Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-12-09
WHAT Is A GENTLEMAN?
Heavy Rap at the College Sport, And
Good Hit All Around.

Heavy Rap at the college sport, Ana
Good Hit All Around.
What Is a gentleman? President
Eliot Of Harvard has recently given
his formula. It strikes me as very
good one.
There Is no word In our language
more abused than the grand old term
Of gentleman" will not even except
"lady"-that much tortured word.
Emerson's definition Of a gentleman
is: "A man Of good breeding, courtesy
and kindness; hence. a man distin-
guished for fine sense of honor, strict
regard for his obligations and consid-
Grafton for the rights and feelings Of
others. The gentleman Is man Of
truth, lord Of his own actions and ex-
pressing that lordship in his behavior"
"A man Of good breeding" Yes, and
yet have known men who never had
any breeding, who struggled up some
way; men who were poor and roughly
dressed and who yet had all the in
trary, I have known men of family, Of
good breeding; Of position, who were
unmitigated loafers. In the toughest
mining camps Of the west have seen
more chivalry and innate gentlemanli-
ness than on many crowded eastern
city street.
Courtesy and kindness" Yes. es-
pecially kindness. A gentleman Is
ever gentleman. That is what many
forget. have heard many a man
say: Il flatter myself am a gentle
man." II have looked at him uni
thought: You poor miserable crea-
ture. You do not dream Of what it
means to be a gentleman"
"a man distinguished for fine sense
Of honor and strict regard for his OBJ
legations" Yes, that is all right. Still,
I have known men who make a great
gallery play Of their honor and who
are yet willing to cheat a landlady or
a laundress. I think Of a man now
who has all the outward and visible
signs Of gentleman, who Is courteous,
kindly, chivalrous toward women. con-
siderate Of children, Is always speak
ing Of honor In the highest sense Of
the word and yet his poor, long-suffer-
ing landlady cannot get a penny out
Of him. When she asks him to pay
her he looks at her with a trance-like
expression and murmurs: II am a gen.
tleman. I do not like to be annoyed
about such trivial matters"
consideration for the rights and
feelings Of others" All, yes, and how
many will endure that test? VIII we
find them among the class of rich
sporting men who daily overlook the
rights Of others in their feverish
amusements? Will we find them
among business men who climb to for
tune over the wrecks Of those they
trample under foot? VIII we find
them among that class Of men who,
having opinions along certain lines.
will sneer at the honest opinions Of
others? and yet all these types Of
men would call themselves gentlemen.
president Eliot's definition OF a
gentleman gives a very hard rap at
the "collge sport" the lazy son Of a
rich father, who goes to college to
make a big splurge with money and
incidentally raise a rumprs whenever
a good chance offers He said: 1T
has been stated that the gentleman's
mark in Harvard is C, the different
grades Of scholarship being respective
ly A, B. c, D and e. A Is excellence
and e Is failure. You can easily see
where c belongs"
According to this the gentleman Is
not to be an effective strong worker,
not a strenuous seeker after knowledge.
Can you imagine a more Indifferent,
shiftless, lazy person loafing through
four years Of college life? Or can
there be a stupider idea than that Of
a gentleman In a democracy? :
"A gentleman must also be quiet. II
man Is heard bawling about the COL
lege yard one can feel perfectly sure
that he Is either on outsider or a new
conner. He must be generous, efficient,
deferential to age, beauty, excellence,
skill and all worthy things.
The college sports who bawl and
yell about the streets Of great cities,
who disturb meetings and theatrical
performances. who accompanied by
ladies Of the chorus, make themselves
obnoxious in cafes and restaurants,
have received good knock from Pres
ident Eliot Let us hope It may bring
forth fruit.
"a aptIapoop rorot pavar do opu
thing that will hurt a woman or a
child or an Inferior"
What a lesson? How many beastly
husbands, scolding fathers and fault
finding employers will take the lesson
to themselves?-Edith Sessions Tup-
per.