The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-11-27

and write her IalS6 WOTuS III every
foreign language of the civilized
world, and yet she has lost her
place.
1t is an excellent and old definition
of good breeding, that it means to
live according to the golden rule.
Absolute sincerity and t~ruthfulness
are the very foundation stone of that
great law. He who made it a law
for us claimed for Himself II am
the TRUTH"
SHE MUS BE NEAT.
The outward order and neatnesS,
which are a token of the purity of
mind and heart and a sign of a
clearly body, are a witness to the
character of a genuine lady. Rum
pied and spotted clothes, half-worn
fnery, tumbled and ill-brushed hair
are u~nmistakable evidences of lack
of that refinement without which a
princess-royal cannot be a gentle
woman. There can be no compromise
on this subject, and it must be thor
ough. Every garment, see and I'M
seen, must be whole, we'll sewed and
spOtless, and the dress and hat must
be free from common ornament and
conspicuous COlOrs. | have known,
since the great war of the Rebellion,
some of our Southern sisters, whose
every garment, ven to their shoes,
was made by their own hands, who
yet maintained a standard of such
high bred nicely and care that the
most ignorant stranger would not
have hesitated to address them re-
spectfully. 1t is not the quality or
texture of the dress which makes it
a lady's gown. One of the most
stately and MISUNDERSTANDING
women l ever saw usually wore "a
ten-cent cotton print frock when at
tending to her household duties,
with u bit of starched white net
folded at the throat. She could
afford nothing more costly. She
was her own dressmaker, but many
a Oma in brocade and sables
would have looked commonplace be-
side her. Her shining black hair
was glossier than satin, and the
daintiness of everything about her
was wonderfully charming.
SHE MUST BE ABOVE PRETENsION.
"TO make believe" that you are
anything that you are not, or to pre-
tend that you possess what is not
yours, takes away every right to
think yourself a true lady. Mock
jewelry, borrowed ornaments, a fine
gown and insignificant or unsuita-
BILE underclothing a trailing skirt
and shoes in holes the false shame
of acknowledging poverty, or un-
willingness to admit that you hon
orably earn your living-these are
insurmOuntable barriers to admit
lance to the noble sisterhood of true
gentlewomen. Said Charles Kings
ley of a poor girl standing on the
roadside: "She was a lady by the
grace of God"
There is a vanity which lowers
and belittles a young woman, until
she is left to be her own chief and
sometimes only admirer, but a n
honest pride which stands firmly on
the foundation of it's own true posi-
ton in life and refuses to seek ia
vOrs from those who cannot honor it,
is a necessary part of a truly refined
character. Sincerity is one of our
most important essentials if our
claim is to be valid to the coveted
title.
KINDNESS TO OTHERS.
Some authorities have traced the
name ''lady" back to an old Saxon
word which means ''bread- giver."
This arose from the easily under
stood necessity that no woman could
be truly noble in character who was
Indifferent to pain or to want in her
fellow-creatures.
Our Catholic brethren who offer
adoring prayers to the blessed mother
of our Saviour almost invariably
add the word Lady to the innu-
! merable appellations which their