The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1897-11-25
SOUTHERN GENTLEMEN
DESCENDANTS OF NOBLE SCOTTISH
HEROES.
Manners and Mode of Speech of This
Type of Southerner are Co urtIy and
PoIished-The Ranks of the Old
Time Gentleman are Rapidly Thin
ning-A Debt as Sacred as their Oath
or Their B Ond.
(Corresponde nee of Robesonian. }

(Corresponde nee of Robesonian.)
The old South was settled by cav
iliers from the old world. Many Of
them came from Scotland and Ireland
and they brought from across the
waters a sensitive love of honor, a
proud belief in family and State, and
princely hospitality that they dis
pensed with free, open hearted gen
erosity. They were the defendants
Of the nob.e heroes who fought the
historic battle Of Bannackburn and
placed on the throne Robert, the
Bruce, the last king of Scotland. l,
was these same people who formulated
the Mecklenburg Declaration of Inde-
pendence, that first fired the Ameri-
can heart and made this the land of
the free and the home of the brave
This people produced a George Wash
ston, the father of this country.
This people produced the first Presi-
dent of the United States and held
fifty years occupancy Of the Pre- ST.
dental chair to the Nor,h's twenty
four years. The people furnished
eighteen of the twenty-nine judges OF
the Supreme Court, twenty-fou of the
thirty five Presidents Of the Senate
(protem)., twenty-five of the thirty five
Speakers Of the House, fourteen of the
eighteen Attorneys General, eighty
six of the TAG foreign ministers, and
majority Of the officers of the army,
navy and civil service. With this grand
historic record it was only natural
that this people would produce a
Southern gentleman of peculiar and
noble type.
The old South being vast agri-
cultural country and developed by
slave labor to large extent, exempt
ing large class of white people from
labor, afforded them an opportunity
for extraordinary culture, elevating
scholastic standards, favoring schools
of individual re6nemen,s, where they
were trained in the highest civiliza-
ton. In this atmosphere and with
these surroundings birth was given to
the Southern gentleman. In his best
and most picturesque form he is found
on the plantation, owned and handed
down to him through generations OF
forefathers born Oh American soil.
Yet there are types Of him in the pro-
fessions, in the stores, banks and rail
road offices. The manners and mode
Of speech of this type of Sou,herner
are courtly and polished. His polite
ness is easy and natural. He is warm
in his friendship and frank in his en-,
mites. TO his social equals he is
courteous, without ostenlation, ia
miliar, without being vulgar. To his
interiors he is amiable and kind,
without the appearance Of being pat
| ronizing. Personal honor and family
honor are precious herIlages, more
highly priced than life itself His
word is his bond. A debt is as sacred
as an oath. In its discharge he will,
if necessary, sacrifice the roof tree that
shelters the loved ones and the anCes-
trail acres that gave them their support.
Woman, in his eyes, is being to be
reverenCed next to God. TO defend
the honor and good name Of wife,
mother, daughter, sister and sweethear,
he will slay as remorselessly as the
tiger in the jungle. To him it means
death, swift, sure and inevitable.
He may not be church member, but
he is respector of religion in all OF
its forms and creeds. If he owned
one hundred slaves he had larger
capital, better home and foreign credit
than a national bank with 100000
capital For the luxuries Of life he
asked his commission merchant for
them and they came and were dis
pensed among his friends with prinCely
generosity. He loaned his money Il
his neighbors without note, interest or
witness. The ranks of the old South
ern gentleman are thinning very fast.
| i
commercialism have changed his pur-
suits At the close of the war he was
told 10 repair his national stock OF
wealth, bring IN Northern capital,
build mills, factories, etc. This ad-
vice has its place, but there are higher
objects than the Yankee magma bona
of money and display. The Southern
gentleman will never surrender his
moral and intellectual distinCtlveness
nor cease to assert his we'll known su-
perority in civilization, political schoI'
arship and in all the standards OF IN
dividual character over the people oI
the Northern States.
II. G.. MCEACHIN, NJ. d.
Colorado, Texas.