Show ji oB TRUE DIGNITY A Quality Which People Do Not Gen Generally Understand New York Commercial Advertiser There Th e is probably no quality about which human beings are so generally mistaken mistakes as about dignity If you yo asK the casual man to describe to you what he means when he speaks and thinks of dignity you will generally find that he has contused confused it with wUn aus and stiffness or ot pomposity or ns or solemnity or general aloof nee ne Yet as a a matter ot of fact dignity has nothing t do with any of these th se It may be ed with w th some me of oC them hi in particular r individuals and again Jn it ft may not but in Itself it is something quite apart from all of them Dignity is that quality or gist gift which In some very subtle and Indefinable t ble way prevents all persons even the most Intimate and closely closel related front from taking ng any liberties with its pot sessor ses It does not forbid the freest frankest intercourse it is compatible with the greatest grent st geniality antI and ease e e it simply m means that there is always alwa s a line drawn somewhere som be beyond beyond beS yond which no one will ever think of S going Nor does dignity depend d nd In any way wa upon the th arts and graces and accomplishments of the man of the world Abraham Lincoln gaunt lanky worldS sham S bUng bling gawky and uncouth met et all who came to him with a perfect freedom of manner that was characteristic of the primitive conditions under which h he had been reared yet it is recorded that outside of the narrow circle of his hit I own family a and d of the companions who I II had known him in his early years there was waa Wll found no rio one who ever ven yen to address him by his first firt name name or to misinterpret and abuse the ap parent license which the presidents own unconventional manner seemed to grant Back Bak of o the teller toller tele of 01 frontier stories back bk of the slipshod uncouth I IS exterior of the man himself one felt fell fet S instinctively the to finer spirit the mel melancholy isolation that me laton gave gave tion arid and a immortality to the Gettysburg Get S address adre Dignity can never be acquired acquire and and ai t those who attempt its th is acquisition are the ones one who do not understand its real rea meaning A man ma can cn train trin himself to tc an impressive manner matner to a pompous bearing bering to a measured deliberation pompu of 01 1 utterance to an a oracular gravity and ad anc I j to a formal I foral stiffness of ol L demeanor deor But in doing doin this he is only r j something that is the ac reverse revers of o what he seeks He has hai ha 3 made himself him in that case utterly un un i i sympathetic and at times repellant I I i but he has not become beme possessed d ff Jf the th slightest attribute of real dignity His Hit i portentousness his gravity his im impressiveness press veness are only hollow shams shuts and the urchin in the street will wE feel instinctively that this pre tended personage is nothing but a hum bug On the other hand handS the man In Ir L whom dignity is inborn is lufte unconscious unc n of It it because it is an essential I part of his whole being beine He can c m be b bas as intimate as you please pl e he can be us informal as aft you please he be can let lel t himself f go whenever he sees fit and I yet never under any circumstances will advantage be taken of his care les ness and spontaneity There is al ways wa 9 something which no one can quite t define it may be bela in the glance of his c eye ye or In the of ot his voice that inspires even in his boon compan ions the necessary touch of true re which leaves eves just a little still stil I unsaid and still undone The man who wh r possesses dignity is the man mair who wherever he goes receives the most moet of a f what all aU others have to give He is h R better served he is better liked and am I Ke lie l is more intensely loved IWed than those who lay open to the world the re ees of cC their heart For all men t im ml 00 I especially Jy all 11 women worn find the strong est Et possible pos t le appeal made to their Im Jm tIO by the ery cry fact that they have met some sone one who can give forth almost everything In the way of friend friendship friendship ship and affection and interest and and still keep to himself one little spot that none can enter and that tb is la the unshared sanctuary of hu human human human man soul |