The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-06-04
WHO IS A GENTLEMAN
What Famous Author Says on This
Subject.
From the Philadelphia Record

From the Philadelphia Record.
The word gentleman" as defined by
Webster is of wide significance In Great
Britain every man above the rank of yeo-
man, comprehending noblemen, may
properly be called gentleman. In a
more limited sense, however, the term
applies only to men who, without q
title, bear a coat of arms, and whose ances-
tors have been freemen. In the United
States the term is applied very properly to
men of education and good breeding, ire
spective of occupation, and, in the plural,
to assemblages of men, whatever NAV be
their condition or character, 1t is also
used as term of complaisance. Taking it
in its manifold senses, it is doubtless a hard
worked word, and more frequently improp-
erly than properly applied
Robert Louis Stevenson makes Gentle
men" the subject of an exceedingly read
able article in the current number of
Scribner's. The writer SCOTS the stupid
belief" that all men are born "free and
equal" and that it does not matter who
ones father was. Freedom, he holds, is a
thing incompatible with corporate life;
that every advance in richness of existence,
whether moral or material, is pail for by
a loss Of liberty, and that luxury and knowl-
edge and virtue ard love and the
family affections are all s many letters on
the naked and solitary freeman The modern
scientific theory is that men no longer
spring into lite equal to one another, but
issue from a race, with virtues, vices, forti-
tudes and frailties ready made; the slaves
of their inheritance of blood, eternally
unequal. So that, it appears we must use the
term gentleman in referring to one fortunate
in descent from brave and self-respecting
ancestors, whether clowns or counts. But
the intricacy of descent defies prediction,
and the heir of hundred sovereigns may
be born a brute and vulgarian.
As to the qualities that belong to the
gentleman current ideas vary. In one class
not long ago he was considered gentleman
who rode in his gig; he is a gentleman in
one house who does not eat peas with his
knife; in another who is not to be dis
countenancsd by any form of butler. 1t
very often happens that he who serves is a
far better gentleman than he who is served.
The author here ventures the prophecy
that not many years will have gone by be-
fore those shall be held the most elegant"
gentlemen and those the most refined"
ladies who wait Qn a dozen particulars
upon themselves.
The real trial of gentihty lies in some
| sudden and sharp change of circumstances;
| 1t is a common accomplishment to behave
with decency among those to whom we are
accustomed. There is no more pitable
sight than that of the current gentleman
unbending unless it be that of the current
ladyl Stiff-necEed condescension manages
to convey an offense that is not forgotten
| mot to try to spare peoples feelings" says
| Mr.. Stevenson, lis so much kinder than to try
in wrong way, and not to Try to be a gen
| tleman at all is so much moro gentlemanly
than to try and fail So that this gift, or
grace or virtue, resides not so much in
conduct as in knowledge; not so much in
refraining from the wrong as in knowing
the precisely right. A quality of exquisite
aptitude marks out the gentlemanly act !;
without an element of wit we can only be
gentlemen by negatives"
The life of our fathers was highly cere-
| monial; n mans steps were counted; his
acts, his gestures prescribed; he was ruled
in all things by conventionalities, and con-
ventionalties were performed by rule. Life
was rehearsed piece which ouly those
| who had been well drilled could decently
perform. From this standard has descended
the name of gentleman. So much of the
old sense of che word still clngs to it
that it still points to the man who in every
| circumstance of life knows what to do and
how to do it gracefully, but grace and
knowledge are no longer considered valuable
in practical affairs, and the word has been
extended so as to imply loyalty in word
anu dSt. lAc doC01 VI tle NtTtluOuldl blc-
ment has cost the gentleman some of his
prestige, and yet his part is more difficult
to play. 1t is easy TO be gentleman in
| stiff society where ones action is prescribed /:
it is a more difficult matter in free
society where every word and act must
come by inspiration. The rohearsed piece
is at an end; we are now foundering
through an impronptu char ade. Much Of
life comes up for the first time, unrehearsed,
and must be acted on upon the instant. The
man must invent an attitude, he must be
inspired with speech, and tho most perfect
gentleman is he who, IN these trials, acts
and speaks with the most fitness.
To recapitulate: A gentleman is not
necessarily bred from long line of illustri-
GUS ancestors; he is not necessarily the man
who rides in his carriage or observes the
little niceties of etiquette; he is not the
man who condescends TO chat with his in
ferors in wealth and position and conveys
en- unspoken slight with every word and
gesture But he is the man who, how
ever plain aud transformations, is observant
Of the feelings Of others; who knows how
to say the right thing, and when to say it;
who is not only at ease but makes others
| feel at ease; whose tact takes the place Of
knowledge; who is loyal, and honest and
! true In word and act, aud who has at the
| foundation sincere kindliness of heart.