The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1896-10-24
a GOOD CTTIZEN.
Sam Jones Enumerates the Good
Qualities in His Makeup.
what q Young Man Must Be to Serve HIs
Country Acceptabiy No Ovorprodac-
tion Of Good Cttizens-Demnnd
tiraater THAI supply.

platforms and parties to consider what
are the essential elements of a good
citizen.
The first essential is intelligence. The
boy who grows up to manhood un-
trained and %untaught, ignorant Of the
history of nations and peoples, who
could not define the difference be-
tween a monarchy and a republic, who
does not know the difference between
organic law and statute law, who is
a democrat or a republican or a populist
or a greenbacker, simply because his
father was, with a blind adherence to
partyism and absolutely ignorant of
principles, can never be a good citizen.
But the young man who walks up to
the ballot box for the first time thor
oughly posted on political economy and
governmental principles, intelligcntly
expressing his views in his ballot-he
starts u with one of the elements
of a good citizen.
Another element whseh lies at the
very basis of good citizenship is pa
triotism. love of country, devotion to
her institutions, loyalty to her laws.
The highest patriotism in the world
is the patriotism that helps protect
the innocent, that supports the weak,
that which helps the enforcement of
law, the punishment of criminals, and
allies himself with everything that
tends to good government, law and
order. l am sure it is not the highest
patriotism that lives disregardful of
all the best interests of our govern
mant and then when the declaration
of war is made to shoulder a gun and
go to the front and be willing to die
for your country. He is a much better
citizen who is willing to live for his
country. Best citizenship is not ex-
pressed in ~whooping for Old Glory
while political speeches are being made
or bursting firecrackers on the Fourth
of July.
The next element of good citizenship
is a good moral character. Let a man
live so that every deed and word of his
life but furnishes a maxim for uni
versal application. SO that if every man
did and thought as he did the world
would be purer and better. Let a man
have personal honesty, commercial hon
esty, political honesty, and honesty fos-
tered by a good conscience and a de-
termined heart and will, the honesty
which makes a mans word his bond.
Let him have not only the morality
which makes a man honest, but the NOR
ality which is made up Of the effects
of Christianity, which scorns profan-
ity, despises u~ncleanness and shuns evil
associations; the morality which is
the result Of Ru ii tSHDf et tSS resist Temp
tation, to conquer the besetting sins
OF life, and which lifts you above the
shafts and sings of your enemies.
Another element of good citizenship
so essential is courage-not the courage
that makes a town bully of you, or h a
carries q pistol around in your hip
pocket, but the moral heroism which had
rather be right than rich, had rather be
Door than be a prince, that would rather
carry around a good conscience than to
w the world-a courage that lifts me
above the slavery of partyism and k
me out from under the pressure of ma
chine politics and blind prejudice ano
makes me what / am because what an
is right and keeps me from doing TIT
wrong because it is wrong. | have M
patience with the man who sells out;
have less patience with the man who il
scared out. Many a man in this coun
try would be a better citizen if he hat
the courage to be. Cowardice and con
tu1nacy are twin brothers. The courag,
that transforms opinions into convic
- - 90 fIon hot FnIlCVvS R0n
V~ictions to the gallows, the block, or tn
! stake-the courage like Saint Paul ha
when he said: 'None of these thing
mock me; neither count / my life dea
, unto myself"
! Another element of good citizenshi
J IS a neighborly spirit. An intensel
! = selfish nan can never be a good citizel
: but he who looks not upon that which
q his own, but upon the things of anothe
a neighborly disposition which make
: him a brother to every man, a t
+ every orphan, a husband to every widoN
! a good neighbor who always picks !
the wounded man by the wayside ar
i carries him to the inn and foots Il
whole bill from start to finish.
n Another characteristic of a good eli
I. zen is that he is a man who fosters {
good. He believes in the churches,
= Sunday-schools, in Y. NJ. G. As, and
ae every institution which tends to eleva
II man and which tends to develop T
i. moral side of man. / have no Patien
with the American citizen who gnthe
st q lot Of buns and thugs around hi
IS and who says the church is full 81 foo
and hypocrites. and that Christianity
81 a failure. / believe an infidel is incaI
he BILE Of being a good citizen, for no n
lie can be q friend to men who is an eneI
yn Of God. This country has never e
ed vated an infdel to position or place,
m far as / know. Faith in God and go
ty, moral character are essential to GO
is citizenship.
nut Another element Of good citizensi
nd Is industry. The nan who chooses
ib- tional employment and stays by his ]
ire earning his bread by the sweat OF
Ike brow, is a good citizen-not the Iii
ial stock Spectator who lives on puts 9
.-1le honwa and h4lls. and uns q