity,
Indicate, oftentimes, just the opposite
The Evening Post used to talk about gen.
| tlewomen. though the term does not belong
here, and presupposes an aristocracy like
that OF England, where it is applied to woman
who Is Of the gentry, class unknown in this
republic. People here are well bred or i'll
bred, cultivated or uncutivated. refined or
unrefncd, rich or poor; but We have no gen.
try to whom, as class, the quality Of good
breeding specially belongs.
This country was first settled by the yeo-
manry OF England, by political and other
convicts, by adventurous spirits, by people
who could not get on at home because Of
their religious or other ideas, or because Of
their poverty or their failure to satisfy their
neighbors or live harmoniously with them. In
due time others Of the same sort, and chiefly
those who were anxious to better their con-
dition, which was very poor one in the Old
World, came here, as they are coming now
by the thousand. Lords and ladies, million
aires and aristocrats are not to be found in
the storage Of emigrant ships now, and they
were not to be seen there when our early set
tiers came over. The only real American
aristocrats here were the Indian chiefs, who
were in possession Of the land They be-
longed to the only old American families the
continent contained. The white people
crossed the sea, with very few exceptions,
simply because they thought they would
have better chance OF making their living
here than they had at home. And the event
has proved that they thought right.
1t Is absurd, therefore, to use the designa-
tions OF the gentry here. Lady and gentle
man, however, are mere conventional terms,
indicating nothing as to the condition Of
those spoken OF, not only In this country but
Clso in England at the present time 1t is
right enough to use them, however, but there
is no obligation TO do it except when decent
courtesy requires They give us no sug-
gestion OF the character OF the person spoken
Of We know, however, what is meant when
a cultivated woman Is referred to, or an in
teligent woman, or a handsome woman or
beautiful woman.
The indscriminate " the terms lady
and gentleman, howev.r J. 5 rendered them
not only Of no significance, but also vulgar
at times. And yet some people think they
are guilty of great improperly when they
speak of young woman. We are not Of
that mind, but prefer the word and gener-
ally use it.
Some young women who attend upon shops,
we are told, are offended at being called
saleswomen, and want to be spoken of as
saleslades. II that is so, they are silly
Shall we call statesmen saesgentlemen, fore
men foregentlemen? If the girl is q lady in
trinsically-that Is, a refined, gracious, and
dignifed woman-she is a lady just as much
il she attends at a counter as II she drove
about in her carriage; and If she is not, call
ing her so does not make her one, whether
she waits on customers or is customer
herself Don't be afraid to be known and
called for Just what you are. whether you
earn your living by work or hire somebody
else to do the work for you. Working or not
working fer her living has nothing to do
with wonan'S being lady or not II by the
term lady we mean a woman of the finer
natural qualities OF her sex, made more at
tractive by cultivation.
The terms woman and man are much better
for ordinary use than the merely cOnven-
tional meaningless ones, as now commonly
employed, OF lady and gentleman. In social
Intercourse, however, courtesy oftcntimcs
requires their use just as it requires other
merely formal words and phrases which sig
nifty nothing except desire to please.