Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-03-15
Mark Twain
is Offended

The men who have amassed their mil
lions in all sorts of ways have not had
| advantages in their youth They have
never had the college education without
which no man can be a gentleman.-Mrs.
| William Aston In an Interview Before She
Sailed For Europe.
do you mean to say that Mrs. AS
tor says that?" asked Samuel L. Glenn
ems Mark Twain when he was seen at
his home in Riverdale. n. Y, the other
! afternoon by Il reporter of the New
York Journal.
"Why, that's a 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 1 am no gentleman And all be-
cause l wasn't fortunate enough to
have rich father to send me to col
! lege! It's TOO bad, TOO bad! It's enough
to take the heart out of Il man and
make him scorn the world. But. then,
there is one ray of hope. If it was not
for that, L should be tempted to leave
this rude world.
perhaps Mrs. Astor, when she uses
the word gentleman doesn't 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 knows enough to observe
the ordinary rules of pOliteness when
he is on parade and who has n valet at
home to tell him what clothes are prop
er to wear.
mo, no; 1 can't believe that she could
be so cruel and cold blooded as to rob
me of the only hope that is left me
that l am 4 gentleman. She must have
meant something else than gentleman
as we use it, \ gentleman, kindly,
courteous, unsalfish man, who thinks
first not of himself, 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 pen
on earth.
'Why, Mrs. Astor can't mean that
Andrew Carnegie is no gentleman He
may be too pushing or too shy and
stand around silently in corners, not
knowing what to say or what to do.
But what does that show? 1t only
means that he is not an adept at by
pocrisy. 1t doesn't detract from the
true worth or the kindly, courteous
nature of the man.
abraham Lincoln didn't have Il col
lege education, yet he was known FOR
his kindly, courtly ways and his abso-
lutte unselfshness.l He was always
ready and willing to sacrifice his mon
ey and his time as well as his own
convenience to hep a woman or
child. He may have been rough and
coarse in his talk and actions. and per-
haps he wouldn't have Eraced Mrs. As
tors drawing room. but he was Il true
gentleman for all of that.
''Oh, you can pick out any number of
them you want. Take the men of
prominence in the United States today
and pick out the true gentlemen. I'll
venture that nine out of ten of them
never had Il high school education, let
alone u college education.
why, the finest gentleman 1 ever
knew was an old California miner who
could hardly write his own name. He
was forty-niner, and he and his part
ner had struck it rich in the early days.
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 it.
He didn't try TO jump into society or
to push his way with the big fellows
there. He continued to live with the
people he had associated with all his
life, and many an act of kindness was
done, many Il wandering son and IA
Their saved, many Il sorrowins woman'S
burden liShtened and her home bright
ened by an unknown donor whose iuen-