Year: 1873

Men often speak Of good manners as an
accomplishment. l speak of them as a
duty. What, then, are good manners? ?
Such manners as the usages of society have
recognized as being agreeable to men.
Such manners as take away rudeness, and
remit to the brute creation all coarseness.
There are great many who feel that good
manners are effeminate. They have a feel
ing that rude bluntness is a great deal more
manly than good manners. 1t is undoubt-
edly great deal more beastly. But when
men are crowded in communities. the art of
living together is no small art. How to d.
minish friction ; how to promote ease of in
tercourse; how to make every part OF q
mans life contribute to the welfare and sat
isfaction of those around him how to keep
down offensive pride; how to Danish the
raspings of selfshness from the intercourse
of men how to move among men inspired
by various and conhictive motives, and yet
not have cOllisiOns-this is the function OF
good manners.


1t is not effeminate to be refined. And
in this land no man should plead inability
There may be peasantry in other countries
there may be class in foreign lands who
have no opportunities there may be those
whose toll is so continuous, whose opportu-
mites for knowing what constitutes good
manners are so few, and whose ignorance is
SO gross that they are excusable; but this is
Eot the case with any within reach of my
voice.


That man is a mechanic, is no reason
why he should not be gentleman. affirm
for every American citizen the right to be
not simply man, but a good hammered
man. l have seen men at the anvil who
were as perfect gentlemen as men of books
or men of society. I know no reason why
a man who tans hides should not be a gen.
leman. | know no reason why man who
digs in the soil, man who works in metals
and woods, a man who builds, should not
be perfect gentleman. There is nothing
in mechanical occupations which is incom-
patible with the highest courtesy.


Not only is the violation of good manners
inexcusable on ordinary grounds, but it is
sinful. When, therefore, parents and guard
ians and teachers would inspire the young
with desire for the manners of a good So
ciety, it is not to be thought that they are
accomplishments which may be accepted or
rejected. Every man is bound to observe
the laws of politeness. 1t is the expression
of goodwill and kindness. 1t promotes
both beauty in the man who possesses it,
and happiness in those who are about him.
1t is religious duty, and should be part of
religious training.


There is great deal Of contempt express
ed for what is called etiquette in society.
Now and then there are elements of etiquette
which perhaps might well be ridculed but
in the main there is just reason for all
those customs which come under the head
of etiquette. There is a reason which has
regard 10 the facility of intercourse. There
is a reason in the avoidance of offense.
There is reason in comfort and happiness.
And no man can afford to violate these un-
written customs of etiquette who wishes to
act as a Christian gentleman.


may speak, also, of a tendency which is
bred by our institutions-the want of vener-
alton. There are various ways in which
this want of veneration shows itself. We
often hear that there is not the same respect
shown for the aged that there used to be.
We know that there is very little respect
shown for magistrates and men in authority
This is partly due, think, to the institu-
tions under which we live. One of the un-
fortunate effects derived from the early
stages of democratic training is the sense OF
personal sovereignty; the feeling that we
stand on as high ground as anybody else
Under monarchial institutions men are
taught to revere the great and glorious in
government. The feeling of reverence does
not prevail to any great extent among u.s.
i A,conrn looly in %hiu
Children, nowadays, are brought up to be
pert, to be saucy, to be almost without re-
straint. They are brought up to have very
little regard either for their parents or their
superiors. And, although there are a great
many Christian households where children
are rightly bred in this regard, it seems to
me there has been decay of that instruc.
tion which used to prevail, the tendency ol
which was to make children modest and re-
spectful. We bring up our children to be
old and smart and impertinent.


This courtesy, which carries with it re-
spect; this testimony Of veneration to the
aged this yielding oneself in a thousand
little society rites for the sake of making
Others happy-oh, what brightness it gives
to lifel What beauty, what adornment il
gives to Christian character!


There are many other points that might
speak Of The effect Of punctuality and or
der; the relations which men sustain to
ward each others convenience and necessi
ties-these and hundred other branches
of this subject might discourse upon, but
it is not necessary that should go into
them. i have given such examples as
have merely as specimens, for the purpose o.
calling your attention to the minuteness
and carefulness with which the Scripture in
culcates these things. 1t enjoins not mere
ly the right spirit, but the right spirit mani
tested in the most beautiful way.-Beecher.