The morning call., 1893-06-18
WHAT is A GENTLEMAN -?

Wf1At ID A UEN LEM AIN
The New York San had a curious notion
the other day to offer prize for the best
definition of "a gentleman" 1t seems to
have been won by one who framed the
definition as ian honorable man of perfect
breeding. whose courtesy is but the flower
ing of kindly heart" Whether this will
be satisfactory to the New Workers. who
are trying to find out what gentleman is
i'll order TO constitute their society of
gentlemen only is not clear; but it will
pass. When it was said of Dickens that
he had never drawn a gentleman because
he was not a gentleman himself the COM
mon mortal realized that there were subtle
underlined attributes which distinguish one
man from another and are as imperce ptible
to the ordinary perception as a fugue of
Bach's is to one who is unacquainted with
! music. The SUMS definition may help to
show the nature Of those attributes.
Among our people every male creature,
from the leader of ffSociety to the dustman
and the scavenger, says that he is gentle
man, and fercely fesents the imputation
that he is not. That is a modern assump-
tion. When Massachusetts and Virginia
were settled the line between gentlemen
and common persons was sharply drawn.
A tailor no more expected to be addressed
as "mister" than to wear lace frillS at his
knees. 1t was not the evolution of Ameri-
can democracy which leveled the classes.
but rather the effect of the French revolu-
tiOD, which mprOved upon the doctrine of
equality as asserted in an organic instru-
ment by pronouncing equality social as
well as political. They got over the notion
when sans culotrSm passed away in
France, but it survived here. Ever since
the organization of the Union Americans
have held that one American is as good
as another and little better, too
1t has been of no avail for society to de-
clare that gentleman, like a poet, canbot
be made, but must be born. The McAilis-
ter Of each period has declared that you
can no more make a gentleman than you
can make thoroughbred out of horse Of
common stock. But he has not converted
his public. He has shouted in vain that
neither wealth, nor rank. nor even educa-
tiou can make a gentleman out of one who
was not to the manner born, and in sup
port of his allegation he has pointed 10 the
fact that members of certain professions
which are recruited from the hum bier
classes by competitive examinations or ac-
cident are not always and in every case
gentlemen. This ratOclnation has faSsed
like the idle wind. Gentlemen we all are
by the grace OF God, and gentlemen we
will remain.
Certain it is that neither here or else
where has heredity proved guarantee of
craftsmanship; so even admitting that to
be a gentleman one must be born gentle
man. it does not by any means follow that
a man is invariably gentleman because
he came of gentle stock. Some of the most
ungentlemanly people one meets are the
offspring of parents who had right to call
themselves gentlemen, and everybody
knows that in Europe the noble army of
blackguaTds is recruited from the ranks OF
the arstOcracy Indeed. if we take the
Suns definition as exact, it is almost ques
ton whether we do not find as many real
gentlemen among the children of the hum
bic as among the children of the high born;
which, if true, would dispose effectively of
the axiom that real gentleman must be
born in the purple.
A briefer and perhaps as correct def
milton would be to say that to claim the
title Of gentleman man must be gentle
hammered, unselfish and kind. He must
possess in the highest degree the quality
which Christ called Charity" Where a
man so demeans himself that he gives Of
fense 10 no one, and hurts no ones feel
ings; that he is ready, when possible. to
sacrifice his own wishes TO those of others;
where he lets no opportunity pass of doing
kindness where kindness is wanted;
where his language is gentle and polite,
he is a good enough gentleman for all or
binary purposes, tn ough he be the son of
hod-carrer, and have been born in a howell.
Manners are matter of association, and
are acquired by censorting with the right
| people. Gentlemanly feelings are born in
a man and cannot be acquired. Old Col
onel Newcombe said that man could no
NOR command courage than he could
make himself six feet tall; and so man
with mean, narrow, ill-natured. selfish in
stincts can no more make himself gen.
tleman than he can fly through the air.
| But about the same proportion Of each
kind of men are born in the several classes