Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1897-06-10
SOUTHERN MANNERS.


criticism of Senator Morgan's
jingoism and advocacy of une
sound finance by a bitter attack
upon the manners of the old
South. Senator Morgan deserves
to be condemned for his efforts
to embroil the United States in
difficulties with European ma
ttions, but his conduct does not
justify o sweeping condemnation
of Southern manners either as
they were in evidence before the
war Or are in evidence now. The
journal of Commerce does, ins
deed. qualify its censure by the
statement that 1.-The new South
is so far modernized and to SO
great an extent brought into har-
monious commercial and social
relations with the rest of the
world that the few remaining
survivors of the slave epoch are
not uninteresting subjects of
sociological study" To this it is
sufficient ans Wer to say that il
the representatives of the New
South have the manners of
their grandfathers they will be
equally a. courteous. considerate
and we'll bred as those more
modern exponents of good
form" whom Ward McAllister
had to take IN hand and teach
the elementary principles of de-.
pertinent.
The cultivated Southern man
Of the period dating from the
Revolution to the civil war had
all the qualities which are insep-
aratle from good breeding, con-
tempt for vulgar display. perfect
courtesy in his intercourse with
his fellow ~men, a very admirable
respect for women. and an utter
lack Of the coarseness Of Lam
guage and angularity Of manner
which in some quarters nave
come to be regarded as COM
men6able national characters tic,
the evidence of d brisk "gat
there" Americaaisn. If the "Oid
South's' manners were Of the
plantation. it~should not be for
gotten that they we're also the
manners OF Washington, Jetfar-
son, Madison and Monroe, Of
Chief Justice Marshal and other
eminent Southern men, but for
whom American history would
he dull and spiritless volume.
If the new South, with it's mods
ern manners. produces men as
great and patriotic as were born
under the plantation system the
future Of this mighty republic
will never be in peril.
The trouble with too many
writer's who condemn the man
ners of the t'Old South is their
ignorance of the subject, They
read some sensational work of
fiction like s'Uncle Toms Cabin, -
and conclude that they have mas
tered the subject. Or, perhaps,
they turn to some incident in
Congress in ante bellum days,
when the passions of men were
aroused by political excitement,
and because there was d isticuff
between two men from opposing
sections, they at once accept the
offender as type of the South
and proceed to belabor the people
of a dozen States for the violence
of one man. The politicians of
the old South were not always the
best representatives of the South
ern people, although, in the main,
they were men of high character,
perfectly honest and of unimpeach-
able courage. There were no
Credit Mobilier scandals with
them no suspicion that they
dealt in stocks which were affected
by their legislation. The sons
and daughters of the planters en-
joyed the advantages of liberal
education and travel, and would
have been at home in the most
polished society of Europe with
out the coaching of lordly Tur-
veydrop. Moreover, the fact that
New York's "Four Hundred
had to engage the services of a
man of Southern descent to teach
them the amenities of social life
would seem to indicate that the
aSouthern manner" was worthy
of recognition and emulation.
| Senator Morgan's sins against
sound finance and decency in our
international relations should not
be made the occasion of an attack
on the Southern people past or
present, for lack of manners. Mr..
Morgan is probably the most
RECKLESS jIngo in the Senate, but
Senators Gallinger and Chandler,
of New Hampshire, and Senator
Frye, of Maine, are also fire-eat-
ers whom the ante-bellum South
ern statesmen would have found il
hard to excel. Are there no good
manners in Maine and New Hamp-
shire because Chandler and Gal
finger are iingoesl And shall
Massachusetts, be put under the
ban because Senator Lodge
breathes out fire and sIaughte,
when under the malign influence o.
| the god of warl