The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1897-10-28
The Southern Gentleman.
PECULIAR CHARACTERISTICS OF Ads
TINCT TYPE.

TINCT TYPE.
his Word as Good as His Bond-COur.
ageous and ChivaIric by Nature He
is the Very Soul Of fiHonor-Wo oman
Superior Being in the Estimation
of the True SOutherner.
Oh. ). Garfield, in Chicago Times Her.
ald)
"No gentleman will wear a mus
tache.' That was the dictum of Gen.
eral Monford Wells, over whose quier
rest in the heart of Louisiana magno-
llas have drowsily nodded for many
wlndless summers. He belonged te
the old regime-the clean -shaven re-
glme, the ante bellum regime, the
slave holding regime, the aristocratie
regime. Fors non mutual genius, said
the Latin chance does not change
the kind. His type exists in the
South to-day. 1t is not anywhere else,
and, most of all places, not on the
stage. Looking odd times at the
black mustached, staggering carica,ure
who treadS the mimic boards and says
"sah" and sssuh," long for three
things: To kick the actor, to kick
the dramatist and to find some man
able and willing to tell the people
who and what Southern gentleman
is. He is distinct enough to be paint
ed, and | believe that his painting
would pay. 1t is time that we had
him as he is-a creature essentially
different from the bufoons of Hoyt or
the sero-comic fiasco given US by Clay
Clement.
The Southern gentleman was, and
is, a man above the middle height
with Clear-Cut features. As in ninety
nine cases out of hundred he has
not drop of foreign blood in his
veins, he looks like transplanted
Englishman-an Englishman modified
by some centuries of climate and ethe
rialized by less commercial mode
of life. Long contact with nature ha:
made him a man of broad views and
healthy instincts. He does not know
the value of a dollar so we'll as he
ought, but, to balance that defect, he
is utterly unacquainted with the many
shady ways of getting dollar. HI
is we'll educated in literary way anc
is not infrequent a linguist. He car
ries himself unobtrusively and leave!
the swagger to the negro out for :
Sunday holiday. He and the New
Englander, who is his antithesis in
many things, speak the best Englisf
to be found on this side of the Allan
tic. The accent is somewhat soft ano
slurring, and there is something to-
much of vowed ellison, but it has
pleasing sound, and he does not bur
his "r's'' until they rattle like castan
cts, as is the case in m any parts of tn
west.
The Southern gentleman comes c
| agricultural stock. He is used T.
woods and fields and horses and dogs
He is devoted to the chase, and is
good shot. Except in cities he doe
not bestride the bicycle, but he sits il
his saddle with a sure grace; he ha
the huntsman's seat-toes in-and h
rides from the knee, not from the stir
rup. Woodcraft he esteems as nobl
craft, and the art of venery as one c
the fine arts. His physical and men
tai appetites are born of the fresh al
and they are sound. He has poetr
in him, as what country-bred peopl
have not2 and he finds much of it il
animated nature. The song of birds
the clear belling of the deer, the sad
dening cry of the wild fowl in tn
night all speak to the soul of him
Though its liquid and varied note
have been familiar to him since infanc
he is never tired of the mocking bird
a music that pours from green throne
through all the moonlt nights. Hos'
hostess and guests in Southern hom
will frequently drop all conversation
and move to the front verandah t
listen to the wild trills and roulade
and bravuras of the matches minstre
in gray.
The Southern gentleman is honest
1t is boast handed from father to So
that his word is as good as his bond
and surely there could be no proude
boast. All of his recent education /
a commercial way has not been abl
to grind this out of him. Instance
are not infrequent of the surrender
homesteads in payment OF debts, l
proof of which existed only verbal OF
legations. The homestead it should b
remembered is protected from execu
tion by law in every State ofthe South
The Southerner regards an executlo
proof debt as he regards a gamblln
debt-one that must be paid at an
sacrifice since it is not recoverable b
legal process. Where the honor OF
family is involved women sell the
Jewels to wipe out the obllgat'oI
Business is done by word of moutl
There are such things as promlssor
notes, but they are not common. | al
speaking here of the country commit
mites and not of the large cities. Ihel
is no marked difference between IT
business methods Of Atlanta and Bo
ton. Indeed, since the close OF the W.
and the insetting Of the immlgratIo
tide the South has been much con
: mercialzed. The type has not changed
That would be work of centurle
But methods of life and modes
thought have undergone modification
This may be better for the counti
at large. We hear much of the glol
and beauty of the "new South b
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