Year: 1873

i MEN often speak of good manners as an


accomplishment. 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 rude


ness, and remit to the brute creation all


coarseness. There are great many who


feel that good manners are effeminate.


They have feeling that rude bluntness


is great deal more manly than good


manners. 1t is great deal more bedStly.


But when men are crowded in communi-


ties, the art of living together is no small


art. How to diminish friction; how to


promote ease of intercourse; how to make


every part of mans life contribute to
the welfare and satisfaction of those
around him; how to keep down offensive
pride; how to Danish the raspings of sell
fishness from the intercourse of men; how


to move among men inspired by various


and conflictive motives, and yet not have
collisions--this is the function of good


manners. .fe..r
/ 1t is not effeminate to be refined. And


in this land no man should plead inabili-


ty There may be a 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 opportunities for knowing what


constitutes good manners are so few, and


whose ignorance is so gross, that they are


eXcusabe; but this is not the case with


any within the sound of my voice.


That man is mechanic, is no reason
why he should not be a perfect gentle
man. l affirm for every American citizen
the right to be not simply man, but a
good-nadnaaered man. have seen men at
the anvil who were as perfect gentlemen
as men of books or men of society. l
know no reason why o man who tans


hides should not be gentleman. | know
no reason why a man who digs in the


soil, man who works in metals and


woods, man who builds, should not be


a perfect gentleman. There is nothing in
mechanical occupations which is incom-
| patible with the highest courtesy.
Not only is the violation of good man
ners inexcusable on ordinary grounds,
but it is sinful. When, therefore, parents
and guardians and teachers would inspire
| the young with desire for the manners
of good society, 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 kind
ness. 1t promotes both beauty in the
man who possesses it, and happiness in
those who are about him. 1t is religi-
Gus duty, and should be a part of re-
ligious training.


There is great deal of contempt eX-
pressed for what is called etiquette in So
cietv Now and then there are elements
of etiquette which perhaps might well be
ridiculed; 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 to facility of in
tercourse. There is a reason in the avoid
ance of offense. There is a reason in
comfort and happiness And no man can
afford to violate these unwritten customs
of etiquette who wishes to act as a Christ
ian gentleman. t4A


may speak, also, of tendency which
is bred by our institutions-the want of
veneratiOn 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 institutions under which
we live. One Of the unfortunate effects
derived from the early stages of demo-
cratic training is the sense of personal
sovereignty; the feeling that we stand on
as high ground as anybody else. Under
monarchia1 institutions men are taughtto
revere the great and glorious government.
The feeling ofreverence does not prevail to
any great extent among us. / discern
great lack in this respect. Children, now
a-days, are brought up to be pert, to be
saucy, to be almost without restraint.
They are brought to have very little re-
gard either for their parents or for their
superiors And, although there are q
great many Christian households where
children are rightly bred in this regard, it
seems to me there mas been a decay of
that instruction which used to prevail, the
tendency of which was to make children
modest and respectful. We bring up our
children to be old, and smart, and imper-


inent


This courtesy which carries with it re-
spect; this testimony of veneratiOn to the
aged this yielding ones self in thou
sand little society rites for the sake of
making others happy-oh, what bright
ness it gives to life! What beauty, what
adornment it gives to Christian characteri


There are many other points that
might speak of. The effect of punctuality
and order; the relations which men sus- 2
tain to each others convenience and me-
cessities-these, and a hundred other
branches of this subject, might dis
course upon; but it is notnecessarylt that l.
should go into them. / have given such
examples as | have, merely as specimens,
for the purpose of calling your attention
to the minuteness and carefulness with
which the Scripture inculcates these
things 1t enjoins not merely the right
spirit, but the right spirit manifested in
tho most hnautif11 way-- EIqf9HCts fTO1J2-0-
Sermon By Henry Ward Beecher. '.' .'.., n. +,


ONE of those people who consider
horse cars as spittoons recently entered a
Boston car, and inadvertently bestowed
his attention upon gentleman's boot. No
sooner had the boot felt the indignity than
it seemed endowed with sudden vitality.
It attacked the expectorator until he madlyl
volunteered to give it satisfaction if it
would accompany him out of the
car for a few minutes. The challen-
ger and the boot departed the spectators
saw hats flying, and arms and legs spin
ming about with so much velocity that it
was impossible to tell who owned them.
After breathless time the outraged boot
was avenged and departed triumphantly.


THERE are those who may scoft at
warnings" but there's fatallsm IN
dreams. What else was it, pray, when
Mrs Brown, of Gloucester, Mass, dream
ed, the other night, that her absent hus
band was dead! In the morning she fran
tically telegraphed, and found that he was
entirely alive and well. But ere night
fall her poodle upset her band-box ana
| oot at her new fall bonnet and pulled the
! charming thing to fragments