The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1889-07-04
A MAN OF HONOR.
What are His Necessary Quail
flcationsP
More Priceless Than Gold Is Personal
Honor-It Will Stand You in Need
When all Else FaiIs-CuI-
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 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 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 'nless it's made feller
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 you!"
If among the hills of Vermont,
whittier perhaps, to cheer winters
fireside, 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
It's 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 a contract and yet not keenly SEN
sitive as TO what is due him. The
man of h1nor feels the loftiest 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
iather, grandson of a fair lineage"
lie thinks on his hopes, and he had
rather die than befoul them; on his
personal history thus far, and it seems
like sufocation to give it the lie now
oy an Ill matching deed. He says: 'sIf
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 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 a type of manly
virtue" He is of strict integrity
Such aperson is of high moral worth. "
These titles are useful; to repeat any
q them often during business day is
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
% yourself. There is charm, q prac-
: acal spell for good, I mean, cast over
ne mind by such words as probity,
good faith, principle. a man of his
word, sterling fellow, the soul OF rec
utude. Something is gained by famil-
aarzlng 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 high-minded manP
AN | chivalrous-spirited to resent a
nean, craven selfish or lecherous sug-
kesaong Am / unbribed, always, thus
.ar, unbought and incorruptiblep In
sAe1 We never get on very far in the