The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-03-12
TWAIN ON WHAT
A GENTLEMAN IS
"a Kindly, Courteous. Unsclfish
Man Who Thinks First, Not of
Himself, but of Fellow Man.

| REPUBLIC SPECIAL.
New York. March u-Nark Twain has
| taken issue with Mrs. Astor. leader OF the
-Four Hundred OF New York who before
| calling on the Kronprinz Wilhelm for
Europe on Saturday last. said:
The men who have amassed their mill
lions in all sorts OF ways ndys not had ad-
vantagcs In their youth. the have never
had the college education. without which
no man be a gentleman
DO You mean TO say that Mrs Astor
SAYS that" asked Samuel :. .'leruens when
seen al his home In RIvsrda.o yesterday
afternoon.
HumorOusly Sarcastic.
Why. that's direct personal Insult.
Mrs. Astor and 1 Will have a falling out
over that I'm afraid. To be told TO my
face and in cold type at that. that a:n no
gentleman. And ell because l WASH. for
tunate enough to have a rich father TO send
me to college. Its too bad. too bai.
Its enough TO take the heart out Of n
man and make him scorn the wcrli. But
then. there Is one ray OF hope. II * as
not for that I should be tempsd 70 ieo-e
this rude world.
Perhaps Mrs. As;or. when she uses the
word gentleman, does not have the same
meaning In view that we other rude people
have.
she probably means a leader Of cotillons.
a spic-and-span dandy who koows enough
to observe the ordinary rule. of poiiteness
when he IS on parade. and who has a valet
at home to tell him what clothes are proper
TO wear.
NO. no I can't believe that she could be
SO cruel and cold blooded as to rob me OF
the only hope that ia left me that am
a gentleman. She must have meant some
thing else than gentleman as We Use it.
Definition of . Gentleman.
"A gentleman. a kindly. courteous. un-
selfish man. who thinks first. not Of him
self. but OF his fellow-man. that Is what
gentleman Is. not one Of these society
'chappies who in reality Is one OF the most
selfish men on earth
why. Mrs. Astor can't mean that An
drew Carnegie is no gentleman. He may be
too pushing or too shy and stand arouhn
silently in corners. not knowing what 10
say or what to do: but what does that
show? 1t only means that he 10 not an
adept at hypocrisy. 1t does not dctraot
from the true worth of the kindly. coCfte-
GUS nature of the man.
Abraham Lincoln did not have 3 college
". courtly ways and his absolute upsri-
fshness. He was always ready and wiiiES
to sacrifice his money and his time. as well
as his own convenience. TO help woman or
a child. He may have been rough and
coarse in his talk and actions and per-
haps he would not have graced Mrs As
tors drawinE-room. bat he was a Irus gem
tlemau for ell Of that.
oh. you pick out any number or
them you want Take the men OF promi-
hence in the United States to-day and pick
out the true gentlemen. I'll venture that
nine out of ten OF them never had high
school education. let alone college educa-
ton.
The Finest Gentleman
why. the finest gentlemen 1 ever knew
Was old California miner. who could
hardly write his own name. He was
forty-niner. and he and his partner had
struck It rich In the early day1 The old
man had neither chick nor child. and he
had worked hard all his life. and when he
did get his money he hardly knew what to
do with II.
He did not try to Jump into society. or
10 push ms WAY %,n ~ , ,ne ,6 pig s,a .enoM ne"ns
whom he had associated with all his life,
and many an act Of kindness was done.
many wandering son and father saved.
ened. and her homo frightened by an un-
known donor. whose identity with the old
man was only known to q few.
1T was different with the partner. He
had wife and two daughters, with social
aspirations. and. after whole lot of push
ing and hauling and showing they landed in
society. The expense was too much of a
Grain on the husbands purse. and he spec
ulated with the inevitable outcome. He lost
Ills Intn SNOt himself.
Then II was that the true gentleness of the
old man showed itself The widow and her
daughters had no one to turn to but him.
and he did not dsappoint them He saved
their homo for them when everything else
went under the hammer. and he maintained
them In all the regal style to which they
were accustomed. although he still lived In
his old lodgings He lived long enough to
see both Of the girls well married and the
mother carefully settled for Ife Then he
died in charity hospital In San Francisco
He had spent every penny he owned on the
family of his partner.
THAT is what a gentleman f. A college
education necessary It's all rubbish"