The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-04-09
CONSCIOUS GENTIL1TY.


The assured gentleman Is ABOUT d.
FAR from the self-sufficiency OF the snou
az one thing can be from another Mt
Thackerav. In his treatise on snoos' olo
NOT hesitate TO take his samples OF them
from the longest lines Of nobility ana
great poet has dared to ask:
What can ennoble fools. and knaveS
and towards?
Not all the noble blood Of all the HOW
ards"
Consciousness is a dangerous thing In
almost every direction. Conscious beauty
becomes spectacular and repulsive. Con-
scious merit anywhere. not a little dis
counts its fullness. as 1t is said:
Then we wound our modesty.
And make foul the clearness OF our de-
servings.
When, Of ourselves. we publish them.
Conscious virtue got Aristides Danish
ed. And conscious goodness and piety,
the odor Of sanctity a little too strong
does not work at all. II suggests dis
guise; something else TO be found out,
more than meets the eye and ear.
This is all so. And yet self-respect
and essential dignity is what we look
for and require in every man. Conceit
and self-satisfaction indicate low stand
ard. a poor ideal and very limited range.
II has been said that the highest arch
angel has not as much conceit as young
college orator. A familiarity with the
highest ideals necessarily begets the
profoundest humility. In the presence of
the Almighty the language Of Job was
Now mine eyes have seen these, and
abhor myself" II was the presence OF
Jehovah that made Moses to be known
as the meekest OF men. A turkey gobler.
and a peacock, and a gander are the
very consummations OF self-conscious re-
spectabiiity, and gentility does not mean,
necessarily, high birth and great lineage.
But It does mean decent parentage, how
ever poor and lowly; 1t does mean good
breeding, however unknown and hum
bic the circumstances, and 1t does mean
a high sense Of honor that would scorn
10 borrow its lustre from great acqualnt-
ances, or draw on its ancestry for its
deficiencies in virtue. in intelligence. IN
reputation, or good manners.
The handsomest poets of England have
uttered the true sense OF that great peo-
pie. and the whole world has approved
them
ITO thine own self be true"
Again:
"IIe that hath light within his own clear
breast,
May sit in the centre and enjoy bright
day"
Again:
Even the peasant boasts those rights
TO scan.
And learns TO venerate himself as man"
But the handsomest thing Of all comes
from the poorest and most unlucky poor
reprobate:
THE rank is but the guinea's stamp;
And mans the gold for all that"
The first principle Of humanity is the
high dignity Of humankind The United
States OF America, Times last and noblest
offspring. proclaims as its first principle
that all men are by nature free and equal.
and that under heaven, man is capable OF
self-government. 1t sets before the world
the citizen Of America, endued with his
rights and privileges, as man in his high
est earthly estate. and all public officers
as public servants. the good citizen being
the privileged one. for whom the whole
system Of government is operated. The
most humiliating and un-American thing
in the land being society in our big
centres. where toadyism and bootlickery
spread themselves and shame the country;
where the general man bushes to see his
fellow-citzens degrading themselves with
can consoles himself to see self-prosti-
tuting snobbery gathering itself in clubs
and Four Hundreds and all that. like the
onenses Of the physical system IN bons,
and pimples, and ugly swelings.
Essential worth, essential virtue, es-
sential manhood does not segregate itself.
Real goodness is by nature difrusive. Dis
order for safety's sake gets apart. And
this law is illustrated In the character
and life OF the Son OF Man, the Divine
Gentleman, whose every thought magni-
fed gent!lity and nobleness; who was
profoundly conscious Of his high birth and
Acaaaia~A-uuhA AAipx n TIA form ef God,