The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1883-11-01
WHOLE NO. 1918.
Mrs. Browns Opinions.

what Is my OPINION or h1Gh-toned-
ness? There's no such word in the Eng
lish language, may be, but it expresses
what / want to say, and | have as much
right to coin word as anybody else,
particularly when no other word exact
ly meets the case. High-tonedness, as
L understand it, means the desire that
some people have of holding up their
heads and the ends of their noses, rela-
lively to other people who may have
less money or less social position, but
not less good breeding, for well-bred
people are not that kind. To be high
toned in the sense of elevation above
the coarser elements, is commendable,
but the mischief of it is that some on the
coarsest kind of trash affect the quality.
and have affected it until 1t has become
to be a term almost of reproach. As
soon as person can own a tine house
and ride in a carriage, he affects tc turn
up his nose at his former estate, and
cultivates only the faculty of forgetting
the past. People who have pasts that
cannot be remembered with comfort,
have to take deal of toning before they
arrive at the pure high pitch, although
1t is an easy matter to arrive at the So
ciety pitch. Women seem to be more
seriously affected than the men, and
while the husband may find real pleas
ure i'll thinking of the time when he was
plain peddler, the wife is driven fran
tic if the thought comes to her that he
was ever anything else than merchant
prince. 1t does not seem to occur to
them that there is more true nobility
and manhood in one man who has the
nerve and the brain to overcome all OBJ
stacles and rise in spite of circumstan-
ces, than in five hundred, who, by acci-
dent of birth, inherit wealth and So
cial position. Honesty is royalty, and
though society may not recognize its
crest, the better part of mans nature
accepts it, and this better part is what
constitutes real high-toned men and
women.
What is my opinion of thoughtless
people? They are nuisance, general
ly speaking, with some notifications in
particular instances. II never thought, y
is given more times than any other, as
an excuse, and it is absolutely no ex-
cuse. On the contrary, it is an open
acknowledgement of negligence. A wo-
man or man will say or do something
which can have no other result than in
jury, greater or less, and when they see
what they have done they wall out, Il
never thought You may talk to a
person, and he will interrupt you with
an entirely different subject, or answer
you quite foreign to the matter of con-
versation, and when you take him to
task about the gross impoliteness of his
misdemeanor, he says''I never thought "
People will 60 along the street so abb
sorbed in themselves as to completely
neglect the courtesy of recognition when
they meet friends, and though it is
probable they have not sufficient mind
to handle more than one subject at a
time, it provokes you to have them ex.
cuse themselves by saying II never
thought" When the Lord endowed His
creatures with the faculty of thinking
He, no doubt, expected them to exer-
else it, and Notwithstanding the fact of
His disappointment In so many instan-
ces, the original purpose remains, and
people should think. "Thoughtfulness, y
says Chesterfield, ''is the first principle
OF gentleman" and we supplement
the polite nobleman's remark by adding
''and a lady, Also There would be
fewer sore hearts, fewer tears, fewer
bitter memories, fewer animosities, few
er enemies in life, if those who make up
life only thought little oftener than
they do.-MerchGat TraUeler.