The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1889-06-29
A MAN OF HONOR.
What are His Necessary Quail
f1cationsq
More Priceless Than Gold Il Personal
Honor-It VIII Stand You in Need
When all Else Fails-Cul-
tivate 1t.

'Carry your honor high, this year.
my boy"
! was standing at a railway depot in
Boston, Near me was an elderly man.
in a rather shabby yet carefully kept
buffalo overcoat; such at we used to
see in Vermont twenty years ago. The
old gentleman was parting hands with
his son, who evidently, was a city
dweller, probably a young and .strug-
Cling business man here in our town;
and l should not be surprised if even
yet he had some of the fathers farm
money as the nest egg of his capital.
"You amt much on r'ligion yet, Tom.
Wish you were. But even r'ligion amt
of much account Mess it's made Teller
man of honor. Keep it up high out
o. the dust. Be mighty sensitive about
it. Be quick as scat about your honor
when it's involved. 1t IL pull you
through this world any how. That's
the best / can say for your new year.
Goodbye. God bless your
If among the hills of Vermont,
whittier perhaps, to cheer a winters
Preside, that son sends the Ledger, that
honest, ancient yeoman of honor's guard
should chance to read these lines, do
him courtesy. and assure him that ]
could not help it. His sermon should
be read by thousands. The preaching
farmers name / know not God knows,
and will give him all the credit, when
the great harvest is brought in, for any
added good his golden homily may do
hereby.
A delicate sense of personal honor
is certainly rare, If you take men by
the thousands. Wordsworth says
"'tis the finest sense Of justice known
to man." 1t contemplates both your
self and others, and one may be the
soul Of honor as regards the rights of
others, an upright agent, keeper of
promises to the very letter, alive to
every detail of the obligation imposed
by contract, and yet not keenly sem
sitive as to what is due him. The
man of honor feels the Hottest self
respect ever upbearing him. He is
not conceited, but he does say to him.
self: my muscles are not hemp. they
are silk. can not carry disgraceful
load. My soul is not of red earth. but
of the texture of the light of day.
can not forget who am-son of good
father. grandson of a fair lineage"
He thinks on his hopes. and he had
rather die than befoul them; on his
personal history thus far, and it seems
like suffocation to give it the lie now
by an i'll matching deed. He says: If
l were to do this base thing suggested
to me, might or might not be afraid
to confront other men, but should be
afraid Of my own mirror as l dressed
the next morning"
"A man of honor is not easy to de-
fine. Words help us, but they elude
US; and yet we insist that we have the
idea. We say: He is type OF manly
virtue" He is of strict integrity. -
Such a person is ''of high moral worth. :"
These titles are useful; to repeat any
of them often during business day is
q sort Of strange tonic. Try it, my
young reader. As you leave your door
step in the morning tomorrow, take
any one of the above definitions on
your minds tongue, repeating it often
to yourself. There is charm, prac-
tical spell for good, mean, cast over
the mind by such words as probity,
good faith, principle. man of his
word, sterling fellow, the soul of rec
titude. Something is gained by famil-
iarzing ones self with the very termin-
ology of honor. One can hardly find
sharper rebuke than some of these
descriptions made predicate to his
own name. Am a high-minded manp
Am chivalrous-spirited to resent a
mean, craven selfish or lecherous sug-
gestionP Am unbribed, always, thus
far, unbought and incorruptiblep In
fact, we never get on very far in the
study of any idealism without the use
of these old sign-boards by which man.
kind have found their way in times
past. A young person is to be con-
graduated who knows the names of
things. A time-eerver, a fortune-hun-
ter, mercenary sneak, back-biter, a
blackguard, . slippery Dick, para
site, an migrate, sniveller, fawner
for favors; these are like warning mo-
tees posted on a country highway:
Dangerous.
Aworld Of trash goes under the name
Of honor. Men boast themselves Of
honor in the face of the lie direct yet
who aro foul With lust Men tin the