The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-07
THE SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN.
The Species seldom Depicted in
Literature and Never in Drama.

The species seldom DeViStSN rs
Literature and Never in Drama.
From the Chicago Times-Herald.
mo gentleman will wear a mustache.
That was the dictum Of Gen. Montfort
Wells, over whose quiet rest in the heart
of Louisiana magnolias have drowsiy
nodded for many MINDLESS summers. He
belonged to the old regime-the clean-sha-
ven regime the ante-belum regime, the
slave-holding regime, the dancing singing
fighting regime, the aristocraic regime.
Fors non mutat genus, 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-
ture who treads the mimic boards ana
SAYS "sah" and "suh" / long for three
things: TO kick the actor, TO Kick the
dramatist and to find some man able ana
willing to tell the people who and what
a southern gentleman Is. He IS distinct
enough to be painted, and l believe that
his painting would pay. il Is time that
we had him as he is-a creature essen
tally different from the buffoons OF Hoyt
or the serio-com.c fiasco given US by
Clay Clement.
The southern gentleman was and is, a
man above the middle hight with clear
cut features. AS i'm ninety-nine cases out
of a hundred he has not a drop of foreign
blood in his veins, he looks like trans
planted Englishman-an Englishman
modified by some centuries of
climate and etherialized by
less commercial mode OF life.
Long contact with nature has made him
a man OF broad views and Of healthy in
stincts He does not know the value or
a dollar so well as he ought, but, to ball
ance that defect he is utterly unac-
uuainted with the many shady ways of
getting a dollar He il well educated In
a literary way and Is not infrequently a
linguist. He carries himself unobtrustVe-
", and leaves the swagger to the negro
out for Sunday holiday. He and the
New EnMander, who Is his antithesis in
many things speak the best English to
be found on this side of the Atlantic. The
accent is somewhat soft and slurrlng, ana
there is something too much Of vowel ELI
sion. but it has a pleasing sound, and he
does not burr his "rs" until they rattle
like castanets, as is the case in many
parts of the west.
The southern gentleman comes of agri-
cultural stock. He Is used to woods and
fields and horses and dogs. He Is devoted
to the chase, and he Is a good shot. Ex-
cept in cities he does not bestride the BIZ
cycle but he sits his saddle with sure
grace; he has the huntsman's seat-toes
inland he rides from the knee, not from
the stirrup. Woodcraft he esteems as
noble craft, and the art Of venery as one
of the fine arts. His physical and mem
tai appetites are born of the fresh air,
and they are sound. He has poetry In
him, as what country-bred people have
not?-and he finds most of 1t in animated
nature The song of birds, the clear bell
ing of the deer, the saddening cry of wild
fnt in 10 sneak
of him Though its liquid and varied
notes have been familiar to him since in
fancy he is never tired of the hooking
bird, a music that pours from green
thrones through all the moonlit nights.
Host, hostess and guests in a southern
home will frequently drop all cOnversa-
ton and move to the front veranda TO
listen TO the wild trills and roulades and
bravuras of the matchless minstrel in
gray.
The southern gentleman Is honest. 1t is
a boast handed from father to son that
his word is as good as his bond, and sure
" there could be no prouder boast All of
his recent education in a commercial way
has not been able to grind this out of
him. Instances are not infrequent of the
surrender of homesteads in payment of
debts, IN proof of which existed only YER
bal obligations. The homestead, it should
he remembered, is protected from execu-
lion Dy law III every bAdlG OF the south.
The southerner regards an execution proof
debt as he regards a gambling debt-one
that must be paid at any sacrifice since
IL is not recoverable by legal process.
Where the honor of a family is Involved
women will sell their jewels to wipe out
the obligation. Business in the south is
transacted in great degree by word of
mouth. There are such things as promis-
sorry notes, but they are not common.
am speaking here of the country com
munities and not of the large cities. There
is no marked difference between the bust
ness methods of Atlanta and Boston, In
deed, since the close of the war and the
inserting of the immigration tide the south
has been much commerciaized. The type
has not changed. That would be work
of centuries But methods of life and
modes Of thought have undergone modif-
cation. This may be better for the coun-
try at large We hear much of the glory
and beauty of the new south" But /
doubt that It is better for the upper
classes of the people. A happier man
than the old southerner never breathed.
Mark Twain declares that Walter Scott
is responsible for the civil war. He means
that much reading of "Ivanhoe" and '"rhe
Talisman" made the young men mad. They
dreamed of riding with visor down and
lance in rest for the honor of the name and
Of haIa IA {.